194 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the management of the whole foreign trade in the hands of a single 

 Commissioner, called an Inspector-General, and appointed to this posi- 

 tion Mr. Lay, succeeded in 1863 by Mr., afterward Sir, Robert Hart, 

 who has continued in the control since then, and to whom is due the 

 present very satisfactory condition of the management of this Bureau, 

 to which has since been attached, in order to secure efficiency, a Marine 

 Department, covering lighthouses and harbor regulations and the 

 Chinese Imperial Post-office. 



The ports open in 1899 were: Niu-chwang, Tien-tsin, Che-foo, 

 Chung-king, I-chang, Sha-si, Yo-chow, Hankow, Kiu-kiang, Wu-hu, 

 Nan-king, Chin-kiang, Shanghai, Soo-chow, Ning-po, Hang-chow, Wen- 

 chow, San-tuao, Poo-chow, Amoy, Swa-tow, Wu-chow, Sam-shui, Can- 

 ton, Kiung-chow, Pak-hoi, Lung-chow, Meng-tsz and Szmao. Of these 

 Niu-chwang is located in the north, at the terminus of the Chinese 

 Imperial Railway, and is the gateway through which the trade passes 

 from China to Russian Manchuria. Two ports, Tien-tsin and Che-foo, 

 are situated on the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, while the next eleven on the list, 

 Chung-king to Soo-chow, are on the Yang-tze Kiang or its tributaries. 

 Seven ports, Ning-po to Swa-tow, are on the East Coast. Wu-chow and 

 Sam-Shui are on the West River. Canton is the great port of Southern 

 China and the oldest seat of foreign trade in the country. Kiung-chow 

 is on the Island of Hainan, and Pak-hoi, Lung-chow, Meng-tsz and 

 Sz-mao are on the Franco-China frontier of Tong-king. The last three 

 and Niu-chwang are the only places not situated on important water- 

 ways. Of the total foreign trade about three-quarters is transacted 

 through Canton, Shanghai, Tien-tsin and Hankow, which are the great 

 distributing points for the south, middle coast, north and interior. 



The importance of Canton, Shanghai, Tien-tsin and Hankow is fixed 

 by geographical conditions. Canton is at the head of the Canton River, 

 which is really the estuary for the combined flow of the West, the North 

 and the East Rivers, the three principal streams and consequent trade 

 routes of Southern China. With its fine harbor and juxtaposition to 

 Hongkong, it is of necessity, and must always continue to be, the gate- 

 Avay to the southern part of the Empire. In like manner, Shanghai, at 

 the mouth of the Yang-tze, is the controlling point for the whole of 

 the central zone; while Tien-tsin, the port of Peking, is the entrance to 

 the north, the northwest and Mongolia. Hankow is at the head of 

 steamsli ip navigation on the Yang-tze, and at the junction of that 

 stream and its principal tributary, the Han, and if the extreme western 

 part of the country be omitted, which part is mountainous and very 

 thinly populated, Hankow is approximately the geographical center of 

 the Empire. 



Native vessels trading between native ports report at custom-houses 

 administered by native officials, where the records are hopelessly con- 



