1864.] The Question of British Trade with Western China. 423 



If lakhs ; cutch \\ laklis ; timber 1^ lakhs ; rubies 1 lakh ; sticklack if 

 lakhs ; gram 1 lakh ; wheat If lakhs, for the foreign markets or European 

 consumption, and of native silk fabrics 4f lakhs ; cotton ditto over 2i 

 lakhs ; lacquered-ware over 1\ lakhs ; and pickled tea \\ lakhs, for con- 

 sumption in British Burmah. Nearly all the products thus exported are 

 grown below the capital. They might be increased, it may be said, inde- 

 finitely, by a more numerous population, sure of more protection and 

 freedom to dispose of property, than unhappily at present obtains. 

 Large tracts of land to the south and of still greater extent to the 

 north of the capital, formerly producing cotton for the China market, 

 are now abandoned and left uncultivated. 



As to the mineral resources, there are three or four distinct places 

 where coal crops out, from which good samples have been procured, 

 and that promise to be the signs of extensive veins. These spots are 

 not distant from the river. Copper is found, but I do not know of 

 the ore being worth working. Iron of good quality is made from the 

 Hematite found near the Paopadoung, N. E. of Sagham, and also 

 near the Arracan mountains beyond Yan. I can also give my personal 

 testimony to the fact that large deposits of the richest magnetic oxide 

 exist in the ridges directly east of the capital, surrounded by lime- 

 stone which may serve as flux, and forests, (not improbably also coal) 

 which may afford fuel. I can also guarantee that this ore, though it 

 has never been made use of, produces a steel of first rate quality, and I 

 have reason to believe that it exists in abundance within a stone's throw 

 of the banks of the Myit-Nge. Lead, silver, gold, and precious stones 

 are mineral products of Burmah Proper, well-known to be at present 

 comparatively undeveloped sources of wealth. To these may be added 

 bismuth, sulphur, marble, serpentine, amber, salt and limestone. The 

 iron and the coal are, however, of more particular importance with 

 reference to the question under consideration. 



The population of Burmah Proper including the Cis-Salween Shan 

 States, may be estimated at 4 millions, (a very small proportion of this 

 —probably not more than one million— Burman). Already a great 

 portion of this population wear clothes of English manufacture, 

 imported from British Burmah, including 13 lakhs worth of silk and 

 cotton piece goods, If lakhs of woollen ditto, and 3f lakhs of cotton 

 twist and yarn. It only requires a better communication and a lower 

 import tariff to increase the number of customers to the whole 



