Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-14
GOLDFIELDSIN CHINA
Experiences of Travellers. in the
Celestial Empire.
i PLACE WHERE TINE ISN'TMONEY
The New Land Commissioner and Stories Of
lntroductiOns.
ORIENTAL EMBASSADORS ENJOYMENT
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DIsPATcH.I

China alter a year spent in travel through
that country and the unexplored part OF
Thibet. Discussing the possibilities OF rail-
road construction in the far East, a SUBJECT
TO which be has paid some attention, ne sald'
at will be many wears before they accept
rapid transit in China, il, in tact, they ever
accept it. Time is not money to the orlen-
tai. Money is everything to him and time
is an unconsidered quantity. The people
who nut money into railroads in India dis
covered that long ago. When they made q
third-class rate OF travel for the natives on
the basis of the other rates of fare charged,
they ran their third-class cars empty. The
people found that they could travel as
cheaply by bullock carts, living at wayside
inns, as they could by the railroad. They
continued, therefore, to travel by bullock
carts. In order to build up business among
the natives the railroads had to put third
class fares down to a ridiculously low rate.
LONG WALK FoR'FoUR CENTS.
''The same trouble will be experienced in
China. There is little railroad there
about 40 miles of it. The trip costs % cents.
"Well, a native can walk 40 miles in two
live. He saves by walking, perhaps, 8 or
cents, which is quite an item to him.
"As for the products of the soil, they are
transported principally by water, the means
OF water communication being very perfect.
There is a great deal of commerce between
the different sections of China. One section
cultivates rice, one barley and another oats
Tits a popular error to believe that Cinnamon
live almost entirely on rice. In one section
of China the natives live principally on ost-
meal, in another on barley meal, in another
on potatoes. A very large number of them
live on rice. You seldom see meat there.
Thev have pork occasionally. Travelling
over the plains of Thibet we lived princi-
pally on barley meal made into dough-balls,
with butter. Mongolians
EAT MEAT RAvENoUsLY.
''when 1 started with my party across
Thibet we were seven in all, and we took
with us about $50 pounds of mutton and 80
pounds of butter. 1t was all gone in six
days. The MoGgolians take the meat in
great hunks, and after boiling it, devour it
ravenouslv.
"Evervthingis is boiled in Thibet. Travel
ing we had but one kettle. We boiled our
meat and our barley in that, made our tea
in il, and afterward fed the dogs from it.
Leading dogs life in earnest was it not?
The people of Thibet are very jealous of in
vasion. They believe that the strangers
who attempt to penetrate their country are
in search of gold. They believe that Thibet
is the richest country in the world in pre-
cious metals. 1t is certainly very rich in
gold, although very little effort has been
made to develop its gold fields. Mining
there is entirely placer-that is, the gold
lies loose in the earth and sand and is washed
out, They have a saying in Thibet that no one
ever became rich hunting for gold. I met a
man one day who had evidently been after
gold. He had on his shoulder the wooden
cradle in which he had been washing it.
asked him what luck. Very good he said,
and opening the needle case which hung at
his side, he produced little pinch of gold
as the result of four days work. The
natives never 60 after gold until they have
exhausted every other means of supply. Yet
GOLD is VERY CHEAP
there. Before going into Thibet 1 bought
some gold at the Chinese rate of 20 times its
weight in silver, and sewed it in my cloth
ing as precaution against being robbed.
found when 1 got into Thibet that my gold
was worth there only 1214 times its weight
III silver; so 1 lost on my investment.
1--WE had some odd experiences in boats"
said nv informant. "Going through Thi-
bet we crossed a number of streams which
were so deep that we could not ford them.
We had to let the horses swim across, and
we went over, one at time, in boat. The
boat was a native affair, made of skins
drawn over a light frame of wood, and
about four feet in length had to sit very
still in it for fear of capsizing it, and put
my feet on the little wooden eross-pIeces for
safety. The skin was softened by contact
with the water, and, if my feet had touched
it, the chances are ten to one il would
/ ~ II Il
China l went down the Yangtse river in
boats. Near the western border there were
heavy rapids, and we sat with our eyes shut
while the 12-foot boat spun around and
around. felt like the man whom Jules
Verne describes as caught in maelstrom.
NOT AT ALL HosPIrABLE.
"The Thibetans are not hospitable peo-
pie. had to flee from their country for |
my life. 1 had six guides with me when 1 |
started, but when l was half through with |
my journey, two of them had left me and |
we were a party of five. Two or three |
times the native chiefs had acted in sus- |
picious manner. had tc bribe them with |
''gifts" from time to time until had hardly |
ANYTHING left except the clothing on me. |
One day a number of them went off for a |
conference about me, and 1 thought from |
their looks that had better leave. I took |
with my baggage. 1t was as we'll I did. |
The chiefs returned and put the two Mon
golians in irons. They escaped, but were
recsptured. Then they made second es-
cape and succeeded in getting out of the
country with my papers, 1 found on reach
ing the western border of China that, al
though the French missionaries had been
established there q years, none of them had |
ever been able to penetrate into Thibet"
THE NEW LAND COMMISSIONER.
Judge Croft, the new Commissioner of the
General Land Office, slipped into Washing
ton so quietly that his appointment and his
coming attracted very little attention, al
though the Office which he holds was one of
the most difficult to fill under the new ad-
ministration. None OF the candidates who |
first applied for the appointment were
chosen. One of them-Governor Stone, of
Colorado-was rewarded with the position
OF Assistant Commissioner, but the others |
are still waiting for the voice that shall call
them into public life. Personally Judge |
Croft is a most agreeable man. He is tall
and thin and his shoulders are a bit rounded.
When be sits down he curls himself mn in
his chair for all the world as Gillette used
to do IN 1.-The Private Secretary" He
wears no hair on chin or lip, but pair of
light sideburns depend from his head of
bushy hair. He reminds one very much in
his manner of Gillette's almost inimitable
impersonation. There is nothing of 1.-THE
Private Secretary" in Judge Grof's con-
versation, however. He is a very entertain
ing conversationalist and he seems to find
great degree of enjoyment in talking.
AN INCIDENT RECALLED.
Judge Croft went to the Executive Man
= Il