The morning call., 1894-05-13
UP THE YANGTSE.
The Wonders of China's
Greatest River.
AN EMPIRE CUT UP BY CANALS
Mongolian Country Scenes - The
Walled City of Ngan-
king.

| On BOARD A CHINESE STEAMER 600
MILES FROM THE MOUTH OF THE
! YANGTsE KIANG. April 2-I have been
riding for days upon the great Yangtse
River, and write this letter in almost the
center of the Chinese Empire. am with
in less than hundred miles of the Chicago
of the celestial land. the vast city of
Hankow, ana am passing through the
country where the Chinese mobbed the
foreigners year or so ago. burning down
the houses of the missionaries, and killing
some of the English officers of the Chinese
customs. Last night left Kiukiang, big
| trading center at the mouth of the Poyang
Lake, and during the past two weeks l
| have passed half dozen cities of the size
of Cleveland or Washington, and have
| travelled through about the same numbe
OF great States, having an aggregate Dopu-
latlon of something like one hundred and
fifty millions OF people. All the towns l
have visited | have found packed with
throng buster than you find on lower
Broadway at MONDAY. and l am
amazed at the mmensity of this great
Chinese empire and its enormous popula-
tion. l entered the Yangtse at Its mouth,
where il flows through the Chinese
province or state of Kaugsu. This is in
the center of the east coast, and it has an
area as big as that of Pennsylvania. It
contains m ore than half as many people as
the whole United States. and its popula-
ton is equal to that of the British Isles.
The state of Ganhui, which / next entered,
is no bigger than Kansas. but it supports
27, ,0o0, 900 people, and the State of Hupeh,
in which l am now travelling. has over
twenty millions. This great river itself
| has millions who are born, live and die
upon its waters, and at every landing see
a thicket of poles. each Of which springs
| from the home Of one Of the millions of
families which make up China's boat
population. am amazed at the wonder
ful resources of the country.
My eyes bulge out at the muscle and in
dustry OF Its people. and my head buzzes
| in trying 20 understand the curious sights
which are crowded upon me.
China's great rivers are among the won-
ders of the world, and the Yangtse Kiang
lie the king OF it's kind. 1t has greater
volume of water than the Nile or the ANA
zon, and it has built up greater country
than Egypt along the low lands of China
In approaching 1T from the ocean L found
thewaters dlscolored by it's muddy fluid
many miles out at sea. and it turns the
salty brine yellow for sixty miles from its
mouth. Here il is about as thick as pea
soup. You draw up bucket and in a mo-
of mud. had been warned not to use the
spigot which runs from the bottom of the
boat into my bath, but this morning the
boy had made it too hot and I tried to cool
The barrel of filtered water in the tub with
about allOn from the Yangtse. Thought
the amount was so little that it could not
affect the rest. The result was that the
clear water became the color Of mud and
my bare foot left an impression on the
bottom as marked as that of the savage
which so scared Robinson Crusoe on the
desert island. 1t is sort of a gritty silt
but am told that there is no river on
earth which brings down sediment more
fertile. The whole of the great plain of
North and Central China has been made
by it. This plain is 700 miles long, and it
supports moro than 100000, 900 people.
The Yellow River runs through ita hun
dred miles north of this point and this
river, In com bination with the Yangtse,
has built the foundations Of one-fOurth of
the Chinese empire. To-day it is estimated
that the amount of dirt they carry down
from the highlands of Thibet and of China
is so great that 1t forms every two months
an island mile square in the sea and at
the mouth of the Yapgtse. / sailed by the
Tsung Ming Island, which is thrty-two
miles long and about ten broad. 1t has
been built up within hundred years or so.
and now has cities and villages and sup
ports more than a million people. The sea
at the mouth of the Yangtse is filled with
little islands, many OF which have grown up
within the memory of men now living, and
along the low banks of the river | can see
the strata of soil which it has brought
down from year TO ysar At some points
these lines of sediment are from one to
two feet thick, and they are of as marked
colors as strata of rock. The river has a
vast volume of water. A line of freight
water-tight cars reaching from New York
to Chicago and carrying twenty tons each
ot h0l re 6ov ma rC int
the sea, and its rise and fall at the city of
Hankow, about 60 miles from its mouth,
ranges during the year from forty to fifty
feet. Within the past ten days the river
has risen thirteen feet, and IL is now going
up at the rate of a foot day.
The rise in the Yangtse Kiang is so great
that embankments have to be built along
its course for moro than 1000 miles. All
of the country have passed through is
dked, and this. not only as to the river,
nected with 1t. Central China is more cut
up by waterways than Holland. aud there
are more dlkes here to the square mile
than you will find in the Netherlands.
Sailing along the Yangtse you see these
dikes in every direction. They are about
twenty feet high and from thirty to forty
feet wide at the base and their tops form
the roads and paths of the country. Along
them you see all sorts of Chinese char
acters trudging along, their figures sill
houetted against the blue sky. Here goes
the great freightcar of China. 1t is
wheebarrow aud a native cody pushes
it, Behind him comes another species of
the same, man carrying two great loads
fastened to the ends of the bowllKe pole
which rests upon his shoulders. Next you
see a brightly dressed girl, wearing red
pantaloons and blue sack, carrying
parasol of paper and looking very gay as
she hobbies up the bank. You note man
darins riding in blue chairs carried be-
tween two bare-Iegged coolies. who trot
along 10 front and behind, and among the
mobiles, the common people on foot.
Here and there you may see sheep or
a hog, but the horses are comparatively
few, and the only cattle are the half hog
half cow known as the water buffalo. You
see these working in the fields pulling rude
pIows or turning the rude wooden water
wheels, which are used in some parts OF
China for irrigation. They are for all the
world like the Sakiyehs of Egypt, and
!, there are many things about them which
remind you of the land of the Pharaohs.
You see no cattle or horses dragging bur-
dens upon the embankments, and the
canals and rivers. in fact. take the place of