228  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
these  figures  show  that  the  trade  of  this  rich  province
continues  to  be  carried  in  the  small  Yangtze  junks.
Changteh  (29 0  i'  N.,  iii°  27'  E.),  on  the  Yuan  River
west  of  the  Tungting  Lake,  is  on  the  point  of  being  voluntarily ­
  opened  by  China.  The  so-called  lake  is  to-day  &amp;
lake  in  summer  only,  and  in  winter  is  a  series  of  wide,
shallow  channels  in  a  waste  of  mud  ;  and,  summer  and
winter,  traffic  to  Changteh  passes  by  the  sinuous  channels
of  the  deltaic  land  lying  south  of  the  lake  between  the
mouths  of  the  Siang  and  Yuan.  During  the  winter  the
greatest  draft  of  water  which  can  go  through  to  Changteh
does  not  exceed  two  feet.  Changteh  is  a  city  of  150,000
inhabitants,  and  its  chief  value  as  an  open  port  lies  in  the
fact  that  imports  are  carried  free  of  duty  so  much  the
farther  inland.
j.  '  Hupeh
Hupeh,  “  North  of  the  Lake,"  has  an  area  estimated
at  71,400  square  miles,  and  a  population  of  34,000,000,  and
forms  with  Hunan  the  Viceroyalty  of  Hukwang,  “The
Lake  District."  Mountainous  to  the  north  and  west,  its
centre  is  covered  by  an  extensive  plain  forming  a  triangle,
with  its  base  well  north  of  the  line  Hankow-Ichang,  and
its  legs  formed  by  the  Yangtze  in  its  course  from  I  chang
south-east  to  Yochow,  thence  north-east  to  Hankow-This
  plain,  dotted  with  lakes  and  intersected  by  canals,
is  much  of  it  depressed,  some  of  it  covered  by  floods  every
summer,  and  most  of  it  protected  from  repeated  summet
flooding  only  by  a  vast  system  of  embankments,  admirably
designed  and  constructed,  and  kept  in  continual  repair  )
and  its  principal  product  is  cotton.  In  this  province  are
three  treaty  ports.
Ichang  (30 o  42'  N.,  iii°  i6'  E.),  a  city  of  40,000  people,
is  situated  at  the  head  of  steam  navigation  on  the  Yangtze,
at  the  throat  of  the  main  outlet  from  Szechwan,  and  at  the
point  where  the  mountains  of  Szechwan  and  western  Hupeh
meet  the  central  plain  of  Hupeh.  Here  a  great  emporium