350  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
POPPY  cultivation  in  Szechwan  and  Yunnan.  .  .  .  With
a  consciousness  that  I  am  underestimating,  I  estimate
that  the  poppy  fields  constitute  a  third  of  the  whole  cultivation ­
  of  Yunnan."  The  province  has  to-day  but  two
articles  of  importance  with  which  to  pay  for  extra-provincial
products  consumed—viz.  opium  and  tin.  The  latter  comes
from  one  spot  twenty  miles  from  Mengtsz,  and  the  value
of  the  output  in  1904  was  Tls.3,200,000.  Opium  comes
from  all  parts  of  the  province  and  goes  in  all  directions,
that  portion  shipped  for  the  use  of  the  Opium  Régie  iu
lonkin  in  1904  amounting  to  2,958  piculs,  the  quantity
going  by  land  into  China  being  very  much  greater.  Yunnan
opium  was  known  at  Canton  and  at  Chinkiang  in  1863  »
in  1879  the  production  was  variously  estimated  from  12,000
to  22,000  piculs  ;  in  1887  it  was  estimated  at  27,000  piculs-A
  low  estimate  of  the  production  to-day  is  30,000  piculs-Kweichow
  opium  was  known  at  Canton  in  1863.  I#
1879  the  estimates  range  from  10,000  to  15,500  piculs,
in  1887  one  authority  estimates  it  at  9,000  piculs,  and
another  states  “  total  production  nearly  as  muchas  Yunnan-A
  safe  estimate  of  the  production  to-day  must  be  fully
15,000  piculs.
Kwangsi  imports  practically  no  foreign  opium  (22  picul 5
entered  at  Wuchow  in  1905),  and  is  a  thoroughfare  l° r
Szechwan,  Yunnan,  and  Kweichow  opium  for  its  own  consumption, ­
  and  in  transit  to  Kwangtung.  The  poppy  is  als°
cultivated  in  the  province,  but  to  what  extent  is  littl e
known.  The  production  of  opium  was  estimated  in  X879
at  3,000  piculs,  and  may  be  put  at  the  same  figure  to-day-For
  the  Inland  Provinces,  not  accessible  at  any  tim e '
except  Honan,  to  the  invasion  of  foreign  opium,  the  annua
production  may  be  put  at  323,000  piculs,  making  for  th e
whole  of  China  a  total  of  376,000  piculs.
It  cannot  be  asserted  that  this  figure  is  measurably
exact  ;  but  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  the  productioU
of  opium  in  China  to-day  is,  at  the  lowest,  six-fold,  and
is  more  probably  eight-fold,  the  quantity  of  the  preset
import  of  foreign  opium.