2Ó2  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
is  maintained  in  the  colony,  and  the  resident  civilian
population  in  1906  was  319,803,  composed  of  3°7,3
Chinese,  6,085  British  and  other  Europeans  and  Americans,
and  5,902  other  foreigners.  Of  the  Chinese  216,240  we
males  and  91,148  were  females.
Kwangchowwan  (21 0  i'  N.,  iio°  25'  E.)  is  one  o
four  cessions  on  lease  made  in  the  period  after  the  C  ma
Japan  war,  the  four,  with  dates  of  first  occupation,  houig
Kiaochow  (Germany,  November  14,  1897),  Port  Art  u
and  Talien  (Russia,  March  27,  1898),  Kwangchowwan
(France,  April  22,  1898)  and  Weihaiwei  (Great  Bri  ain.
May  24,  1898).  The  Bay  of  Kwangchow  has  a  goo
anchorage,  but  with  a  difficult  entrance  through  sand-  an  &lt;s  ,
and  access  to  Kwangsi  by  rail  will  be  possible  over  a  no
too  difficult  country.  The  French  authorities  have  a  c
no  steps  to  develop  the  legitimate  trade  of  the  colony,  an  ,
apart  from  the  smuggling  incidental  to  a  free  port,
chief  use  of  the  cession  has,  so  far,  been  to  advance
French  flag  so  much  the  farther  to  the  east  and  the  neare
to  the  mouth  of  the  Canton  river.
Kwangsi
Kwangsi,  with  an  area  of  78,000  square  miles  and
population  of  which  the  highest  estimate  is  9,000,00
(Alabaster,  1902),  is  in  its  central  and  eastern  part  a
general  altitude  of  500  to  800  feet  above  the  sea,  and  s
upward  towards  the  mountains  of  the  north  and  west,  heig  1
of  6,000  to  8,000  feet.  It  includes  the  drainage  basin  of  t
West  River,  the  affluents  of  which  converge,  as  the  finget
of  the  hand  converge  to  the  wrist,  to  their  outlet  at  WuchoW,
the  waters  then  flowing  for  a  short  distance  in  one  channe
through  Kwangtung  until,  at  Samshui,  they  again  diverge
to  form  the  channels  of  the  Canton  delta.  Proceeding  ll P
the  West  River,  to  the  west,  it  is  known  by  that  name  as
far  as  Sünchow  (Tamchow  in  local  dialect),  where  it
bifurcated  into  the  North  and  South  Rivers.  The  Nort
River  receives  several  important  affluents,  but  slightly
navigable,  and  is  itself  navigable  for  some  distance  by  boats