34«  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
For  the  Yangtze  Provinces,  accessible  since  1861  by
steamer,  the  annual  production  may  be  put  at  10,500  piculs.
Inland  Provinces
Honan  opium  was  known  at  Shanghai  in  1863  ;  in  1879
the  production  was  estimated  at  3,500  to  5,000  piculs,  and
in  1887  at  5,000  piculs  :  the  output  to-day  is  probably
fully  5,000  piculs.
Shansi  formerly  supplied  a  large  area  with  opium,
from  Hankow  in  the  west  and  Shanghai  in  the  east  to
Manchuria  in  the  north.  In  1879  the  production  w aS
estimated  at  4,000  piculs,  and  it  will  be  safe  to  put  it  to-day
at  5,000  piculs.
Shensi,  as  we  know,  cultivated  the  poppy  in  the  eighth
century  ;  and,  as  the  practice  of  scoring  the  capsule  to
obtain  opium  was  introduced  through  the  adj  oining  province,
Kansu,  it  may  be  assumed  that  Shensi  was  one  of  the
provinces  to  produce  opium,  and  stood  ready  to  suppv
the  demand  when  it  arose.  In  1872  Baron  von  Richthofen
records  that  “  in  some  portions  of  the  country  it  (th e
poppy)  formed  the  most  conspicuous  winter  crop.”  ^
1879  it  was  estimated  at  Hankow,  to  which  some  part  0
the  product  was  sent,  that  the  annual  output  was  5,°°°
piculs  ;  and  it  would  not  be  safe  to  put  the  output  to-day
at  less  than  10,000  piculs.
Kansu,  according  to  Richthofen,  “  does  not  consult
all  the  opium  it  produces,  but  exports  considerable  quantité 5
both  east  and  west,  and  imports  none.”  With  a  populate 11 '
largely  Mohammedan,  estimated  at  the  lowest  at  8,000,0°°'
the  production  of  opium  must  be  over  5,000  piculs.
Szechwan  must  have  early  acquired  the  art  of  opin°j
manufacture,  bounded  as  it  is  to  the  north  by  Kansu  an
to  the  south  by  Yunnan,  both  centres  of  Mohammedan
influence  from  early  times  to  the  present  day  ;  and,  wh el j
the  practice  of  smoking  the  drug  was  introduced,  it  m^ 5
have  spread  at  once  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  mist-cover®
province,  steamy  in  summer  and  chilly  in  winter.  ?  6
universal  testimony  of  travellers  is  that  the  people  are,