Nov. 22, 1858.] FKOM SHANGHAI TO THE GULF OF PECHELI. 63 



Britain and Ireland by exactly half a million souls ! In latitude it 

 agrees with the southern and fairest portions of Spain and Italy, 

 but the extremes of heat and cold in summer and winter are far 

 greater, though these are much modified by one half the borders of 

 the province being washed by the sea. The western half of Shan- 

 tung is a dead level, forming a portion of that wonderfully rich 

 region known as the Great Plain of China, — a plain which rolls to 

 the south from Pekin, in 39° N. latitude, gradually extending in 

 width until its huge base rests, at a distance of 600 miles, against 

 the base of the mountains of Che-keang and Kiang-si. The only high- 

 land which intervenes between this plain and the sea is the mass of 

 mountain, peak, and plateau forming Eastern Shangtung. It looks 

 as if in remote ages it had once been an island, and had been con- 

 nected with China Proper by the silting up of the intervening sea ; 

 just as, in process of time, the Gulf of Pecheli will be filled up if, as 

 it is now said, the erratic Hoang-Ho has returned to its ancient bed, 

 and discharges its waters into the south-west bight of the Gulf of 

 Pecheli. 



The Chinese, speaking of this province, do not think very highly 

 of its resources, as compared, of course, with those of the fat 

 soil of the delta of the Yang-ze-Kiang ; but it seems likely, 

 from its products and climate, to play an important part in European 

 commerce. Coal and iron are abundant, and, it is said, largely 

 exported to other parts of China by the natives. Its fruits are 

 famous for their size, if they be not so for flavour, throughout the 

 whole seaboard of the empire, and we were eyewitnesses of the 

 prodigious quantity of millet and beans it contributed to the supply 

 of the capital, shipped in strong-built junks, not unlike Dutch 

 galliots, and manned by a race of seamen who, for pluck and inde- 

 pendence, would not yield much to those of Northern Europe. 



To Teng-chow-fu the foreign missions to be hereafter stationed 

 in Pekin will undoubtedly come to escape the monotony of their 

 solitary existence in the imperial city, as well as to enjoy a climate 

 which, during the six weeks of midsummer or midwinter, will be 

 infinitely preferable to that of Pekin ; and when the severity of the 

 Manchurian winter closes the Gulf of Pecheli to our traders, they 

 will doubtless congregate at this convenient emporium, and thence 

 by land supply the traders of North China, as well as the Corea, 

 with such British staples as they must assuredly desire ; and I feel 

 convinced, without being a prophet, that within ten years' time we 

 shall see at Teng-chow-fu as flourishing a settlement created by the 

 commerce of Shantung, Chili, Shonsi, and Shansi, as that of Central 

 China can show in the great city of Shanghai. 



