21G REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 



20 li wide. Nothing else seems possible. In time, as the land was 

 built up, the broad sheet of water was narrowed down. 



In dealing with ancient Shanghai it must be pointed out that 

 Mr. Lanning has omitted to mention the relations between countries 

 other than Japan. For instance the Jessfield Ferry is called the 

 Fan ($£) tu, and near by is the $£ 3£ $£. Does not this indicate 

 some close connection with classic India? There must be other traces 

 about and we could wish a more thorough investigation had been 

 made. The author is incorrect in saying that Ricci was the only 

 foreigner named in Chinese Annals. Why ! Verbiest is often mentioned 

 in the Tung Hua Lu — and his petitions to Kang Hsi are given in 

 that work, and it is related how he often went with Kang Hsi on 

 his expeditions. Others are mentioned too. 



The first thing that strikes one in the making of the Settlement 

 is the difficulties that the organisers of early days encountered and 

 the way they surmounted them. One is especially struck with the 

 work of the British Consular Authorities. They were placed in tight 

 places in dealing with the Chinese authorities ; and very often they 

 came into conflict with the British Superintendent of Trades, who 

 could write "No consul had ever before assumed," etc. Very often 

 too the Foreign Office was not altogether pliant. It didn't want to 

 be bothered with another country. It was even difficult to get some 

 stationery. They were economical in those days ! Yet Captain Balfour 

 and Mr. Alcock went on in spite of these difficulties, even in face of 

 abusive letters from their own nationals. One of these wrote, "and 

 as besides being Consul you are a 'soldier,' I need say no more than 

 that I shall be at home this evening and have a friend in readiness." 

 When the writer was taken up and bound over to keep the peace it is 

 surprising to find that one of the sureties for Tls. 10,000, a big sum 

 in those days, was Dr. Lockhart. Who could the transgressor have 

 been ? Those were strenuous days when Drs. Lockhart and Medhurst 

 and Muirhead got far afield and into serious troubles ; and when 

 six young Englishmen who had gone out for a Sunday ramble near 

 Canton got done to death. The story of the Battle of Muddy Flat 

 too is well told. The foreign civilians had rough times with the 

 Imperial Soldiers in the open country somewhere between the Bund 

 and the top of Nanking Road. Shanghai it will be seen was a very 

 different place in those days. 



The coming into existence of the Municipality on the 11th July, 

 1854, at a meeting over which Mr. Alcock presided, is graphically 

 told. But this Voluntary. Association was in May 1855 dissolved by 

 the British Government. Contemporaneously the Maritime Customs 

 were organized. Growing trade and administrative difficulties made 



