The Greek extract is as follows:

τὰς δὲ ψυχὰς ἐῶντας λιμῷ κατατήκεσθαι καὶ μυρίοις ταλαιπωρεῖσθαι κακοῖς, ὁμοίους εἶναι δοκῶ ἀνδρὶ φεύγοντι ἀπὸ προσώπου μαινομένου μονοκέρωτος, ὃς μὴ φέρων τὸν ἦχον τῆς αὐτοῦ βοης και τὸν φοβερὸν αὐτοῦ μυκηθμὸν, ἀλλ ̓ ἰσχυρῶς ἀποδιδράσκων τοῦ μὴ γενέσθαι τούτου κατάβρωμα, ἐν τῷ τρέχειν αὐτὸν ὀξέως μεγάλῳ τινὶ περιπέπτωκε βόθρῳ· ἐν δὲ τῷ ἐμπίπτειν αὐτῷ, τὰς χεῖρας ἐκτείνας, καὶ φυτοῦ τινὸς δραξάμενος κραταιῶς τοῦτο κατέσχε, καὶ ἐπὶ βασεώς τινος τοὺς πόδας στηρίξας, ἔδοξεν ἐν εἰρήνῃ λοιπὸν εἶναι καὶ ἀσφαλεία. Βλέψας δὲ ὁρᾷ δύο μύας, λευκὸν μὲν τὸν ἕνα μέλανα δὲ τὸν ἕτερον, διεσθίοντας ἀπαύστως τὴν ῥίζαν τοῦ φυτοῦ, οὗ ἦν ἐξηρτημένος, καὶ ὅσον οὔπω ἐγγίζοντας ταύτην ἐκτεμεῖν. Κατανοήσας δὲ τὸν πυθμένα τοῦ βόθρου δράκοντα εἶδε φοβερὸν τῇ θέᾳ, πῦρ πνέοντα καὶ δριμύτατα βλοσυροῦντα, τὸ στόμα τε δεινῶς περιχάσκοντα καὶ καταπιεῖν αὐτὸν ἐπειγόμενον. Ατενίσας τε αὖθις τῇ βάσει ἐκείνῃ ἐφ' ᾗ τους πόδας εἶχεν ἐρηρεισμένους, τέσσαρας εἶδε κεφαλὰς ἀσπίδων τοῦ τοίχου προβεβληκυίας ἐφ ̓ οὗ ἐπεστήρικτο. Ανάβλεψας δὲ τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς ὁρᾷ ἐκ τῶν κλάδων τοῦ φυτοῦ ἐκείνου μικρὸν ἀποστάξον μέλι. Ἐάσας οὖν διασκέψασθαι περὶ τῶν περιεχουσῶν αὐτῷ συμφορῶν, ὅπως ἔξωθεν μὲν ὁ μονόκερως δεινῶς ἐκμανεις ζητεῖ τοῦτον καταφαγεῖν, κάτωθεν δὲ ὁ πικρὸς δράκων κέχηνε καταπιεῖν, τὸ δὲ φυτὸν ὃ περιεδίδρακτο ὅσον οὔπω ἐκκόπε τεσθαι ἔμελλε, τοὺς δὲ πόδας ἐπ' ὀλισθηρᾷ καὶ ἀπίστῳ βάσει ἐπεστήρικτο·—τῶν τοσούτων οὖν καὶ τοιούτων φρικτών θεαμάτων ἀλογίστως ἐπιλαθόμενος, ὅλῳ νοῒ μέλιτος ἐκεινοῦ τοῦ μικροῦ γέγονε τῆς ἡδύτητος ἐκκρεμής.

Barlaam and Josaphat, p. 112.

A version of the Greek extract, which however does not pretend to be accurate, may be of service to some of my audience.

"I consider those who allow their souls to be wasted with hunger and distressed with a myriad evils to resemble a man flying before a raging unicorn (rhinoceros), who, not enduring the sound of his roaring and his frightful bellowing, but running off with might and main to avoid becoming a meal for him, in his swift course has fallen into a vast pit. But as he falls, extending his hands and grasping a shrub he clings to it with all his strength, and steadying his feet on some support fancies himself, for the rest, in peace and safety. He looks and sees two mice, the one white the other black, ceaselessly eating through the root of the shrub to which he has attached himself, and going on so as only not yet quite to sever it. Then he considers the bottom of the pit and perceives a dragon terrible to see, breathing fire and grimly awe-inspiring, gaping fearfully too and eager to swallow him up. Once more fixing his gaze on that support on which he has his feet planted, he sees four serpents' heads projecting out of the wall on which he has got his support. But casting his eyes upwards he sees from among the branches of the shrub a little honey distilling. Giving up at once the consideration of the calamities that surround him,-how that from without the unicorn awfully raving seeks to devour him, and from beneath there is the savage dragon yawning to swallow him up, and the shrub he has grasped is going, only not yet, to be severed, and that he has planted his feet on a slippery and unsafe support,-most unreasonably, I say, forgetting all these great sights of terror, with his whole mind he becomes enchained by the sweetness of that mere drop of honey."

The Professor gave me the following explanatory note. "In the explanations the unicorn is said to represent Death, the pit is the world, the plant is our life consumed by day and night, the four serpents are the four elements which compose the body, the dragon below is Hades, and the honey is the sweetness of the pleasures of the world, by which it deceives its friends, and will not let them take thought for their own salvation."

ARTICLE VI.

TRADE ROUTES TO WESTERN CHINA.*

BY

ALEX. HOSIE, Esq.,

of H.B.M.'s Consular Service.

ARON F. VON RICHTHOFEN in his valuable letter

B addressed to the Committee of the Shanghai General

Chamber of Commerce in 1872 devotes an occasional page to the subject of Trade Routes in Western China, more especially in the province of Yunnan; but, as that distinguished traveller was, owing to an unfortunate accident, compelled to abandon his projected journey from Ssu-ch'uan into Yunnan, and his descriptions of the trade roads in the latter province were therefore derived from hearsay, it may not be out of place for one who has recently performed the journey which he abandoned, and who has traversed four trade roads to Yunnan, to endeavour to supplement his remarks.

I shall not, however, confine my attention to the province of Yunnan; but I shall endeavour briefly to point out the existing trade routes to Western China, and to examine their relative advantages.

By Western China I mean the provinces of Ssu-ch'uan, Kueichou, and Yunnan.

I.—SSU-CH'UAN.

The great trade highway into Ssu-ch'uan is the River Yangtsze and its numerous tributaries.

By the Agreement of Chefoo facilities were granted for the navigation of the Upper Yangtsze by the opening of the port of Ichang and the permission to ascend by steamer as far west as Ch'ungking, the great commercial centre of the province of Ssu-ch'uan.

Advantage has been taken of these facilities to navigate as far as Ichang; and, except during the winter months when shallows interfere with vessels drawing more than six

Read before the Society on the 25th March, 1884,

.

feet, a steamer runs regularly between Hankow and Ichang; and I un lerstand that a Company has recently been formed whose object it is to run a couple of steamers between these two places at all seasons.

No attempt has yet been made, however, to steam as far west as Ch'ungking; and one would naturally assume that obstacles bar the way. All the year round native boats navigate the waters between Ichang and Ch'ungk'ing, and we hesitate to be driven to the conclusion that obstacles surmountable by native craft are insurmountable by steam.

The obstacles to native craft are the rapids and the strong current, the former when the river is low, that is, during winter and spring, and the latter during the rest of the year when the river is flooded. Many of the larger boats have a draught of more than five feet, and insufficient depth of water has never been adduced as an obstacle to steam. In ascending from Ichang these boats, except in the gorges where the current is sluggish, are tracked by the river's bank; and when the river is low, they are dragged over the rapids by sheer human strength. I say, when the river is low, for during summer and autumn the rapids disappear under the great rise of water, and then there exists no obstacle to prevent a steamer of sufficient power from ascending as far as Chungking and even as far as Hsüchou Fu, better known as Sui Fu, which for all practical purposes is the highest navigable point on the River Yangtsze.

We have said that the Yangtsze is the great trade. highway into Ssu-ch'uan, and from and to it goods are carried by land and water, principally the latter.

The Kia-ling, which enters the Yangtsze at Ch'ungking, supplies the north and partly the east; the T'o, which enters the Yangtsze at Luchou, supplies the centre; and the Min, which joins the Yangtsze at Sui Fu, supplies the capital and the west of the province. These streams also bring down to the Great River, as the Yangtsze is called between Ichang and Sui Fu, the products of the districts which they drain.

In addition to these three streams which enter the Yangtsze from the north, are several others which join it. from the south; but they are more concerned with supplying goods to and bringing produce from Kueichou and Yunnan

than the south of Ssu-ch'uan, and will be noticed when we come to deal with these provinces.

The time and labour required to carry the goods by native craft from Ichang to Ch'ungk'ing and to distribute them throughout the province, seriously raise the value of the goods and necessarily limit their consumption; and there cannot be the least doubt that, were the facilities granted by the Agreement of Chefoo taken advantage of, goods could be laid down economically and without risk in Ch'ungking, and a great development of the trade in substantial foreign manufactures would be the result.

The province of Ssu-ch'uan contains a population some five or six times greater than either Kueichou or Yünnan, and a population wealthy as compared with the populations of these smaller provinces; and the energy of the foreign merchant instead of being wholly diverted to supplying the requirements of Yunnan-requirements insignificant when those of Ssu-ch'uan are considered-should be devoted to availing himself of the advantages conceded by the Agreement of Chefoo, and thereby open up to foreign trade the largest province in the Empire with its population of about thirty millions.

But let not the foreign manufacturer and merchant think, as some recent writers would have then believe-that these millions of Western China are waiting to array themselves in foreign piece goods. No such thing. For the ordinary working classes, such as agriculturists, carriers and coolies, which form a large proportion of the population, these goods are altogether unsuited; and to supply their wants Ssu-ch'uan annually imports from the Hukuang provinces raw cotton and manufactured goods, the value of which cannot be placed at less than two millions sterling. These cottons are warm and substantial; and when the wear and tear of years have reduced them to rags, they are converted to numerous other uses.

The foreign manufacturer and merchant may well be content if they can supply that percentage of the population, such as shopkeepers and the wealthier classes, which has not to earn its livelihood by hard manual labour.

In a word, the trade highway into Ssu-ch'uan is the Upper Yangtsze. For ccnducting and developing this trade, facilities have been granted by the Agreement of Chefoo;