498 PROCEEDINGS. 
all, Christianised; and Mr. Muirhead trusted that there will be an 
impetus imparted to some at least of the missionaries to make them 
seek those poor people of whom they had just-heard with such deep 
interest. 
Mr. Taytor asked could General Mesny give any further informa- 
tion about the winds he had referred to as agitating the lakes of 
Yunnan by day and dying away at night. 
General Mesyy replied he had paid some attention to the matter 
for a month by going down to the lake every day when there was 
a strong breeze blowing, and the water was very much agitated, but 
in the evening the wind always subsided and the water became 
smooth. In the West Indies there is nearly always a sea breeze by 
day and a land breeze by night. 
Mr. Brepow said, when they came to the meeting they had all 
expected to hear a great deal of valuable information from General 
Mesny about Yunnan, and they had heard it, but still there were 
one or two points upon which he thought a good deal of information 
might still have been given. The great interest that has attached 
to Yunnan of late years, so far as he could see, was due to its great 
tradal possibilities. There has been a sort of feeling prevailing very 
generally that Yunnan is a species of El Dorado where fortunes 
could easily and rapidly be made by any adventurer enterprising 
enough to tap her immense mineral wealth,—a feeling probably 
due to the exploits of the 18 or 19 Japanese gentlemen referred to 
by Dr. Edkins that evening. But they were all aware that mining 
is a precarious mode of making a fortune, and legitimate trade is 
generally considered a much better way of acquiring wealth. He 
was disappointed to find from what General Mesny had said about 
the trade of Yunnan that there are no imports. General Mesny 
had laid down and described very fully ten distinct trade routes, 
"and his description of them was not very promising for the growth 
of import trade. Suppose we go about importing a vast amount of | 2 
merchandise, how are we to do it? We will have enormous distances 
to travel before goods can be laid down in any considerable centres 
in Yunnan, and there are absqlutely no facilities there for cheap 
