The cotton costs them 5 rupees a _muen_ (25 lb.), and fetches 20 rupees at Yunnan Fu. The cost of carriage, including collection for each _muen_, is therefore 15 rupees, or (with exchange at sixteen pence for a rupee) £89, 12s. a ton. Assuming Lakon as the centre of their collecting ground, the average distance a ton would have to be conveyed to Yunnan Fu if carried by railway, would be 665 miles; and the cost for the journey, at a penny a mile, would be £2, 15s. 5d., or—if we allow £9, 12s. a ton for the cost of collection, and £80 as the present cost of carriage—nearly twenty-nine times as cheap as the cost by caravan. Dr Cheek, a son-in-law of Dr M‘Gilvary, who was for some years stationed at Zimmé as medical officer attached to the American Presbyterian Mission, interested himself in collecting information concerning the country, and caravan traffic. In a book termed ‘Siam and Laos,’ recently published by the American Presbyterian Mission Board, he states, in an article written before I explored the country, that— “Sir Arthur Phayre represents the Laos (Shan) ‘traders as industrious, energetic, possessing a marvellous capacity for travelling as petty merchants, and longing for free trade.’ My own knowledge, after a residence of several years in Cheung Mai (Zimmé), confirms this official statement. “The agricultural richness of the plain is known. The forests of valuable timber clothing the hills and mountains are another source of wealth. A large proportion of the teak timber shipped from Maulmain comes from the Zimmé forests. The mineral resources of this Laos country are varied and extensive: deposits of many of the useful and precious metals are known to exist; iron, copper, zinc, lead, silver, antimony, nickel, and gold are found in greater or less abundance. Coal has been found along the river (Meh Ping) after heavy rains, and petroleum has also been discovered. “The importance of Zimmé is not, however, sufficiently indicated by a statement of the productions and population of the province. Its resources can never be fully developed if it is in the future to remain so cut off from the rest of the world as it always has been. The problem of a direct trade-route connecting China with the British possessions in India, is at the present time attracting much interest. The route across northern Yunnan, _viâ_ Bhamo, into Burmah, has been sufficiently investigated to ascertain that for overland commerce to any considerable amount it is impracticable. It remains to discover the best route possible through the Laos (Zimmé Shan) country.