The record-union., 1897-01-03

very small. The least possible clothing
seems to be the rule of the majority.
The coolies usually wear only a very
short pair of trousers
I 1 looked out of the boat one day and
saw a boy IA Or 10 years old struggling
through a large potato patch. and the
carrying pole, together with the bucket
| of water at either end of it. made up
| his costume.
: Hundreds of children, large and
| small. are seen along the river with
out even bamboo pole and buckets,
and dozen or more of such are usu-
ally in the crowds that gather around
us when We go ashore
| Many curious things have lessened
the tediousness of our slow journey.
The pagodaS are the most prominent
| structures seen in China
| Many of them are built along this
river, usually on the tops of high peaks,
and some of them can be seen at a
great distance
| The highest that l have seen was. l
think, about 100 feet high. 1t had nine
stories, was octagonal, tapered slightly,
and was surmounted by conical roof.
1t was painted in gaudy colors and was
decorated with many fantastic carvings
and figures
| Temples abound. They occupy the
most beautiful sites in China. and to-
gether with the pagodas are the only
buildings worthy to be called specimens
of architecture.
| 1t is absurd to say that heathenism
is dead. Every village has its place of
WOrShin and ma nit
samples are scattered through the
country. l have been in some that must
have cost tens of thousands of dollars.
| They are the pleasure resorts of the
| people and are usually throngod.
They are also the homes of myriadS
of priests, who use every Imaginable
device ito extort money from the people,
While they do nothing to relieve the
misery that is around them.
IDOLATRY AND ExORCISM.
| Each night when We stop we are in
terested in watching the people ON the
| boats around US, as we'll as those
ashore, performing their peculiar wor-
ship.
Incense sticks are placed in several
parts OF the boat, much paper cash is
| burned to the gods and various bowings
are gone through with
one night we saw some people march
out to the river beating gongs, playing
| on several kinds of Chinese instru-
ments and chanting a doleful tune.
After reaching the bank of the river
| they stuck large number of incense
| STICKS into the ground, lighted them
ana burned great deal of paper, way
II 1t up and down as they did so.
| We learned that some devil was sup
posed to be troubling the village they
ilved in and they were going through
this performance in order to get him
/ to leave.
We hear frecrackers every night and
often during the day, with a multiplied
quantity ON the 1st and 10Th Of each
month. My teacher informs me that
they are ito scare the devils away"
We have seen several "Yintangs," or
smoke towers, Formerly they were
placed at intervals of three miles along
this river and were used as signals in
time Of any trouble. They are built of
| brick, are conical, hollow and about ten
| feet high. Three are placed together
at each station.
The bane of Chinese commerce. the
native Custom house officer, is found at
many places on this, and 1 suppose, on
every other river in China
Duties are collected at every Custom
house and vary according to the temper
| of the collector. Impositions of every
kind are practiced and trade hindered
| l suppose this might be called high
| tariff gone to Seed
! We are glad to find stationed at fire.
quent intervals small but tolerably we'll
equipped soldier boats.
These are to protect other boats from
| bands of robbers which infest the river
as we'll as to help to inforce the custom
| laws.
| But they are a protection which does
not always protect.
A small village, about fifty miles from
Canton, was attacked by a band of rob-
bers one night, and when the people
went to the soldier boat for help the
boat was empty and they learned that
the soldiers were the robbers.
| 1t has been recently we'll pointed out
that one cause of China's weakness rs
the little honor accorded to her soldiers
They are by no means an honorable
| class
1t is highly amusing to see the Canton
soldiers drilling. They have no uni
| form; their clothing is every hue and
varies in quantity, according to the in
clination Of the individual. Their guns
are heavy blunderbuses. The drum
beats loudxenough each one steps as he
likes.
FOREIGN INFLUENCE.
Though there is little enough here to
remind one of Western countries, still
there are some things to show that even
conceited China, the Middle Kingdom. -
is waking up to the fact that outside
countries have some things of value to
her
| can look out now and see the tele
graph wire winding around the noun
tain side, and it does one good to know
this little electric nerve puts him in
connection with the civilized world.
Occasionally the air is pierced by the
shrill whistle of a steam launch, dozen
or more of which run I'D and down this
river on official business
Many foreign goods, notably flour and
condensed milk, can be purchased al
most everywhere. Kerosene oil, called
by the natives "fire-water," can be
bought in any village, and, though it is
almost all imported, it has nearly taken
the place of peanut oil as an illuminant.
About ten miles from Canton is a large
paper mill, and one Of the largest mints
in the world has been recently erected
in Canton.
China is waking up, but it will take
the great giant a long time to move very