INTERNAL  TRADE  3&lt;&gt;7
until  their  grievance  was  removed,  and  the  export  of  porcelain ­
  from  Canton,  from  an  average  of  105,142  piculs  in  the
two  preceding  years,  fell  to  5g,010  piculs  in  1904.  The
Meiling  is  the  route  taken  for  centuries  by  Chinese  officials
proceeding  to  their  posts  in  the  south,  and  was  followed  by
the  various  foreign  embassies  going  to  Peking  in  the  seventeenth ­
  and  eighteenth  centuries  ;  and  its  continued  use  as
a  trade  route  to-day  is  due  to  the  short  length  of  land
portage  and  the  slight  rise  over  the  pass.
4.  The  Min  River  route  serves  mainly  its  own  province,
Fukien.  The  Min,  emptying  into  the  sea  at  Foochow,
waters  with  its  ramifications  the  greater  part  of  the  province ­
  ;  but  its  chief  interest  for  us  lies  in  the  fact  that  the
teas  of  Kiangsi,  following  this  route,  found  their  way  to
Foochow  in  the  interval  after  Canton  lost  its  monopoly  of
foreign  trade,  and  before  Hankow  established  its  firm  grasp
on  the  market  for  teas  from  the  Yangtze  basin.  Down
this  river  come  to-day  the  rafts  of  timber  from  the  mountains
in,  and  on  the  western  border  of,  Fukien,  and  the  paper  made
from  their  forests  and  bamboo  groves.
5.  The  Lower  Yangtze  is  to-day,  except  for  wayside
traffic,  given  up  to  steam.  From  Shanghai  to  Hankow  the
winter  provides  a  way  for  river  steamers  of  from  one  to  two
thousand  tons  register,  while  in  summer  full-sized  ocean
steamers  proceed  to  Hankow,  and  at  least  two  battleships
of  12,000  tons  have  ascended  the  river  to  that  point.  The
myriads  of  junks  of  former  days,  whose  sails  of  matting
reflected  the  sun  in  golden  patches,  have  yielded  the  main
thoroughfare  to  their  quicker  and  handier  rivals,  and  have
been  driven  to  the  byways  of  trade  ;  but  to  this  general
statement  there  are  some  exceptions.  Salt,  owing  to  the
government  connection  with  the  traffic,  continues  to  go
solely  by  junk  ;  and  steamer  preponderance  is  manifest  only
as  far  up  the  river  as  Hankow.  The  Hunan  trade  with
Hankow  has  not  yet  taken  to  steam  ;  the  huge  timber
rafts  continue  to  float  down  to  Hankow  and  below  ;  the
coal  continues  to  come  to  Hankow  in  roughly  constructed
barges,  which  are  there  broken  up  ;  and  the  tea  and  rice