60 MICKIE ON THE GULF OF PE-CHE-LI AND LEO-TUNG. [Feb. 13, 1860. 



talked of Chinese ports, and a Chinese population, on the shores of the Pecheli 

 Gulf; and, if we were ever to trade with the new port of Niu-Chwang, under 

 our treaty, it was well that the population was Chinese, and not Tartar, for 

 we should have little enough trade with Tartars. The same tendency to 

 spread themselves, so strongly displayed on the north of their empire, has 

 adhered to the Chinese far away to the south ; and Mr. Crawfurd would bear 

 witness to the numbers and wealth of the Chinese colonists throughout the 

 whole of the Malayan Archipelago, from Java up to Sincapore. Even in those 

 newest of countries, California and Australia, the astonishing influx of Chinese 

 had excited the jealousies of our own countrymen and of the Americans. 



Mr. Laurence Oliphant, f.r.g.s., said that when he was in China, he had 

 the good fortune to make the acquaintance of Mr. Mickie. There were one 

 or two points in his paper which deserved attention. One was the great avail- 

 ability of the port of Chefow, situated a little to the eastward of Tungchow, 

 on the point of the Shantung Peninsula. When at Tientsin the desirability 

 of the different ports was brought under the consideration of Lord Elgin, but 

 the merits of Chefow were not then altogether known. The importance of 

 that port had arisen from the fact of the rice trade having taken that direction 

 since the blocking up of the Grand Canal. It would be desirable, in any new 

 arrangement with the Chinese government, to provide for a trade at Chefow. 

 We might give up our right to trade at Tungchow, for there was very little 

 trade there, and the harbour was four miles distant. Another point in Mr. 

 Mickie's paper, which was peculiarly interesting at the present time, was the 

 account which he gave of the resources of the neighbouring country. He 

 described large flocks of goats on the hill-sides of Tungchow. Mr. Oliphant 

 then discussed the question of a military advance upon Pekin in connexion 

 with these resources, and expressed his belief that the Chinese would have 

 no objection to sell to an enemy, if he had the slightest chance of getting any- 

 thing by it. With respect to the port of Nu-chung, it was rather of political 

 than commercial importance. The recent arrangements with the Russian 

 Government brought the Russian frontier comparatively close down upon the 

 north part of the Gulf of Leotung, and therefore it was very desirable that we 

 should have a political agent in that part. 



Captain Sir F. Nicolson, r.n., f.r.g.s., in corroboration of Mr. Oliphant's 

 remarks respecting the supplies to be obtained in that part of the world, said, 

 in the first Chinese war, a party from H.M.S. Blonde secured seventy bullocks 

 one afternoon, on the shore of the Gulf of Leotung. He merely stated this, as 

 doubts had been thrown on the capabilities of the country to supply a large 

 number of troops. 



Mr. W. LocKHART, F.R.G.s.y thought it would be desirable to point out on 

 the map the places of the most consequence mentioned in the paper. He 

 accordingly proceeded to do so, and, with regard to Tungchow and Niu-Chwang, 

 observed that they were the most northerly consular ports opened to us under 

 Lord Elgin's treaty. The promontory of Shantung is very mountainous, and 

 is the terminal point of one of the spurs of the Himalayan mountains which 

 crosses China from the upper part of Thibet ; there are several breaks in this 

 mountain-chain to allow the Yellow River to pass through, in different portions 

 of its course across the country. This being a mountainous country, the in- 

 habitants of Shantung are a large race of men ; the tallest and largest in the 

 empire of China. Chefow is a more important port, as Mr. Oliphant had just 

 stated, than Tungchow, where the water was so shallow that no vessels could 

 approach it. Tungchow and Chefow are the ports for the natives' exports of 

 oil and the beans from which the oil is made, as well as the bean-cake which 

 remains after the expression of the oil ; this is used largely all over China for 

 manuring the fields. Large quantities of this bean-oil are produced in the 

 north of China, and it is extensively used both for cooking and for lamps, and 



