the time of my visit in 1871, the inner walla of the rooms in the lower fiats of the foreign houses still retained the water marks caused by the floods in the preceding year. This flood had covered the Bund to a depth of about seven feet, when throughout the settlement boats were the only means of communication. The kitchens, or outhouses, had either been destroyed or rendered useless, so that native barges had to be hired for the accommodation of the servants, and for cooking. Boats were punted into the halls, and inner staircases were transformed into jetties; dining-rooms became swimming baths; furniture fell to pieces; the boundary walls of the property settled down into the mud; and, in some instances, the houses themselves sank on their foundations, and threatened altogether to tumble down. Poultry and cattle had to be sent to the hills, or stowed in the upper bedrooms, till the flood should abate, while natives to the number of 40,000 sought refuge on the Hanyang Hill. But it was in the districts above the Tung-ting Lake that the suffering and disaster occasioned by the inundations attained their greatest proportions. There whole towns were flooded out, and crops were destroyed and washed away. " At I-chang more than half the houses are submerged to their very roofs. Kwei-chow is more than half in ruins." " Wan-hsien has suffered little; but the suburbs, which were at least five times as extensive as the town itself, have been swept away;" and so on, run the notices of disaster in the Customs Report of 1870. Besides all this, a disaffected portion of the suffering population of Hupeh rose in rebellion, and were reported to have formed a project for advancing against Hankow.
The Chinese built a great wall, at a cost of ,£80,000, from the Han to the Yangtsze, which sweeps round the back of the settlement. This wall was intended as a protection against organized raids from the banditti of the plain. It has proved most effective as a breakwater, and it gets the credit of saving the settlement from being swept into the Yangtszc by the flooded stream from the Han.
The river bank in front of the Bund was faced with stone, at a great cost, to a depth of sixty feet. But soon after the opening of the port in 1861 funds were freely lavished by the foreign merchants in carrying out such works as would add to the security and adornment of a place which seemed likely to become the greatest emporium in China. Costly and elegant residences were erected, and Hankow has thus been rendered one of the finest foreign settlements in the Flowery Land. These early expectations of a vast trade have never been fully realized, and land and house property, in 1871, had greatly fallen in value. Were I-chang to be opened to foreign trade — a step which has been strongly advocated for a long time — much of the present trade of Hankow would probably be monopolized by the new port. Native competition has had its share in taking part of the import trade out of the hands of foreign agents, inasmuch as the Chinese merchants have found that they can effect a saving by visiting Shanghai in the river steamers, and making their purchases direct from the home markets for themselves. This is a disadvantage which will increase rather than diminish as our trade with China expands; and it may reasonably be expected, in process of time, that the Chinese will have their own establishments in Manchester and London.
The British concession at Hankow has a river frontage of Soo yards, with a great depth inshore. To the westward of this, additional land is taken up by the houses of the agents for the Steam Navigation Companies; while on the east there is the unoccupied French settlement, which boasts a Consulate, imposing on the outside but apparently falling into decay internally.
The number of foreign residents, including missionaries, is about a hundred.
The trade under foreign flags, in 1871, was valued at ^14,000,000. Hankow is the centre of the districts which produce Congou teas.
