Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-09-24
A CHINESE FLOOD.
WHAT A FOREIGNER SAW IN THE
CITY OF klU kIANG.

|
Entering Stores by Means of a Canoe-A
Pathetic Incident-Refuge in the Mount
ains-Grayes of Great Men-After the
Floods Subsistence.
The water of the Yangtse Kiang had been
rising, and at last it had overlooked its banks
and filed the plain The city of Kin Kiang,
where was living, was half submerged, and
the only outlying lowlands were covered
with water. As many as had boats, and
had warning enough to take to them, had
sought refuge on adjacent highlands This
brought many hungry refugees to kiukiang,
which added to an already overcrowded pop
ulation, and half submerged streets made it
good place to get away from.
A native magistrate told me that there
were no less than 10000 of these hungry and
impoverished wretehes in the city. They |
had neither silver nor gold, and depended |
for subsistence solely upon the charitable, of |
whom China has goody number, and upon
what they could steal or pick up. SO great |
was the distress and so importunate the cries
| for bread Tor RICE that many merchants
|
| the hungry for food l had forty pound
Rob Roy canoe, which l kept in my parlor
for safety The water stood some two feet
deep at my front stoop, | launched the canoe
at the door and made excursions through the
| streets of the city, and many were the
novel sights The stores and shops had
water in many instances to the counter tops,
and upon these sat merchants who kept
I Oh a,NJ
hanging from beams above the water line.
l entered these stores in my canoe, and
traded and chatted with the merchants, who
amused themselves between customers by
watching the fish which swarmed in vast
schools in the stores and fed upon the falling
crumbs of rice thrown them by the clerks.
Occasionally | would find a resident street
upon lower ground where the water covered
the doors and where the only means of pass
age was through holes made in the tile roofs.
l frequently found families living upon i'm
provised lofts and the children were sus-
pended in baskets or tubs hanging from the
beams or rafters.
, HOPELESS PLEADING FOR RESCUE
passed one street built of reed and adobe
shanties, where the frail houses of the poor
were rapidly yielding to the encroaching
| )
and the late occupants-a man and woman
4 were standing in the water TO their armpits,
holding on to their little possessions, in the
;. way of scanty wardrobe and crude bedding,
and pleading in piteous but fruitless PRAYERS
. for rescue. My boat was so hight as to re-
quire careful manipulation to carry one in
safety. To render aid was out of my power,
so that all could do was TO do nothing in the
! I;Af Tst,o rb, LODI
l. of helpless grief and stoical submission tc
:. fate that marked the faces of that haplesS
~ pair as l rowed past them, and as could moi
help the suffering and my life and health
were In danger, betook myself to the noun
tains, where the air was clear and healthful
. till the floods should subside. The journey
, to the high ground was long and tedious, bu
Il once on the heights we secured quarters witt
Ii some Buddhist monks in an ancient temple
., After a days rest and recuperation w
y whiled the time away in exploring the noun
&c tains. Hid away in the most inaccessible
places were the graves of distinguished dead
! which had for centuries been overgrowr
with acacia bushes, now in full bloom, ant
whose rich blossoms loaded the pure noun
:, tain air with sweet perfume. The only re
Al naming relics of these tombs were the carve
70 hieroglyphics of the renown of the ME
:. whose bones had long since returned to dust
~ Around these graves, wild bears now foun
= a hiding place, and huge serpents coiled thei
!? Shiny bodies and alternately slept and fe
upon such birds and mice as chance brougt
. within reach.
~ AFTER THE FLOOD.
- Now and then we came upon tall groves c
har vpho
III brought down wild pigeons, which found
warm welcome upon our table. In IL
gorges were crude mills fitted with whee
=. upon which the spring fed "babbling brooks
su fell in ceaseess torrents in their rush to tt
y sea Upon the ends OF Anticipated level
u. were huge stone pestles which fell with mea
=, ured stroke upon stone pots filled with drie
~ sandalwood and camphor brush and reduce
y, them to fine powder, which were worked int
70 paste with oil and made INTO incense stick
az whose sweet smelling doors as they burne
a., a. upon Buddhist affairs appeased the wrath
Us the gods.
u Two weeks were thus passed, when we r
turned to our yacht, and after few hom
" sail again cast anchor off the crowded cit
IS The waters had subsidized and the populo,
an city wayagain busy with the ceaseless chatt
|
-, food had left tears and desolation in
- tracks. Where few weeks before we
~ crowded streets of humble homes of the pc
was now only clean washed sand plain. tt
~ adobe houses had been dissolved in mud al
washed away. Many people had gone in
the tide and become food for sharks and pc
49, poises, Their place of sepulture will new
y be marked by carved stone, nor their gray
~. visited by filial descendants. No last homo
were performed over their biers The plaC
~, which had known them simply knew the
q, no more. They were gone. Survive
~ quickly erected like shanties upon the spC
. where the Others had been and awaited tn,
~. ~ turn to be drowned the next food that can
.e The Chinese, like the traditional Arkan.
~. farmer, never mend their bikes when there
n no food, because they do not need it the
~ and when the floods come they cannot me
them
-. The loss of life and property by that fio
: =. will never be stated in figures; but to the e
~ Of my life shall never forget the scenes
sorrow and desolation then witnessed.-C
ao nese Letter