Facing the Yellow Sea, about 350 miles in a direct line south-east of Pekin, and almost opposite the southern extremity of Korea, the bay of Kiao-Chau is less than two miles wide at its entrance. Within it extends over an area of something like 150 square miles of deep water, affording at all times a safe anchorage for ships of any size. The German naval base of Tsing-Tau stands on the north-east shore, at the outlet of the bay, which is entirely surrounded by hills from 400ft. to 600ft. high, most of them offering admirable sites for fortifications. If the defensive works, planned when the place was seized, have been carried out and fully armed, the harbour must present formidable obstacles to a sea attack, while the land approaches are guarded by a series of fortifications across the head of the peninsula. The garrison consists of 5,000 German marines and a small force of Chinese soldiers, the remainder of the white population being very inconsiderable. Described as the key to Northern China, Kiao-Chau, besides its value as a harbour of refuge for warships, is of considerable commercial importance. The district inland under German authority abounds in mineral and metalliferous wealth, an abundant supply of good coal being not the least of its riches. The local native industries are chiefly connected with fruits and vegetables, silk culture, brewing, and soap-making. Two years ago the imports amounted in value to £5,746,900 and the exports to £4,014,750. In the winter months the harbour is the natural outlet for the trade of Northern China, a railway 272 miles long, from Tsing-Tau to Poshan, having much increased its value in this direction. Besides Tsing-Tau, Germany owns many scattered possessions in the Pacific, all of which it may be thought desirable to take charge of, if not by reason of their actual worth, yet to prevent their use as wireless stations or hiding-places for commerce-destroying cruisers. One of the most important Teutonic properties in the Southern Pacific stretches along the northern coast of eastern New Guinea. When it was taken over by the Berlin Government in 1884, it received the name of Kaiser Wilhelm Land, its new owners entertaining high expectations as to its future, though the Australians greatly disliked the establishment of a German colony so close to their shores. The territory shares the fertility of all other Pacific regions. The cultivated area is probably about 50,000 acres, and susceptible of almost indefinite extension.