The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-12


either by the almanac or the fong shut
man that the time is propit0us; or as
they used to say I'm Ohio, where / was
born, the sign is right But, according
to the Chinese of that portion of the en-
pire, 1t is the easiest thing in the world
to destroy the fong shut. To dig a hole
in the ground, no matter how small will.
as a general rule bring disaster on an
entire district by destroying the fong shut
"As a result of this superstition, and
the other typical characteristic OF the Ce-
lestial which prompts him never to give
you Just what you want, the retinue
agreed among themselves to take the sa-
want on a little jaunt he didn't antici-
pate. Totally ignorant of the country and
its cowpaths, which serve as roads, they
bore him hther and thither for days at
time, but instead of reaching and pen
etrating the mountains at the end of each
days journey he found himself once more
back on the seacoast. Threats and pray
ers were alike useless. Bribery, which
will accomplish almost anything In Chi
ma, was In vain. The foreign devil was
looking for treasures beneath the sur
face of the earth, and there was gold In
the mountains. He would discover It and
dig holes TO secure IT, and then the fong
shut of the whole island would 20 to UNI
utterable ruin So at length the French
Isfying himself, however of the value of
the gold diggings by the purchase of con-
siderable quantities of the dust smuggled
out of the workings by the natives.
"a little later the French again tried to
gain a foothold by establishing an albu-
men factory at Kung Chow, the capital,
a city OF about 20000. or half as populous
as the encyclopedias give 1t. AT the same
time they attempted to establish French
consulate. The country produces vast
quantities of hens and ducks eggs, which
are sold cheaply enough, you may be sure,
in a country where laborer receives but
cents day and a carpenter or mason
only or cents. But the albumen fac
tory failed for a curious reason-they offer
ed too high price for the eggs. In Hal
nan the more you buy Of a thing the
higher price you will be called upon to pay,
and the higher the price You offer the less
likely you will be to get what you want.
To say nothing of fong shut the Oriental
believes that no man will do other than
lie cheat, and steal, except from fear of
punishment. Consequently they dread an
Interior and evil motive underlying every
action of the foreign devils. AS a result
not only did the Hainanese refuse to sell
their eggs, but, being the greatest thieves
since Barabbas, the robber, they literally
stole the factory and the appurtenances
piece by piece.
"Another reason why the French cast
their envious eyes on Hanan is that the
harb0r. Yulin-Kan, in the southern part
of the island, would make an excellent ma
val station and base of supplies. Hal
nan Is. or was, the furthest southern
point in the Chinese Empire, lying between
the Gulf Of Tongking and the China sea.
II IS fifteen miles south from the main
land ard formed part OF the province of
Kwang Tung. IT Is about 100 miles long
running from southwest TO northeast, and
100 miles broad. It's population Is very
dense. consisting Of about 100000 people,
mainly Chinese, who conquered the abo-
riginal Lois and overran the island. The
population Is overestmated by the statis-
ticians. The people are given over to every
sort Of vice and crime known to ciyiliza-
zion. and TO many varieties Of vice happily
unknown to Europeans. Leprosy is fright
fullv prevalcnt, and outside every town is
IA be found a colony Of outcasts IN all
the disgusting stages OF this most horri-
fvlng disease. These poor wretches hold
OUT the stumps Of their arms, from which
the hands have dropped off, and suppl
cate for aims When you have given them
something they as likely as not spit at
Won and utter a volley OF Chinese obscen-
itv so unutterably foul that no man has
over dared 20 translate II into English.
"Drink IS responsible for untold poverty
and degradation IN our own land, but
the drunken orgies Of New Yorl1's Ten
derloin' and our own levee are heavenly
soirees compared with the saturnalia OF
opium flends .n Hainan. These benighted
people have no shame so far as the use Of
this drug is concerned. They smoke Il
whenever they can beg. borrow or steal
cash enough to MI their pipes, and yet