e
Mekong, formerly known as Cochin-China.

From these lands more than half a million tons of rice are exported, the
product being sold mainly at Hongkong and Singapore. Pepper is also an
export of considerable value. France, China, and the Philippine Islands
are the final destination of the rice export. The imports are mainly
textiles, machinery, and coal-oil from the United States. The machinery
pertains chiefly to the manufactures of cotton and silk textiles. On
account of cheaply mined coal, there is a considerable growth of this
industry. _Saigon_ is the business centre and port at which the Chinese
middlemen meet the European merchants and forwarders.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

What have been the chief effects of the British occupation of these
countries, so far as the natives are concerned?

What is the position of Khaibar Pass with respect to the commerce of
India?

How has the building of the Sind-Pishin Railway strengthened British
occupation of India?

Singapore and Batavia are the two great focal points of trade in the
East India Islands. At the former all trade is absolutely free; at the
latter there is both an import and an export tax. What are the
advantages of each policy?

From the Abstract of Statistics find the trade of the United States with
these countries.

FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE

From a cyclopaedia, preferably the Encyclopaedia Britannica, read the
following topics:

Caste
Lord Clive
Rattan
Pepper

CHAPTER XXXII

CHINA AND JAPAN

The relative position of China, Russia, and Japan is not unlike that of
continental Europe and Great Britain, and the struggle for supremacy in
the Japan and Yellow Seas is about the same as that which in times past
took place in the North Sea. In the latter case France and Holland were
the disturbing powers; in the former, it is Russia.

=The Chinese Empire.=--A comparison of the Chinese Empire with the United
States shows that the two countries have about the same position and
extent of latitude. There is also about the same proportion of
highlands, arid lands, and fertile lowlands. The similarity of the two
countries in geographic conditions is very marked.

The fertile lowland in the east and southeast is one of the most
productive regions in the world, and forms the chief resource of the
country; on account of its productivity it is densely peopled. The arid
and mountain lands are peopled mainly by cattle-herde