The sun., 1891-07-03
Emigrants from China.

vessel has been seized near Victoria b.
O., having 800 Chinese on board. who, it is
said, were about to steal their way into this
country IL they could elude detective vigi-
lance There is doubtless some smuggling
lof Chinese over the border, though our Gov
erilment agents succeed in preventing
wholesale enterprises.
1t Is mistake to suppose that any consid.
cradle part OF the Chinese people have ever
had desire to emigrate. have relations who
have emgrated. or care whit whether
foreign nations welcome the Chinese to their
shores. The Chinese are stay-at-home
people. Most OF them never saw one of their
race who had gone or wished to so to q
foreign land to make his living; China. as n
whole, has not contributed to tho emigra-
tion movement. The coast provinces es-
pecIally have not contributed to it. Ger
tainly the greater part OF the Chinese emil
granite have been drawn from q single prov
ince of the empire. Tho province OF Fo-
khien is tho region that sends out tho larg-
est forces OF Chinese ndventurers.
This fact is we'll known to all who have
examined the question. Eight or ten years
ago RECLUs wrote that tho dialects OF Fo-
khlen wore the Chinese that was spoken In
California, in Chill, in the Philippine Islands,
in Siam. and Australia. Mr.. j. NJ. DE GRooT,
In report he has just mado to the Geo
graphical Society OF Amsterdam, says the
valleys Of Fokhien are the great sources OF
supply for the streams OF emigration which
have poured forth to the Oriental colonies OF
England. Spain, and the Netherlands, TO
California and Australia, and, above all, to
Siam and Cochin China.
Why Is 1t that this little mountainous
province on the coast is more conspicuous
than other parts OF China In the emigration
movement? We have authority for saying
thatitis because dense population is crowd
cd into narrow valleys. while the most OF the
province. covered with mountains or strewn
with granite boulders, Is so poor in soil,
water and timber that 1t yields only the
most meagre support to scanty popula-
tion; and yet tho valleys OF the Min and
some other rivers of Fokhien yield the finest
tea in the world. and the little province has
two famous and fourishing seapor.s. Fu-
chow and Annoy.
Another reason why the thoughts Of many
of these Chinese have been turned to emf
grafton is that 1t is not easy to get out OF
their own district except by the sea. Lofty
mountain ranges girdle their province In all
inland directions. except on the southwest,
where they have access to Kwang-tung.
whose capital is Canton. They have only
footpaths for roads over the mountains, and
these arc often merely tho beds OF dried-up
streams. Very few Of them are attracted
over the mountains to sock better
fortune among tEeir nelghbors; but
before them lies tho wide strait that
separates them from the island OF Formosa.
Their two big treaty ports are inyitingly
near, and Canton and Hong Kong are easy
to reach. There they are packed like sar-
dimes In their narrow mOuntain-bounded
valleys. most OF their river men are forbid
den to have any holdings on land. and those
who live near the sea are hardly able to draw
sustenauce from the rocky soil. No wonder