The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-01-23
THE ROADS or China.
Notable by Their Absence, Like the
Snakes Of Iceland.

No Attempts 80 Establish Good Means of
Communication For Five Hundred Years.
BIoodless Though Annoying Contests Be
tween Land Owners and Teamsters.
An interesting chapter on the topic of
public roads is afforded in the results not
ed by the Shanghai branch of the Asiatic
society of some extensive investigations
made by its agents as to the condition and
maintenance of roads in China. 1t is not,
however, chapter on good roads. Indeed
it is much like the famous chapter On the
snakes in Iceland, for there seem to be no
roads in China worthy thanarne. Instead
of the farmers being interested in the max
ing and maintenance of good roads, as is
the case here, the Chinese farmer inter
ests himself largely in the destruction of
such roads as may chance to be made. He
does not travel himself and is against any
one else doing SO, at least over his land.
There are no public highways made and
maintained by law Travellers may drive
where they 2lease--so far as the owner of
the land may please--and there is constant
warfare between the two classes, SO that
all there is of roads through the country is
just what the one may suffer or the other
wrest.
The Asiatic society concludes that prob
ably no country in She world-certainly
none aiming at civilization even of the
most rudimentary nature-has paid so lit
tie attention to roads and means of COM
munication as the Chinese empire" The
only roads that exist are simple paths from
one town or village to another. They fol
low all the natural irregularities of the
country, are never macadamized. rarely
drained and on level plains are often en-
tirely underlined, wandering from side to
side to avoid natural puddles OF artificial
pitfalls, the latter dug by the farmer in
order to drive the travellers onto his neigh
boris land.
In the nasthern provinces war for the
possession Of the land is waged every
spring between the farmer and the team
ster. The latter has full right to drive
his wagons over the country in any direc-
ton that may suit his convenience or fan
cy. The former has an equal right to plow
up any road running over his land, and
generally he exercises it. When team
ster finds an accustomed path plowed over,
he takes another route over the adjoining
land. Then the owner of that land digs
pitfalls along the routes in order to save
his crops and drive the teamsters over to
his neighbours property. His neighbor
does the same. But the farmers cannot
continue this indefinitely without doing
more injury to their land and crops than
the recognition of regular road would
do, SO that compromise is gradually ar
rived at. Thus the tracks usually follow
much the same lines from year to year,
but there is sure always to be some little
war about right of way somewhere on a
much frequented route between two vii
lagos.
In the eastern provinces the roads, or
lie tracks that pass for roads, are usually
sunk much below the level of the sur
rounding country, not infrequently as
much as so to so feet. The soil is very
sandy, the constant passage of carts keeps
it stirred up and soft, and the wind takes
up and carries over the country the sand
thus loosened, SO that there is conse-
quent continual tendency of the tracks to
sink. A peculiar result of this is that the
few bridges, which i'll some spasm of pub
lie spirit have been constructed over rivers
in various places, are usually utterly i'm
passable for wheeled traffic, the abutments
being many feet above the sunken road
level. The roads through villages in these
regions are invariably sunk below the gen
nral level of the country.
There have been at far distant and long
separated periods emperors who have made
attempts at establishing good means Of
communication between the principal
towns and villages, but the last of these
efforts was as far back as 1899. Vehicles
came into somewhat general use at thess
periods and remained in use while the eff
fects of the reforms lasted. But in the
Yangste delta and the southern provinces
generally carts or wagons have long beer
obsolete, because their use became impos
sible. The only wheeled vehicle now uset
is one wheeled handbarrow with thu
wheel in the center. The main roads ar,
generally paved in the middle to widtl
of from a foot to two feet with rough
granite stones to accommodate this one
wheel
While there are no good roads in China
nowadays there are one or two interesting
relics Of what were, in and for their day
most excellent roads. The first emperor
of the Mings some time during his reign o
from 1853 to 1899 made road from thu
bank of the Yangste, opposite Marking
to his birth place in Anhui. The level
were Carefully graQeu ana Gne rOau car
ried across river valleys on well built arch
ed viaducts. 1t remains today simply
remarkable specimen of early engineering
The road from Picking to Tungchow, bull
by the emperors Of the Yuan dynast,
away back in the dim ages, remains as
vast effort Of inutility." 1t was pavet
with great blocks of granite, averaging 81
to so feet of square surface each, all close
ly jointed. Today it is worn into ruts
foot deep and is almost impossible. Witt
the exception of these two roads no at
tempt of any note has been made 30 facili
tate land communication throughout tn
empire. The stone bridges at Fukien ant
elsewhere, often insteneed as remarkable
are notably only as instances of the abili
ty the Chinese display in moving hug
masses of stone by manual labor. Fo
practical purposes they are of little use
and, says the report, las feats of engineer
ing are contemplate. Students O. tn
art of making good roads do not appear t
have much to learn .rora China.-Ney
York Sun
She Demanded q Receipt.
And SO you gave my new overcoat t
a stranger, said an angry man to Iii