THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS  247
(Tls.1,972,000),  rush  mats  (Tls.290,000),  tea  (Tls.3,409,000),
and  fishery  products  (Tls.339,000).
Wenchow  (28 o  1'  N.,  120°  40'  E.),  a  city  of  80,000
inhabitants,  is  situated  toward  the  south  of  Chekiang.  A
fairly  clean  and  very  picturesque  city,  intersected  by  canals,
it  reminds  the  visitor  somewhat  of  Venice.  There  is  no
foreign  settlement,  and  few  foreign  residents.  It  was
opened  as  a  treaty  port  in  1877,  and  has  failed  to  develop
a  trade.  In  1904  imports  were  valued  at  Tls.1,523,480,
including  kerosene  oil  (Tls.189,000),  and  sugar  (Tls.137,000)  ;
and  exports  at  Tls.866,905,  including  tea  (Tls.505,000)  ;
making  a  total  trade  of  Tls.2,390,385.
Fukien
Fukien,  with  an  area  of  46,300  square  miles  and  a
population  variously  estimated  from  8,000,000  (Ross,  1891)
to  25,000,000  (Popoff,  1894),  is  essentially  a  mountainous
province.  The  principal  river  is  the  Min,  which,  with  its
many  branches,  drains  the  greater  part  of  the  province,
and  has  its  mouth  at  Foochow.  The  valleys  and  foot-hills
produce  tea,  sugar,  opium,  and  food  for  the  inhabitants,
while  from  the  mountains  come  timber,  bamboos,  and,
in  recent  years,  camphor.  One  of  the  most  important
industries  is  fishing,  and  the  passenger  on  the  mail  steamer,
out  of  sight  of  land  or  seeing  only  projecting  headlands,
will  pass  through  fleets  of  thousands  of  fishing-boats,  cockleshells ­
  riding  buoyantly  on  the  waves  of  the  stormiest  piece
of  water  in  the  world,  the  Formosa  Channel.  Supported
mainly  by  the  sea,  with  a  rough  and  not  particularly  fertile
hinterland,  the  people  of  the  province  are  driven  to  emigrate
in  great  numbers,  and  from  Amoy,  it  is  estimated,  at  least
200,000  able-bodied  men  go  every  year  to  the  Southern
Seas.  In  Fukien  are  three  treaty  ports.
Santuao  (26 o  40'  N.,  119 0  40'  E.),  the  “  Haven  of  the
Three  Marts,”  has  one  of  the  finest  harbors  in  the  world,
eminently  suitable  for  a  naval  station  ;  and  this,  with  the
desire  to  protect  it  by  quasi-neutralisation,  led  to  its  volun-