Journal of the Society of Arts : Volume LI, No. 2623 [‎729r] (15/32)

February 27, 1903.]
JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS.
3i3
TWELFTH ORDINARY MEETING.
Wednesday, February 25, 1903 ; Sir
Steuart Colvin Bayley, K.C.S.I., C.I.E.,
Vice-President of the Society, in the chair.
The following candidates were proposed for
election as members of the Society :—
Anderson, Sir R. Rowand, LL.D., F.R.S.E., 16 ,
Rutland-square, Edinburgh. , j
Baker, Charles Edmund, 54 , Parliament-street, S.W.,
and Park Hill-lodge, Shortlands, Kent.
Caldervvood, James Macdonald, M.Am.I.M.E.,
M. Inst.M.M., Messrs. Symons and Moses, P O.
Box 469 , Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa.
Fraser, A. Brodie, Roddach Bow, Denton-road,
Canton, Cardiff.
Grenfell, General Lord, G.C.B., G.C.M.G. [Knight] Grand Cross of [the Order of] St Michael and St George (accolade). , The
Palace, Valetta, Malta.
McLaughlin, Miss M. Louise, 2558 , Eden-avenue, ,
Mount Auburn, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.
Matland, George Read, 1 , Finsbury-pavement, E.C.
Oelsner, Isidor, 31 , Holland-villas-road, Kensington,
W.
Quin, William James, J.P., Bishops Glen (P.O.
Box 58 ), Bloemfontein, Orange River Colony, !
South Africa.
Rank, Joseph, Willersley-house, The Paik, Hull.
The following candidates were balloted for
and duly elected members of the Society : —
Ferguson, James, 4 , Warltersville-road, Crouch-hill, J
N. , and 91 , Fore-street, E.C.
Hamilton, W. L. H., 16 , St. Helens-place, E.C.
Hume, John, 18 , Chapter-road, Willesden-green,
N.W.
Lowry, George A., Board of Trade-buildings,
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Mackinlay, James W., Chumleigh, Finchley, N., and
85 , London-wall, E.C.
Mossop, T., Bond-street-chambers, Bradford, Yorks, j
Moysey, Frank Lindsey, 78 , Wellmeadow-road,
Catford, S.E.
Pyper, William James Stanton, Hollywood, St. Law-
rence-road, Clontarf, Dublin.
Riley, Henry Lindon, LL.B., Court-chambers, St.
Helens, Lancashire.
Scarborough, Prof. W. S., LL.D., Ph.D., Wilber- •
force University, Wilberforce, Ohio, U.S.A.
TONKIN, YUNNAN, AND BURMA.
By Fred. W. Carey, F.R.G.S.
(Late H.B.M.’s Acting-Consul at Szemao, China.)
The title of my paper is somewhat of a
misnomer. I could not hope to give you, in
the time at my disposal this evening, a com
prehensive description of Tonkin, Yunnan, and
Burma. What I want to do is to treat, in a
brief fashion, of these three countries in their
relation to each other commercially; to describe
two of the ways of penetration into South-West
China ; and to illustrate a journey from Haip
hong up the Red River, through Yunnan and
the Shan States into Burma. I trust that my
illustrations will make up for any deficiency of
matter in the paper itself.
Tonkin is the northern half of the kingdom,
or empire of Annam, and was for many
hundreds of years a tributary state of the
Chinese empire. Little need be said of its
history previous to the appearance of the
French on the scene, towards the end of the
18th century. In 1799 they assisted their
protege, Ghia Lung, to the throne of Annam,
but it was not until 50 years later that they
began to take an interest in the government
of that kingdom, an interest which did not
cease until in 1885, as a result of the Franco-
Chinese difficulty, Tonkin became a French
colony.
Tonkin is divided naturally into two parts,
the Delta, which is the low-lying and fertile
southern portion, and the hilly country, com
mencing a little to the north of Hanoi, and
extending north and east in both directions
to the Chinese frontier. The mountainous
portion is densely wooded, and very sparsely
populated : minerals are said to exist in places.
The Delta is simply one huge rice-plain,
watered by the Red River and its numerous
affluents. Generally speaking the climate of
Tonkin is hot and unhealthy.
Haiphong, the principal port of Tonkin, is
situated on the right bank of the CuaCam,
one of the numerous mouths of the Red River,
12 miles from the sea. It is 48 hours from
Hongkong by mail steamer. On account of
the double bar at the entrance, the CuaCam is
only navigable to steamers drawing less than
19 feet of water: and approach to the port
of Haiphong is rendered still more difficuL
from the fact that the tides in the Gulf of
Tonkin are diurnal, i.e., there is only one rise
and fall during 24 hours, instead of every 12
as on our own coasts.
The paper read was—-