Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1870-07-08


About ten o'clock the wind subsidized
considerabl V. and before noon we
were passing again close to land.
and making full eight knots an hour
| have seldom seen a more delight
full region Of country. The fields.
covered with a rich green coat of
growing rice; the hills, terraced to
their very submits and glowing
with violets and azalias, presented
picture of Arcadian loveIiness and
beauty.
Toward sunset we passed great
rows of mulberry trees. They were
the first I had seen, and they were
partially stripped of their leaves We
could see, also, Strawberries grow
ing in great profusion. How it
made the water start to my mouth
as l watched the women and child
ren filling their little bamboo bask-
cts with great ,ucious red strawber-
ries! We stopped in front Of an old
farmers house and for one hundred
cash (about eighteen cents purcha
sed four lit lie basketfuls of the old
mans berries. They were not so
good as the strawberries in Ohio.
though they were quite passable, ,and
l did not feel like complaining, for
we had secured nearly one gallon
for less than eight cents.
The people here use a different
built boat to what I have been ac
customed to see at Ningpo and Fo
Chow. / have observed that in dit
ferent provinces there is a striking
dissimiIarity in the craft employed
IL the waters.
l was awakened on the morning
of the 90 by loud blestering noise
from the boatmen. A vision of
those dreadful pirates flashed upon
me again as l heard Ah Sam cry
from above: Master! Master!'' /
rushed to the deck, with nothing on
but my pajamos Our boat had been
stopped by Chinese gunboat, be-
longing TO a Mandarin, in charge Of
Chinese
''SQUEEZE HOUSE
No one who has not travelled in
China can form any conception or
the amount Of "squeezin2' done by
these petty Mandarins. 1t is their
:.uty to prevent smuggling and to
collect certain duties. They always
have a gang Of villainous so diers
on their gunboats, and everybody
seems to be at their mercy. Boats
carrying foreigners are entitled to
pass these squeeze houses free Our
boatman had been ordered to stop
and had claimed the usual privilege.
But the vigilant guardians of the
celestial revenue had demanded to
see the "foreign devil" AS soon as
| reached the deck the whole motlv
crowd of soldiers stretched their
necl1s and gaped and squinted at me
in perfect amazement. They said
they had never seen a foreigner be
fore, and asked All Sam for permis
sion to come on board and have a
lock.
The visit was politely declined.
and we passed on. While we were
lying in front of the squeeze house
a native boat passed us, bound fol
Hang Chow, and l suppose the men
on board Of her g We out along the
river ahead of us that a foreigner
was coming. At almost every little
village and hamlet crowds had con
gregated to see the Yang qui- tsze
foreign deviD and our boatmer
were constantly interrogated as tc
where | was going, what | was after
was l a joss man and had l really
red hair. Our progress during the
whole day was very slow and tedi
Gus. the river--for we had entered
the mouth of the -tang--was ex
tremely swift, and we often encoun
tered rocky shoals. The day passee
without any occurrence worthy O.
note. From ten O'Clock until three
during the day the beat was so in
tense, and was obliged to stay il
the narrow cabin 1t is perfectly
amazing to see these Chinese boat
men stripped to their waists, bare
headed, with no protection from thu
sun, work from morning until nigh
without suffering any apparent in
convenience from the heat of the sun
A Chinaman wears no hat while ht
is at work. He is the only human
being that can shave his head anC
defy the blazing sun. Five minute;
of this would produce brain fever il
an American. During the day we
passed the city Lob o-tah. 1t i;
beautifully situated on the bank ol
a river. The Loh-o Pagoda, whicl
stands just outside the city, is al
object of great interest to the trav.
eler 1t is 200 feet high, was bull
1,100 years ago. and is yetin a gooo
state of preservation. 1t has sever
stories and each story has eigh
windows. 1t is octagonal in form
gradually taperiDg from the base
and it is 225 feet in circumference
The Loh-o Pagoda is the most in
teresting structure of its kind l have
seen anywhere in China. / will 10 tt
as curious fact that the Chinese
themselves can give no satisfactory
reasons for these strange structures
| asked Ah Sam his reason, anC
his reply. though laconic and obs
cure enough, is the stereotyped an
swer of every Chinaman to quest
ion he can not answer: It was this
"Ah, because for Fung Shuey" "
| Fung -Shuey literally means wint
and water. If the intelligent reader
can now make out the true reasoi