"Much trade is carried on by boats, and where there is no water, and farmers are without other conveyances, they will sometimes push their wives along the roads in wheel-barrows, sons giving their parents similar drives. There are but few carriage-roads in many parts of China."
"I wonder the Chinese do not make more, then," said Leonard.
"They cannot afford to do so, because to make them bread-producing land would have to be done away with."
"What a number of rivers and bays there are in China!" said Sybil, who was again examining her map. "And I see the Great Wall crosses the Hwang-ho."
"And that's the fifth largest river in the world," Leonard answered. "Only the Amazon, Mississippi, Nile, and Yantze-kiang are larger; and the Grand Canal in China is the very largest canal in the world."
"I learnt once, too, that Hwang-ho meant 'Chinese sorrow.' Why is it called that?"
"Because it has altered its course, which has caused great loss and inconvenience to the Chinese."
"And what does 'Yantze-kiang' mean?"
"The son that spreads; this is their favourite river."
Geography was one of Leonard's favourite studies.