Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1900-08-27

the densely populated northern
provinces, where the boxers have thus
far been most active. Whole villages
cluster together in carvlng-ouC
chambers, some of which extend back
more than 200 feet. The capabilities OF
defense in country such as tnls'
where an invading army must neces-
sarily become lost and absolutely pc
wiidered in the tangle Of 1nterlaclng
ways, and where the defenders may
always remain concealed. or have IN
umerable means of escape, is peculiarly
significant at this time, when con-
sideration is being given to a conquest
Of China It may not be generally
known that the Chinese were the dis
coverers of coal as fuel. The We
netian traveller Marco Polo says: IL
is a fact that all over the country or
Galaxy (China) there is kind OF black
stone existing in the beds of the noun
tains which they dig out and burn like
irewood This stone burns better ana
costs less
The rivers of China are her glory.
and there are few countries in the
world so we'll watered, and no other
with such natural water transporta-
ton facilities. The three great rivers
are the Yang-ste-Kiang Child of the
ocean,, the Hoang Ho yellow river,
and the Chu Kiang (Pearl river or
Canton river). Of these the Yang-tes
is much the largest. flowing through
extensive and fertile plains and finally
emptying into the Eastern sea, AFTER
| traversing distance OF over 1,OOU
miles. It's discharge is estimated az
( 900 900 cubic feet per second. The
| banks Of the Yang-ste are crowded
with towns and villages, the most
| famous of which are Nankin and the
new treaty port Of HankoW. tine
! Hoang Ho or Yellow river is noted es-
pecially for it's frequent and violent
| foods It's current is very rapid and
| it's course sinuous, nearly approaching
in length the Yang-ste. The Pearl or
| Canton river, while not nearly so large
as the others, is a stream OF great I'M
portance, and innumerable vessels
trade upon it's waters. At some points
| it spreads into large lakes; in others 1t
passes between narrow gorges, which
| if damned would afford large storage
capacity for irrigation. The Chinese,
however, have not practically worked
out irrigation in it's different phases as
| completely as would be expected OF
such an agricultural people.
Irrigation, nevertheless, is practiced
| to a considerable extent through the
use of the waters of the Grand canal
and by wells The Grand and Imperial
canal is work Of great magnitude
1t was constructed in the seventh
century and enlarged in the thirteenth
century. 1t traverses the great plain
and flows with but slight current for
a distance of 700 miles. While built
! for purposes of communication, its
waters are used largely for irrigation,
and thousands of drains and creeks
have been made to connect with it
along it's route.
The modes Of irrigation are ancient
and crude. One of the most pictur-
esque is by means of the Water-wheel,
| which is used where the land to be
watered is we'll above the channel Of
the river. The wheel is turned by the
force of the current, and is perhaps
80 feet high, it's buckets being sections
of bamboo, which as they are raised by
/ the stately motion Of the Wheel empty
| their contents into troughs or bitches.
Hollow bamboo pipes or tubes are
sometimes used for distributing the
water over the fields. They rest upon
wooden supports and branch in every
| direction from the source Of supply.
The chain pump is also common
means of lifting water, the chain
running up from the water on a slant
and being provided with little buckets
at intervals, which as they reach the
highest point and begin to descend,
discharge their contents. These
machines are worked by bufalos, or
sometimes by human labor, a man
working crank with his feet some
thing after the manner of riding
bicycle. The most primitive and
laborious methods is the ancient we'll
sweep, such as is seen today on many
an old New England homestead
Springfield Republican.