The record-union., 1891-08-20
ON A CHINESE RIVER.
The Trip from Tientsin to Pekin
Is Dreary.
Glimpses of Pekin - The Temple of
Confucius and the Lama Temple
Description of a Chinese Printing
Office.


Chinese landscape is seen in a marked
degree as one approaches this city, all the
way up from the Gulf of Pc Chilli. The
Peiho River, up which one travels fifty
miles to this place, is one of the crooked
est and muddiest streams Imaginable.
Throughout its entire navigable length it
flows through level alluvial country.
ct its current is rather swift, and as a
result it is constantly eating away it's
banks here and building them out there,
and so changing its course and filling
/ itself UP with mud bars and shadows.
1t also carries vast quantities of sediment
down to the gulf and deposits them in
bars at its mouth, forming serious OBJ
stacles to navigation. Little is done to
overcome this evil by the apathetic Gov
ernment, and, indeed, little could be done
! fromisthe very nature of the case. The
deposits Of silt are so great and so con-
slant that to dredge them away is out of
the question. Whether q deep channel
| could be made and maintained by ietty
! system is doubtful problem. The re-
suit OF these conditions IS a serious para
lysis OF trade. The Peiho is the great
! highway OF commerce from Pekin and
the great northern canals to the sea. Yet
almost every vessel that enters or leaves
the river, if it be of any considerable
draft, is subjected TO veXatious delays.
At the entrance to the river stand the
famous Tellu forts, looking far more
formidable than they really are. Then
for miles one passes through a country
that resembles Holland with none of its
| redeeming features. On every hand mud
| flats extend to the horizon. Bit they
look as barren as the heart Of the Sahara.
Here and there are villages OF mud huts,
which only accentuate The general tone
Of desoiation. Near by are clusters Of
! cone-Shaped mounds, which are the
tombs OF the dead. They look scarcely
more forbidding than the houses OF the
living. The only objects which re-
motely approach pictureSquenesS are the
antique windmills, the canvas sails Of
which reyOlve horizontally. Yet these
dreary eXpanses are really very fertile
and productive, almost every acre yield
ing abundantly corn, millet and vegeta-
bles. Throughout all these farms and
gardens artificial irrigation is reSorted TO
in the most primitive fashion. There are
bitches and cutters running here and
there ali over the plain, and these are
filled with water simply by bailing it up
from the river by hand. or at best by the
use OF an old-iashioned well-sweep, or an
! endless chain OF buckets, these rude ap-
| pliances being worked by hand. AM
other important industry i'll this part of
| China is the production Of salt, of which
this city is the great market. For mile
! along the shore of the Peiho are to be
seen huge piles of mating bags filled
with salt awaiting transportation.
The population here is very dense. and
| presents the familiar phases OF Chinese
life. The river bank literally swarms
with naked children, who divide their
time between eating green cucumbers
and swimming in the river. In this hot
| lp
junks and docks are also entirely desti-
tute OF clothing. Many of them display
magnificent muscular development.
though, as a rule, the marks of poor food,
uncleanliness and unsanitary conditions
of life are painfully evident. The native
quarter OF the city is laid out rather bet
ter than most Chinese towns, the streets
being wider and straighter. 1t is, how
ever, particularly dirty and uninterest-
ing place. The foreign quarter is, of
course, much better. Its broad and we'll
kept streets are paved with crushed
stone, and the houses, as rule, are large
and comfortable. But there is little
shade or vegetation of any kind. Even a
few blades OF grass are rarity. The
earth is bare and brown under the burn
ing sun. Indeed, Tientsin is almost in
tolerable as place of residence. Yet the
city, doubtless, has an important future.
1t is the seaport of Pekin, the capital; the
inces, and the principal depot of COM
merce with Russia.
Pekin is sixty miles distant, but the
journey thither is a trying one. The
overland roads are very bad, even for
horseback travelling. The easiest way to
make the trip, although it takes a long
time, is to go up the river. The stream
is crookeder than ever and the current is
very swift, And not only is progress
thus necessarily slow, but the distance is
very great. The sixty miles of direct dis
tance are stretched into 15S as one follows
the snake-like windings of the river.
One travels in houSeboat which is
partlyi propelled by sails and partly by
polingi but most of all by towing, a
couple of coolies tramping along the
river bank and pulling the boat at the
end of rope. The country along the
river is much like that between Tientsin
and the sea, but more human life and ac
tivity is visible. There seems to be less
irrigation and more cultivation. The
farmers work with the clumSiest of I'M
plements, and yet do very well. The heat
in summer time is intense, often ranging
for days together at 105o in the shade.
At Tungchau one leaves the boat and
makes the rest of the journey overland.
The distance to Pekin is only fifteen
miles, but it seems fifty. There are two
roads, and each is much worse than the
other One of them is called the dust
road. 1t is simply huge ditch. In dry
weather 1t IS composed OF dust foot or
more deep, and as fine and dry as flour.
In wet weather 1t Is river OF mud. The
other is a stone road. 1t is paved with
huge rough blocks of granite, no two of
which are within six inches of the same
level. To travel over such a highway in
n springleSs wagon is a torture that the
Inquisition would have enyied. Both
roads grow worse and worse as they ap-
| hat
city is peculiarly unattractive. The roads
are indescribably bad, and filth OF every
kind is indescribably abundant. Yet
there are many interesting things to be
seen in the city. The great wall around
it is built of huge bricks that weigh sixty
pounds apiece. Outside the walls are a
fine Lama temple and the temple OF Con-
fucius. There are also some fine marble
monuments. The city has many mara
BILE structures of various kinds, and rich
and grotesque carvings and exquisite
porcelain tiles are seen everywhere.
There are ponds filled with water lilies
and lotuses. There are two interesting
churches. one French and one Portu-
guese. Perhaps the finest scene of all is
the general view of the city from the as
: Economical observatory, and it is charm
ing, because from that hight the dirt and
squalor of the place are not visible, and
one only sees the picturesque roofs OF
colored tiles. But the city is exceedingly
hot and unhealthy in summer, and every
one who is able to do so goes TO the sur
rounding hills to live.
One of the most interesting places in the
city was a Chinese printing Office, con-
Quoted just as it was centuries before the
barbarous world outside of the Flowery
Empire had dreamed of the art of oftypog-
raphy The Office contained score OF
plain square tables, on which the cases OF