24 COGGIN BROWN : MINKS & .MINERAL RESOURCES OF YUNNAN. 



may undoubtedly claim the distinction of being the 

 most difficult and most inhospitable of all the routes 

 which serve as the main lines of communication in this 

 part of China. Until the mineral wealth which it 

 possesses is properly and systematically developed, this 

 portion of Yunnan can be of no commercial value, nor 

 can I imagine any line of country less likely to excite 

 the enthusiasm of the railway engineer." 



The Blackburn mission passed over this route in 1897 and 

 described it as a country of " alternating bare, wind- 

 swept downs and precipitous canons." " On 31st March 

 we travelled 25 miles without seeing a village, and 

 there was no work for us to do— a commercial mission 

 in the Sahara. In truth from Lao-wu-tan to Kung- 

 shan the country, at present, is of no possible value 

 for commerce. The people are very poor, and clad 

 exclusively, when clad at all, in Shah-shih cotton cloth, 

 hut they can scarcely afford sufficient clothing." Speak- 

 ing of the country a few miles to the east of the trade 

 route in the Tung-ch'uan Fu area, Major Davies, with 

 all his extended acquaintance with the geography of 

 Yunnan and other countries, remarks : " I do not think 

 I have ever seen such a mass of steep broken hills as this 

 country presents. The hillsides are very barren and 

 dry, and many of them are too steep to be climbed, so 

 that the roads have to follow the beds of streams." 



I give these quotations because this is one of the few districts 

 in Yunnan which I have not crossed myself, and I 

 desire to correct an erroneous idea which is prevalent 

 that future expansion of railways lies in this direction 

 chiefly. This idea has arisen because it is the shortest 

 route between Yunnan and the Yangtze valley proper, 

 but it never existed except in the imagination of theorists 

 unacquainted with the real state of the problem. 



(4) The West River route. The least important of the four 

 great routes into Yunnan is the one which leads up the 

 West river from Canton, through the provinces of Kuang- 

 tung and Kuang-hsi to the borders of Yunnan. Boats 

 can ascend as far as Pai-se T'ing (lat. 23° 55', long. 106°), 

 one day's march from the border of Yunnan. 



