Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-07-04

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patches, are adobe structures on the
coast at the mouth of the PeihO. Eli
Their from lack of enterprise or of stud
led purpose the Chinese permit a dam
! gerous bar to exist off the mouth of the
PeihO in front of the forts. This bar
| and the shadows about it extend SO
far out that men-of-war are forced to
lie 10 miles offshore, entirely out of
sight of land.
when q naval officer has occasion
to visit Picking, he must drop from his
ship into little launch and in this
light craft make the journey across the
bar and to the point where lac Is to
take the train for Tien-tsin. The jour
ney by rail thence Is about 90 miles.
| The hour of departure is always uncer-
tain, and the train is extremely slow.
The road runs through q densely peo-
pied region in which are few Europe
ans. Tien-tsin itself is n considerable
Chinese town on the Peiho. IT. has Il
small foreign colony, but is likely, in
view of disturbances at Picking and
elsewhere in the interior, to have this
colony considerably enlarged by refu-
gees.
The journey from Tien-tsin to Pc
king is made at better speed than the
journey from the coast to Tien-tsin.
Besides, for So one may have the privi-
lege of riding in an imperial postal car,
which has some of the comforts of the
American parlor car. 1t is 4 little mis-
leading, however, to speak of the jour
ney to Picking by rail, for the nearest
station is about five miles from the
city. The abomination of modern civ
iliZation may not come nearer the
sacred city. The journey from the sta
ton to Picking is made over one of the
worst roads or earth, and in n pecul-
iarly uncomfortable Yehicle-the Chi
nese country cart.
Picking itself is n city of a million
inhabitants, standing in a desert, with
out sewers, and without public water
supply. The filth of the place, which
is almost unbelievable, offends the
nostrils at every turn. The streets are
i'll paved, and getting about the city is
uncomfortable and even dangerous
Picking is walled, with a most pictur-
esque piece of masonry. but the city
has outgrown its bounds, and from the
top of the wall one may see the outer
suburbs stretching wide and densely
crowded.
cit is hardly accurate to say that
Peking has n foreign quarter in the
sense in which that phrase is under
stood in the treaty ports. The foreign
residents are the members of the lega-
lions, the missionaries and their house
holds. Each foreign household lives
in n compound of its own. These
compounds are the only clean places in
the city. The compound of the British
legation is large and attractive. The
same is true of the plot occupied by
the Russian legation. Our own lega-
ton occupies a neat but far too small
compound, near the city wall.
1.-THE legations and the mission
aries have 4 social life Of their own,
and the representatives of foreign pow
ers give brilliant entertainments. The
social life of the legations, however,
goes on in the presence of a vast hos
tile population and is rendered little
uncomfortable at times by reason of
national jealous fears and suspicious.
The presence OF large Russian force
at Port Arthur, just across the gulf of
Pe-chili from the Taku forts. does not
tend TO lessen the uneasiness of life at
the legations.
Picking has n hot and rather IN
healthy summer climate. The city is
as near as may be in the same latitude
as Philadelphia, but considerably far
Their inland Many of the coast towns
are also unhealthy, but Chefu, on a
bluff facing the sea, about 200 miles
southeast of the Taku forts. has an ex-
cellent climate and is a fayorite place
OF summer residents with foreigners
in that part Of China"