]68 REPORT — 1860. 



the Upper Shire. The chief's father had died some time previous. They had not 

 washed themselves since, though washing is practised more or less on these plains; 

 and they would not wash until some friends at a distance, who possessed muskets, 

 had come and fired over the grave. The badge of mourning consists of narrow 

 strips of Palmyra leaf, tied round the head and arms, sometimes round head, neck, 

 breast, knees, ankles, arms, and wrists. They have the idea of a Supreme Being, 

 whom they name Pambe, and also of a future state. The chief Chitisurdi said they 

 all knew that they lived again after death. " Sometimes the dead came back again, 

 — they appeared to them in dreams, but they never told them where they had gone 

 to." This is an inviting field for benevolent enterprise. There are thousands needing 

 Christian instruction, and here are materials for lawful commerce, and a fine healthy 

 country, with none of the noxious insects with which Captains Burton and Speke 

 were tormented, and, with the single exception of 30 miles, water communication 

 all the way to England. Let but a market be opened for the purchase of their 

 cotton, and they can raise almost any amount of it, and the slave trade will speedily 

 be abolished. 



On the Mountain Districts of China, and their Aboriginal Inhabitants. 



By W. Lockhart. 



Much of the empire of China with which we are best acquainted, consists of the 

 plains that lie near the mouths of the rivers, as they find their way to the sea-board, 

 and it is here that the important ports for our trade are situated. The interior of 

 the country is richly diversified ; the land rises considerably towards the hilly districts, 

 that slope from the chains of mountains that traverse all the western provinces and 

 spread themselves out through the central part of the country, being in fact the east- 

 ern spurs of the Kwan-lun and Himalaya ranges, that rise in Northern India to a 

 vast height, and gradually pass down through the north and south of Tibet towards 

 China. The Kwan-lun range passes into the northern and central provinces of 

 China, and the Himalaya into the southern and south-western provinces, while 

 the Tien-shan or Celestial Mountains and the Altai chain pass into Mongolia and 

 Mantchouria, commonly called Chinese Tartary. 



In the mountainous regions of China the country is very beautiful, and combines 

 the varieties of scenery found in other similar districts ; many of these portions of the 

 empire are brought into communication with the sea coast, by means of the large 

 rivers that flow through all the rich and fertile central provinces, offering great 

 facility for the interchange of the various commodities of different parts of the em- 

 piie. These rivers form in fact the high roads of the country. 



For purposes of communication in the mountain districts, and to facilitate the 

 transit of goods, many roads have been cut at great expense and with much labour 

 over the passes between the high ridges. The great road from Pekin to the south- 

 west through Shen-si to Sze-chuen, is by a mountain route, whichrequired great ability 

 and skill to make passable; many years were spent in this work, and it is a monu- 

 ment of the patience and perseverance by which it was accomplished ; by this road 

 merchants and officers constantly travel between the capital and the western frontier. 

 The road from Shan-si to Kan-suh is one of the most extensive works of the kind in 

 China. Besides these great trunk roads, there are several other mountain routes, by 

 which goods are carried from province to province across the mountains, one of 

 which may be mentioned, as the well-known Mei-ling pass between Kwang-tung 

 and Kiang-si; it is 24 miles long, and over it all the tea and silk that go to Canton 

 are carried on men's shoulders. Much might he said regarding these mountain 

 roads ot China, hut it is impossible to enter on the subject here. 



It is among these mountains and in the valleys they enclose, that many tribes of 

 people dwell who are probably the aborigines or natives of the land. The great 

 mass of the people who inhabit China are those who dwell in the cities and villages, 

 cultivating the land, following the pursuits of commerce, and acknowledging the 

 authority of one emperor; these may be considered to be the Chinese of the present 

 day ; but in the islands of Formosa and Hainan, as well as in the western frontier, 

 dwell those native savage tribes, who acknowledge no submission to the Emperor of 

 China, dwell among their own hills, and have ever maintained their independence. 



