The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1881-07-02

abounds in the hills about. As we
left this curious village q fell musing.
Is there a man among all these
tradesmen, or has there ever been, like
"Lamertine's Stone Mason, of Sand
Point" who, unaided by revelation,
looked up through nature.to the God
who wrought it all? Was that char
acter only the dream of a gifted ge-
MUS, or was there real person who
lived and spoke as he did?
DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY.
We passed very little of interest
after leaving that village The houses
are poorly built, and the country
rocky. This is the only billy coun
try / have seen. North. west and
east of Tsi Nan is a level plain.
There are no hills from here to the
sea, as you 90 north. Twenty miles
east the hills begin. South, the first
of the range lies just outside of the
gate, it was upon its side that we
dug the grave of our noble
M'ILvAINE,
the pioneer Missionary of Central
Shantung.
If YOU were to travel for day
along one of these roads in cart,
as we did, you would see
THOUSANDS OF STRANGE THINGS
that are now so common to me as to
escape notice Had you been with
rs upon our journey you would have
piled us with questions, as l did 9th
ers when | first came.
You hear the incessant
cREAK OF wHEELBARRows
as YOU travel. They have a peculiar
half-musical sound, that one soon
rather learns to like. Long trains of
them, laden with the various pro
ducts of the country, are forever pass
ing. On this occasion | saw the first
barrows with sails. had often heard
it said that in China they tow their
boats with men and put sails upon
their whcelbarrows. But it is only
| true in limited sense, for they have
sails upon their boats as well, and a
barrow would fare poorly if none but
wind power were used to propel it.
| When there is stiff wind it no
doubt aids locomotion not little
They erect a sail, perhaps eight feet
high by five feet wide. This is eth
err made of canvass or a cheap piece
of mat. But barrows do not, like
ships and men, ever get three sheets
to the wind
Another strange thing would at
tract your attention, viz: the num-
Der of
on the road. All the poorer classes
of persons use these for riding, and
the heavy barrows are pulled by
them. They are handy, easy kept,
intelligent and cheap. l wonder they
are not reared in large quantities in
America. Plenty of poor men, at
home, could save many a weary mile
if he had a donkey to ride, as well
as cultivating their gardens by that
means. A little donkey costs less to
keep than a COW, and | believe the
day will come when they will be used
much more extensively at home.
There are all sorts of donheys-both
big and little donkeys, poor and good
donkeys, grey and white donkeys
There are rink streaked donkeys and
spotted donkeys, and there is the lit
tie black donkey. Yes, there arc
plenty of donkeys in China, and no
| mistake.
We spent the first night about %
miles from here. / have told you of
the
before; that they are run strictly on
the European plan, furnishing rooms
only. Here you find table, chairs,
and a rough wooden bedstead that
looks like common farm sled minus
the runners. Over this is a small
straw mat, and you furnish your own
bedding. AS we had an abundant
supply, we were very comfortable.
We also took some of our food along,
such as butter, milk, coffee, &c, trust
| ing to the restaurant, if may use so
good name for so poor thing, at
tached to the inns, to furnish us
bread, meat, vegetables, &c.
A heavy fall of
SNOW
occurred during the night, and our
carriers were 10th to start west next
day, but about 9 o'clock we got un-
der Roadway. | was well wrapped
up in the cart, and travelled easily,
with my bed and goat skin rug I'M
der nue.. You may know was warm,
| when / tell you l had nine garments
deep on the upper part of my body
veritable "Ten Brock beyond a
/ doubt.
Each lead mula had q string of