The Portland daily press., 1886-12-31
CYCLING IN CHINA.
The Adventures Of Thomas Stevens
In Celestial Rice Fields.

The Shanghai Courier Of Nov 18th pub
lished this despatch from Kiukiang relating
the adventures Of Thomas Stevens. the bicy-
clist
This morning a very much travel-stained,
unwashed, unshorn, unfed, slipshOd and al
together disreputable looking specimen Of
the genius Fan Kwae 0oreign deviD ap-
peared mysteriously and unannounced upon
our Bund. He bestrode a queer looking We
hicle that the eelestials Of the middle king
dom had never seen the like Of befOre con-
sequently numerous and highly demonstra-
tive crown OF these most inqulsitiye Of NOR
tails brought up the rear, until they them
selves were suddenly brought up at the gate
of the English consulate. ] need hardly add
that the cause OF all the commotiOn was Mr..
Thomas Stevens on his famous Columbia
bicycle, who had arrived, after one Of The
two weeks later than he had expected. In
an interview had with him he gave me the
following account Of his journey:
Starting from Canton on Oct. 13, had ex-
peeted to reach klukiang inside Of 20 days;
but calculations, based on my experience In
other countries, failed me entirely In China.
found IL a totally different country from
any Of the others l have traversed, both as
regards roads, people, accommodation and
experience generally. 1t would be little ex-
aggeration e say that the only roads in south
China (the north may be a little differently are
the rivers, and no exaggeratiOn whatever to
say that the only proper way TO travel Is
with boat, IN which one can live as in a
house. Strictly speaking, there are no roads
at all as we understand the term; only mar
row footpaths leading here, there and every
where, and yet nowhere In particular; an
intricate maze OF tracks about the rice fields,
In which stranger finds himself hopelessly
bewildered TO commence with, and invaria-
bly, lost at last. The first day out from Can
ton, after travelling / should think 20 miles.
found myself In village about 13 miles
out. Neither are these pathways OF that as
phalt-like smOOthness Of surface for which
an experienced cycler naturally yearns, who
sees the pleasant autumn weather gradually
gliding past, and the distance ahead still
great. On the contrary, b0ulders and rough
slabs Of stone, once laid level. but now more
often sloping at right angles that render
them precari0us footing for anything but a
goat or a baref0Oted Chinaman, are the chief
characteristics. In addition 10 this, they are
often not more than feet wide, and often
rise several feet above the waving, paddy, so
that traversing them Is feat really equal TO
the performance Of walking on wall. Un-
der these circumstances person frequently
thinks Of swapping his bicycle for "pariah
yaller," and riddling the purp with bullets
perseyered for four days, hoping the roads
would improve, at the end OF which time
arrived In country where there were no
BADLY fields, only the Pe-kiang river, and
the rocky mountains sloping to the waters
edge. sampan would take me down
otANdul anu Duth w 0AulDu III LuItt uAy8s
Ali but the good people at home (some
Of them) would say, Pooh! he was
afraid to go through; the badness Of the
roads Is only convenient excuse" As II
would never do TO give the good people at
home the opportunity Of thinking this, con-
cluded to go through to Kluklang and Shang-
hal the best way possible. -Four days, pol
ing, rowing and towing on little sampan to
Chao-choo-foo, and four more with coolies
carrying the bicycle: brought me over the
MQalipO and futn tho oVfr Of Ktnner
tse. Striking the headwaters Of the Kan
kiang liver at Nanhung i might have come
down stream all the way to the Poyang Hoo.
/ found the paths In Kiang-tse, however,
tung, and bicycled my way down to King
gan-fOO. SO far, | had got along without Sc
ri0us trouble with the people. Kan-tehOu-
foo, | had been told, was risky city TO Wis
lt; but trundled the bicycle through IL
from ono end 70 the other In the middle Of a
surging, shouting crowd, and, beyond getting
my helmet knocked of few times, was OF
fered no indignities. Ta-ho was the fire city
where the authorities saw it TO favor me
with an escort; they sent couple Of sol.
diers with me TO Kin-gan-foo. They evident
ly knew what they were about, for i should
have Jared badly had reached Kin-gan-foO
alone, not knowing the direct route to the
Yamen. The soldiers betrayed anxiety as
we approached the city; the mob collected,
and, while yet several hundred yards from
the Yamen, the stones began to come, and
wild yells for the Fankwaes rent the air.
Missiles that would have knocked me sense
less had been wearing an ordinary hat only
made dents In the big plth solar tOpee had
worn through India, and which eifectually
protected my head and shoulders. | escaped
into the Namen with but a few trifiing
bruises, and one spoke broke out Of the bicy-
Gle, but one Of the soldiers got badly hurt on
the arm-probably fractured bone. The
soldiers warned them that was armed, and
until we reached the outer 1amen gate, they
confined themselves to yelling and throwing
stones; several then rushed forward and
seized the bicycle, but the officials came 10
| the rescue and hurried me into the Che
| hsien's office. 1t was pandem0nium broke
| loose around the Yanen gates all the even
| Ing, the mob bowling for the 'fOreign devil -
| the shouts Of the soldiers keeping them at
| bay, and the officials loudly expostulatinE
and haranguing them from time to time, as
| the din seemed TO be increasing Proelama-
| tions were sent out by the Che-hsien, and,
| toward midnight the mob had finally dis
| perssd. was then placed aboard a sampan,
| and, with guard Of six soldiers, spirited on
| down stream. After this, the authorities
| never allowed me 10 TO travel by bicycle, but
| passed me on down stream by boat from
| town to town, under guard, until we reach
| Wu-ching on the POyang Hoo, when, by
much persuasion, obtained permission 70
| take short cut across the country 10 kiu-
| kiang, but still with an escort"
Mr.. Stevens, after seeing the British con-
| sui at kiukiang, took passage ON the steam
er Pekin, and arrived here this forenoon.