AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 17 



gloss to the higher grades of paper. In damp clammy weather 

 a board thinly coated with white wax is drawn along the surface 

 of satin and silk warps in silk-weaving establishments to facilitate 

 the passage of the strands through the loops. It is used for adding 

 a lustre to cotton cloth, and as a polish in jade ware, " in the daintier 

 articles of furniture, such as small dressing-cases and cabinets, 

 and it is universally used by the medicine shops for coating pills, 

 and thus preserving the active properties of the drugs of which 

 they are composed." 



According to Davies the price near Wei-ning Chou is 20 taols 

 (about Rs. 31), for a man's load of 50 or GO lbs. of insects. There 

 is little doubt that the finer varieties of paraffin wax would do as 

 well as this white wax for certain of the uses to which it is put, 

 and there is an opening for an import market of Burmese paraffin 

 wax therefore in Yunnan. 



Silk is produced in Yunnan on a small scale, but the yellow- 

 silk which is exported through Teng-yiieh, and which forms by far 

 the most valuable export, probably all comes from Ssii-ch'uan where 

 it is a great and very valuable industry. In many places in Yunnan 

 I have seen the cocoons laid out to dry in the sun, and in a few 

 others I have seen the silk being spun from them. The provincial 

 Government tried to improve the silk industry in various ways s 

 Orders were issued to the district officials to encourage the cultiva- 

 tion of the mulberry as much as possible, and a good example was 

 set at Yunnan Fu, where many thousands of young trees were 

 planted. Improved patterns of looms were set up in the provincial 

 capital, and Cantonese weavers were engaged to train classes of 

 students in the art. 



INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Yunnan suffers greatly from lack of efficient ways of trans- 

 portation. Though some of the greater rivers of the earth flow 

 through it, there is no waterway in the interior which is of any 

 practical service for boat transportation on a large scale, much 

 less for steamers of any kind. 



The Yang-tze is navigable by boat to Sui Fu (lat. 28° 45', long. 

 104° 35'), one stage from the Yunnan boundary, but elsewhere 

 rapids and rocks make navigation impossible, except on short 

 reaches, and then at considerable risk. The Red river is navigable 

 by boats to Man-hao, just inside the southern frontier of Yunnan, 



