14 COGGIfl llUOWN : MINKS & MINKKA1- RESOURCES OF YUNNAN. 



the cow for food, though beef can often be obtained in the cities 

 where there are communities of Chinese Mohammedans. 



Sheep-farming is rather an occupation of the Lolos and other 

 tribesfolk than of the Chinese proper. Many of these people in 

 the upper basin of the Red river and in the north-eastern prefec- 

 tures possess very large flocks ; the wool is the most valued product, 

 but they do not know how to weave it into clothes. Felt rugs, 

 carpets and coarse blankets, as well as the thick woollen mats 

 which are sometimes used to protect mule loads in bad weather, 

 are made from wool. Some of these articles are valuable items 

 of export ; 1,780 felt carpets were exported through Ssu-mao in 

 1909; in other years the number has been as high as 4,116. About 

 20,000 felt carpets used to be exported through Teng-yueh annually 

 up to 1914. There is a very bright future for trade in things of 

 this kind, for markets are ever present in Burma for any agricul- 

 tural products which Yunnan can spare. Yunnan is capable of 

 raising hundreds of thousands more sheep than it does at present^ 



The Chinese use the bones of animals as fertilizers and also for 

 the manufacture of buttons, dice, knife-handles, small boxes and 

 chop-sticks. Horns of the water buffalo and ox are made into 

 various domestic articles such as combs, brush-backs, shoe-horns 

 and cups, the material being worked up in a lathe. Cow and buffalo 

 horns are exported to Burma and French Indo-China. About 

 200 tons of horns were exported from Teng-yueh per annum before 

 the war. In addition to this there are exports of hides. The 

 annual export of hides through Teng-yueh alone amounted to 

 between 150 and 200 tons per annum previous to 1914. This, 

 however, does not by any means represent the number of animals 

 which have been slaughtered or have died during the year, for 

 large quantities of hides are required by the Chinese glue and leather 

 makers in the province. The leather is largely used in the manu- 

 facture of saddlery and for the soles of boots. In this connection 

 it may be well to point out that the hides from Yunnan would 

 command a far higher price were they treated more carefully before 

 leaving the country. Any process of pickling or salting appears 

 to be unknown, and after being removed from the dead carcase 

 the fresh skins are simply pegged out tightly in the sun and left 

 to dry ; the holes made by the pegs and the crease.* caused by 

 folding the skins to form them into suitable loads, detract much 

 from their appearance and value in the foreign market. 



