¿38  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
vided  that,  as  elsewhere  in  China,  they  have  no  olfactory
nerves.  The  population,  estimated  before  the  rebellion
at  a  million,  is  now  about  500,000  ;  the  walls  are  abou
ten  miles  in  circuit,  and,  as  is  usual  with  Chinese  cities,
the  greater  part  of  the  trade  is  carried  on  in  the  subur  s,
outside  the  walls,  more  especially  to  the  north-west.  T  e
one  important  industry  is  silk-reeling,  spinning,  and  weaving-Soochow
  was  opened  as  a  treaty  port  in  1896,  and  an
international  settlement  was  laid  out,  to  be  administere
on  the  plan  afterward  adopted  for  Yochow,  situated  outside
the  south  wall,  at  the  greatest  possible  distance  from  the
business  quarter  and  from  the  railway  station,  opened  to
traffic  in  1906.  The  opening  of  the  port  has  produce
but  little  effect  on  the  course  of  trade,  which  continues
to  follow  old  channels  to  Shanghai  ;  the  total  value  in
1904  was  Tls.1,247,668  for  imports,  of  which  tobacco
contributed  nearly  a  fourth,  and  Tls.1,886,194  for  expoits,
of  which  silk  contributed  four-fifths.  .
Shanghai  (31 0  14'  N.,  121 0  29'  E.),  “  By-the-Sea,"  lS
now  far  removed  from  salt  water,  but  is  the  first  point  on
entering  the  Yangtze  at  which  a  port  can  be  establishe
At  a  distance  of  60  miles  from  the  North  Saddle  light»
on  an  outlier  to  the  entrance,  and  at  32  miles  from  the
Tungsha  lightship,  marking  the  outer  bar  of  the  southern
entrance  to  the  Yangtze,  at  the  village  of  Wusung,  is  the
first  affluent  of  the  Yangtze,  the  Hwangpu,  draining  a °
extensive  area  of  canal-intersected  plain  between  Chinkiang
and  Hangchow.  The  Hwangpu,  a  tidal  river  emptying
into  a  tidal  river,  has  an  outer  and  an  inner  bar,  the  latter
with  only  a  general  depth  of  19  feet  at  high  water,  spring
tides,  though  at  times  this  is  increased  to  23  feet.  This
sufficed  for  the  vessels  engaged  in  the  carrying  trade  in  the
early  days,  but,  with  the  increase  in  carrying  capacity  0
steamers  in  recent  times,  many  ocean  steamers  are  no^
compelled  to  discharge  outside  Wusung,  and  in  1906  a
Conservancy  Board  was  established  by  the  Chinese  Govern'
ment,  under  the  stipulations  of  the  International  Protoco
of  September  8,  1901,  to  improve  the  condition  of  the