New-York tribune., 1900-12-30
CLIFF JEWELLERS IN CHINA.
STRANGE SETTLEMENT. LIKE \ COLONY OF
SAND SWALLOWS.

A STRANGE SETTLEMENT LIKE \ COLONY OF
SAND SWALLOWS.
From The Springfield Republican
Professor G. Frederick White. of Oberlin, who
started on a tour around the world several
months ago, reached China just before the Box
ers' outbreak had assumed dangerous proper
tiOns, and at once made an excursion into Mon
golia, returning later to Tien-Tsin. From there
on June :, he sent an account of a singular anF,
interesting village of Catholic cliff dwellers
which he visited in Mongolia. 1t is quite prob
able that the native Christians he describes
have since been massacred. Professor White
prefaces the description of the village with u
few brief paragraphs about the curious nature
of the territory in which it is situated:
The eastern border of Mongolia and the
northeastern part OF China are largely covered
with los QoesS) one of the most interesting and
puZZling of all the geological deposits. Its Ger
man name comes from the valley of the Rhine,
where lOess is found in considerable quantities.
The inhabitants Of the Mississippi and Missouri
valleys of the United States are familiar with
the deposit in the bluffs at VicksburS, Kansas
City, Omaha and Sioux City. During the siege
of Vicksburg the people took refuge in spacious
rooms dug out in the deposit at Il considerable
depth below the surface. At numerous places
along the Missouri River it stands in peTpen-
dcular exposures more than a hundred feet
high and city streets cut through its long,
perpendicular sides which stand like wall for
many years When section breaks off from
the cliff it always leaves 4 perpendicular face.
''Yet the deposit is so soft that its surface can
be readily cultivated. and it can be handled with
a shovel at any depth. The material principally
consists of extremely fine sand. with little
lime intimately mixed with il. 1t is porous
that the rain which falls upon the surface passes
entirely through the deposit, preventing the
formation of springs of water until an inn
perviOus stratum is reached underneath it all.
1t cndures drOuth better than any other soil
The most extensive development of the lOess
anywhere in the world is in Mongolia in ele
waited region from 5000 feet to 5.400 feet above
the sea, but ii has been eroded by water during
long geological ages into a very uneven surface,
with numerous narrow valleys from 1000 feet
TO 1000 feet deep, with innumerable tributary
gullies coming down the sides of the intervening
ridges Many isolated peaks. also, rise to an
absolute height of from COCO feet to 1000 feet
above sea level. Into this rugged region has
drifted during a recent epoch immense
amount of fine dust which constitutes the lOeSs.
That il has been blown in by the winds is evil
pears almost exactly like a series of immense
snOwdrfts that have accumulated behind the
barriers which have caused lullS in the wind.
permitting the suspended particles to settle in
protected places. while il has been swept bare
from the exposed positions.
'"These deposits of loess are specially valuable
because of their fertility. But in Northern
China it is of especial interest in furnishing
cheap. comfortable and SalubfiouS dwelling
places for muItitudes of people. In a recent
excursion through the eastern part of Mongolia
outside the great Chinese Wall, in the vicinity
| of the famous city of KOlgan. L saw large
! number of such villages excavated in the drift,
of loess hanging on the sides of the mountains
In walking over the graSSed surface IL was no
uncommon thing to stumble against a chimney
protruding from habita.iOn below. From a
distance the side of the hill looked like an ex-
posed bank pierced with innumerable swallows
nests. The interior of the houses are clean and
| comfortable. When the walls have been moist
| ened and smoothed over with trOwel they
| have hard finish which does not Crumble off,
| The rooms uniformly dry and are warm in
winter and cool in summer. On the slOpnS
! back of hill several stories of such houses are
often seen above and slightly back of each other,
the roof of one being the front dooryard of the
house above it