CARRIAGE BY BEARERS.
Out in the country there are practically no roads, as we understand roads. It is necessary to cultivate every inch of available ground, and the farmer begrudges anything taken from the fields for the paths, which are but a foot or two wide. It is easy to understand that, under such conditions, the almost universal mode of passenger transit is by chairs and bearers. The narrowness of the paths is a source of trouble. When two parties of bearers approach each other, there is much shouting to induce one or other to return and make way; but when both come on, one has to get off, or be pushed off, into the swamp by the sides. When one is a foreigner his portion is invariably the swamp.
The bearers are patient, much-enduring people, who do their work thoroughly and without complaining, in the face of mud, and rain, and difficult roads. They will carry a traveller from twenty to twenty-five miles a day. When a lady occupies the chair the curtains are rigidly closed. It would be at the risk of her life to travel in an open chair. There is much etiquette connected with the getting in and out of chairs, which wise travellers never neglect. The photograph is of a lady’s chair.
CARRIAGE BY BEARERS
A TRAVELLER ARRIVING
AT AN INN
IN MANCHURIA.
There are various ways of carrying a traveller’s baggage. Sometimes it is slung in the centre of bars and carried as the traveller’s own chair is carried. More often a package is slung at each end of a bar, which is placed across the shoulders of a coolie. Constant change of shoulder is necessary, and the stopping to make this change becomes a serious matter in a journey of any length. It is trying work, and the shoulders of the coolies generally show it by the callositis produced by the constant carrying of heavy burdens. The illustration shows Mrs. Bishop’s baggage arriving after a day’s journey.
A TRAVELLER ARRIVING
AT AN INN
IN MANCHURIA
CARRIAGE
OF
MERCHANDISE.
It will be seen that two coolies, by means of these bars, can carry a great weight—as much as two hundred pounds is carried between them—and they will cover with this weight twenty to twenty-five miles a day. Chair-carriers will, with the attendant luggage-carriers, cover as much as twenty-five miles, but their burdens are less heavy.
CARRIAGE
OF MERCHANDISE
THE MODE OF CARRYING
OIL AND WINE.
In wicker baskets lined with oiled paper of extraordinary toughness, which is much used everywhere. The oil is obtained from various “oil seeds,” the tough paper by macerating bamboo. Beneath the basket will be noticed a long cylinder. This is the coolie’s purse, in which he carries his “cash,” the small copper or brass coin of the country, which is of such small value that nine pounds weight of copper cash is only worth one English shilling.
THE MODE OF CARRYING
OIL AND WINE
WHEELBARROW TRAFFIC
ON THE
CHENGTU PLAIN.
This Chengtu Plain, with its 2,500 square miles of country and 4,000,000 population, is perhaps the best cultivated and most fertile spot in the world. It owes its fertility to the work of two engineers, who, more than two thousand years ago (250 years B.C.), designed and carried out the most perfect system of irrigation. They were Li Ping, the father, and his son, and are familiarly known to-day as the first and second gentlemen of China. The land bears four crops in the year. With all this produce and population, the traffic is enormous, and it is mainly carried on by means of wheelbarrows, which are so contrived, by placing the wheel in the centre and platforms at the side and behind it, as to enable one man to wheel five hundredweight with ease. The narrow roads of the plain are covered by an almost endless procession of these wheelbarrows, which are often preceded by one man pulling in addition to the man behind.
WHEELBARROW TRAFFIC
ON THE
CHENGTU PLAIN
THE WHEELBARROW
OF NORTH CHINA.
This is another form of the same baggage-carrier which is in use all over the Empire. It is much larger than that in use on the Plain of Chengtu, but is constructed on the same principle; by means of it one man can wheel as much as half a ton. It is a vehicle well adapted to the narrow roads of the country.
THE WHEELBARROW
OF NORTH CHINA
A SMALL HOUSEBOAT
ON THE
YANGTZE KIANG.
If China cannot boast of its roads, it may claim to be a country of waterways, rivers and canals forming the chief means of communication. The country being so large, travellers have to spend much time in going from place to place, and living accommodation has to be provided on the boats. It is very rough. The illustration gives a good specimen of a small boat which may be hired for a journey. The mat roof is placed over the open part at night. In the daytime this space is occupied by the rowers. In the night they roll themselves up in their wadded quilts and sleep there. In China there is no privacy, but much curiosity. No part of your boat, although you have hired it, is sacred to you; the boatmen pass in and out of what you may regard as your cabin without consideration for you. Mrs. Bishop put up curtains around her cabin to shut out prying eyes, and as far as they could the people respected her evident desire to be alone.
A SMALL HOUSEBOAT
ON THE
YANGTZE KIANG
A FOOT BOAT FOUND
IN CENTRAL CHINA.
The oars are worked by the feet instead of the arms. The sides of this one are beautifully carved and lacquered, and protection from the sun and rain is provided by a roof of mats, the universal form of shelter and protection on the water.
A FOOT BOAT FOUND
IN CENTRAL CHINA
HSIN TAN RAPID
ON THE
YANGTZE RIVER.
The rapids on the river give rise to a considerable amount of occupation for men called Trackers, whose occupation is the dragging of boats up-stream through the wild and dangerous waters of the rapids. These men live in huts on the river banks as close to the water’s edge as possible. A group of their huts is to be seen on the left of the picture, and on the extreme left, almost too small to be visible, are four hundred trackers dragging up a boat. At the top and foot of every rapid on the Yangtze are to be found one or more Red Lifeboats, which are most efficiently and admirably manned and maintained at the cost of Benevolent Guilds—one of the many charitable guilds in the country—for the purpose of assisting the crews of boats which get into difficulties. Boats are frequently wrecked in their passage, and the Red Lifeboat has saved the lives of many foreigners in the accidents attendant upon their passage of the Rapids.
HSIN TAN RAPID
ON THE
YANGTZE RIVER
A BOAT ON THE MIN
RIVER, USED FOR
RUNNING THE RAPIDS.
The Min River, called also the Fu, is a western tributary of the Upper Yangtze, but a great river in itself. Of the boat’s four sails the lowest is of bamboo, and is let down at night to protect the boatman and his family. The feature of the boat is its high prow, for protection against the rocks and rushing water.
A BOAT ON THE MIN
RIVER, USED FOR
RUNNING THE RAPIDS
PART OF A FRINGE
OF JUNKS OR RIVER BOATS
AT WAN HSIEN.
Illustrating the enormous traffic on the Yangtze. This fringe of boats, closely packed, extends for two miles along the river bank, and is an evidence of the great trade and prosperity of Wan Hsien.
PART OF A FRINGE
OF JUNKS OR RIVER BOATS
AT WAN HSIEN
THE BRIDGE OF
TEN THOUSAND AGES,
FOOCHOW.
A country of waterways must be a country of bridges, but the beauty of the bridges in China is quite a surprise to the traveller. The straight bridge of the illustration given here is built upon enormously solid piers, which are often monoliths. The roadway is constructed of single blocks thirty feet long. The balustrade, as well as the roadway, is solid stone. This is the oldest form of bridge in the country, and the bridge in the picture is one of the oldest bridges.
THE BRIDGE OF
TEN THOUSAND AGES,
FOOCHOW
A BRIDGE AT WAN HSIEN
OF THE
SINGLE ARCH TYPE.
One enters almost every town or village, when travelling by water, under a bridge of one arch, which may be anything from fifteen to thirty feet high and of a most graceful form. These bridges are constructed of blocks of granite cut to the curve of the bridge, and a flight of steps leads to the crown of the arch. In the illustration the steps are clearly shown leading to the house at the top. A most graceful and beautiful bridge.
A BRIDGE AT WAN HSIEN
OF THE
SINGLE ARCH TYPE
THE BRIDGE OF
MIEN CHUH SZE CHUAN.
When a rich man or a company of rich men wish to benefit their province, it is quite a common thing for them to let their generosity take the form of the building of a bridge. This bridge was so built. It is a most beautiful structure, both in form and colour. The roof is of green tiles, the inside being lined with crimson lacquer, deeply incised in gold with the names of the donors.
THE BRIDGE OF
MIEN CHUH SZE CHUAN
A SIMPLE
COUNTRY BRIDGE.
The kind of bridge found on a secondary road in Sze Chuan, constructed of wood roofed in with tiles, after the manner of Switzerland, to protect it from the weather.
A SIMPLE
COUNTRY BRIDGE