INTERNAL  TRADE  3H
meet  with  accident  :  the  downward  journey  may  take
from  three  or  four  days  to  a  week.  By  this  route  merchants
may  elect  to  pass  their  goods  through  the  maritime  Customs
or  to  pay  likin  on  the  way,  each  offering  certain  advantages
for  Chinese  produce  upward  or  downward.  In  1905  the
value  of  the  trade  passing  the  maritime  Customs  was,
upward  Tls.16,562,371,  downward  Tls.  11,169,256,  total
Tls.27,731,627  ;  a  fair  allowance  for  the  goods  passing
the  likin  offices  would  bring  the  total  value  of  the  waterborne ­
  traffic  of  Szechwan  to  Tls.40,000,000.
7.  The  Kweichow  route  up  the  Yuan  River  from
Changteh  and  the  Tungting  Lake,  is  barred  by  numerous
rapids  and  available  only  for  small  boats.  The  downward
traffic  consists  of  timber,  opium,  and  mining  products  ;
the  officially  declared  value  of  the  timber  is  Tls.6,000,000
a  year,  from  which,  in  China,  a  true  value  of  Tls.10,000,000
and  more  may  be  inferred.  The  upward  traffic  is  not
great.  The  only  index  to  its  volume  is  the  value  of  the
foreign  goods  sent  under  transit  pass  from  Hankow  into
Kweichow,  valued  in  1904  at  Tls.  1,207,695,  and  in  1905
at  Tls.835,277  ;  by  other  routes  in  1905  Kweichow  received ­
  foreign  goods  under  transit  pass  to  the  value  of
Tls.4,856,903  by  the  West  River,  Tls.598,432  from  Mengtsz,
and  Tls.30,636  from  Tengyueh  by  land  route  crossing  the
whole  width  of  Yunnan.
8.  The  Han  River  route  from  Hankow  into  Shensi
presents  few  difficulties  to  navigation,  beyond  the  gradually
diminishing  depth  of  water,  as  far  up  as  Sichwanting  in  the
south-west  corner  of  Honan,  and  for  small  boats  as  far  as
Shangnan  in  Shensi,  a  distance  of  1,730  li  (nominally  575
miles)  from  Hankow.  From  that  point,  land  transport
for  320  li  (nominally  100  miles)  over  the  rugged  Tsingling
mountains,  carries  goods  to  Sianfu,  the  capital  of  Shensi.
Beyond  Sianfu  land  transport  alone  is  available  to  other
parts  of  the  province,  and  on  to  Kansu,  Mongolia,  and
Siberia.  Tea,  less  in  amount  than  by  Tientsin  and  Kiakhta
but  still  in  considerable  quantity,  goes  by  this  route  overland ­
  to  Russia  ;  the  quantity  fluctuates,  and  has  been