1869.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 151 



tyrannical government. The frightful extortion and absolute power 

 of the mandarins, and their satellites, have broken their spirit so com- 

 plet ely, that they have become utterly indifferent to the fate of their 

 country. And lastly the curse of opium and religious superstition has 

 brought them to a condition, the contemplation of which is truly 

 lamentable. So conspicuous is the general aspect of ruin throughout 

 the province, that I felt it at all times sad to realize the fact, that I was 

 travelling amongst a people, the works of whose forefathers only stand 

 to mark the decay of their progeny, and the gradual decline of the great 

 Chinese Empire. China of to-day is but the remnant of a past age. 

 The cause of internal decay hangs heavy over her ; she is but the 

 expiring embers of a once bright and beautiful fire. Shall the spark 

 of truth and knowledge that is required to rekindle her into bright- 

 ness come from the West ? Let the great nations that at present 

 busy themselves so much about her welfare, consider this ques- 

 tion, for of a truth — the saving of China from herself — is no easy 

 matter to be accomplished ! 



The cultivation of opium in Ohina has of late become such a serious 

 question in connection with the demand for the Indian drug, that a 

 few remarks on this subject may not be considered out of place here. 



Hue in his work on China makes little or no reference to the culti- 

 vation of opium, and a Reverend Father who resided in Szchuan for 

 thirty years assured me, that when he first visited that province, and for 

 many years after, the growth of opium was unknown, and until of late 

 years, Szchuan has depended on Yunnan and India for its supply. The 

 Mahomedan war cut off supplies from Yunnan, which opium is more 

 highly esteemed than either the foreign drug, or that produced in 

 Szchuan, and when this supply failed about twelve years since, it 

 caused a greater demand for the foreign drug, and consequently an in- 

 creased price, which soon had the effect of increasing the cultivation 

 ot the drug in Szchuan, until at this moment it forms with sugar, 

 rice and tobacco, the principal cultivation of the province. 



The present extensive cultivation of the drug in Szchuan, and the 

 revival of cultivation in Yunnan during the last four or five years, 

 may probably account for the sudden decrease in demand for the 

 Indian drug in AVestern China. 



