148 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [May, 



I have certainly never in any part of the world seen the same feature 

 in sandstone, while as far as I was able to observe, the stratification 

 is very varied, consisting of Tufas, red and gray sandstones, gra- 

 nite, limestone, shale and many others, the name of which, being 

 uncommon, I am ignorant of ; red sandstone and a kind of loose flaky 

 magnesian limestone appearing the most common ; the latter in ma- 

 ny places, however, I hesitate to call limestone, though it is more like 

 that formation than any other I know of. 



On arriving at Chung Ching, the traveller may know at once by the 

 number of junks, bustling activity of the people and general well-to- 

 do look of the city, — to say nothing of the never ending stream of coo- 

 lies carrying merchandize, — that he has arrived at a great trading mart. 

 Raw cotton from the lower Yangtzu is continually being discharged 

 from the junks lying along the river, while foreign piece goods meet 

 his eye at almost every turn, nearly every other shop displaying these 

 goods for sale. Raw cotton and cotton piece-goods form the principal 

 imports, but foreign glass and crockery- ware, judging from the num- 

 ber of shops engaged in the sale of these articles, appear to find a 

 large market in Chung Ching, while sugar, hemp, tobacco, silk and 

 native medicines (this last article in incredible quantities) are the 

 principal exports. 



Chung Ching besides being the great Western mart of trade, is 

 financially the city of greatest importance in the west of China. Here 

 the pay of the "Frontier army is regulated, as also the pay of the Go- 

 vernment staff of Szchuan. The customs dues of the whole province 

 find their way here, and so great is the fame of Chung Ching wealth 

 in China, that the specie in common use there is at a great premium, 

 and the merchants have their agents north, south, east and west through- ■ 

 out the empire. Such is the famous Chung Ching, the Liverpool of / 

 Chinese trade, and it is to be hoped that Western commerce and ener- I 

 gy will soon find their way to her, unfettered by the extortion and 

 exclusive pride of worthless and ignorant mandarins. 



Leaving Chung Ching and continuing up river, a journey of 7 days, 

 brings the traveller to Swifoo (Souchowfoo), a large city, situated 

 at the mouth of the Min river, of considerable importance as 

 a tribute station to which many of the tribes, immediately to the 

 west of the Min annually repair with tribute ; it is also the last city 



