910 REPORT— ] 898. 



destruction actually accomplislied, this earthquake surpasses any of which there is 

 historical record, not even excepting the great earthquake of Lisbon in 1755. 



3. On Earthquake Study. Bij Professor J. Milxe, F.R.S. 



The author described the methods of st-isinological research now in use, and 

 the progress that has been made in the establishment of seismometers in dift'erent 

 parts of the world. The utility of these researches has been recognised by sub- 

 marine cable companies as supplying a means of ascertaining the exact date of the 

 fracture of cables by earthquakes, and in avoiding regions subject to earthquake 

 disturbance when laying cables. The researches have also been of value to 

 engineers in designing houses, bridges, and other structures to rtsist earthquake 

 shocks. 



4, The Valley of the Yangtze. By Mrs. Isabella L. Bishop, F.R.G.S. 



The author recently travelled for eight months in the Yangtze Valley, making 

 a journey of 1,200 miles by land in the I'rovince of Sze-chuan, and nearly 2,00(J 

 by water, from Cheng-tu to Shanghai, during the land journey travelling up the 

 smaller and western branch of the Min to its source at an altitude of nearly 1,100 

 feet, near the Tsu-kuh-shan Pass. In the opening of the paper she briefly traced 

 the course of the Yangtze from the sea near Shanghai to its source on the confines 

 of the Tibetan Steppes, pomting out the magnitude and utility of the afliuents which 

 it receives after its entrance into Sze-chuan, and the access given by these water- 

 ways into the very centre of the interior. Taking the Yangtze Valley in its full 

 geographical sense, the region watered by the Great River and its atfluents, as 

 extending westwards for about 3,000 miles, and into the very heart of Asia, Mrs. 

 Bishop pointed out that this region must be taken as including the Provinces ot 

 Kiaugsu, Anhui, Hupeh, Ilonan, Hunan, Kwei-chow, Kiangsi, Ganhuy, Sze-chuan, 

 Chekiang, and parts of Yunnan, Kansuh, and Shensi, making altogether the most 

 accessible, the richest, and the most productive portion of the Empire, with an in- 

 dustrious and thrifty population of from 150,000,000 to 180,000,000. After briefly 

 alluding to the treaty ports and the great cities of the Lower Yangtze, she entered 

 more into detail regarding the country above Ichang, the head of steam navigation, 

 and specially as to Sze-chuan, which, in virtue of its area, population, and resources, 

 she considers the Empire Province of China. She described briefly the industries 

 of the province, its superb climate, its vast wealth in coal and iron, its elaborately 

 organised civilisation and modes of communication, the increase in the growth 

 and export of opium, and in the import of Indian yarn for home weaving, and 

 expressed the opinion that the increasing scarcity of cash, the fall in the purchasing 

 power of silver, the likin, and the neglect of our manufacturers to study the needs 

 of the Chinese as to the width, weight, texture, and patterns of cotton doth, limit 

 and hamper trade far more than the lack of steam communication on the Upper 

 Yangtze. She noticed the genius for combinution which exists among the Chinese, 

 and stated that in Sze-chuan, with its population estimated at from fifty to seventy 

 millions, every occupation has its guild, except trackers and water-carriers. 

 W hile recognising the fact that this province is over-populated, she considers that 

 it has an enormous amount of wealth and prosperity, and gave, among other indi- 

 cations of the former, the numerous fine countrj' mansions of a leisured class, the 

 size and architecture of the farm-houses, the handsome bridges and fine roads pre- 

 .sented by rich men to their localities, the splendid halls erected by the guilds, the 

 new temples, and the magnificent charities which are liberally supported in every 

 city. Ignorance and superstition prevail, but she believes that the hostility 

 shown to foreigners, who from having been ' Sons of the Ocean ' a few years ago, 

 are now ' Foreign Devils,' ' Child Eaters,' and worse, is instigated and fomented by 

 the official class for easily guessed purposes of their own. She gave her own 

 impressions of the Chinese peasantry of the Yangtze Valley, and concluded by 

 reminding the audience that this ' sphere of influence' or 'interest' extends over 

 a thii-d of China. 



