The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-09-21
NEWPORT Of CHINA
Chefoo, Leading Watering
Place of the Empire.
ITS GLORY NOW WANING
inhabitants of the Province
Poor But Gigantic.
ITS GLORY NOW WANING

New York. Sept 2o-Margherita A
Hamm writes to the New York Evening
Post as follows:
Crowded with fugitive missionaries and
trembling women and children, with ma
rines on guard on the shore and war
ships anchored in the harbor with their
guns trained upon the city, the popular
watering place Of Northern China, Chefoo,
presents none Of the gayety which has
marked it for the last twenty years. The
place deserves its celebrity. 1t is situated
far out on the eastern end of the Shan
tung promontory, not far from the strong
fortress of Wei-Hai-Wei, and right oppo-
site the SebastopoI of the East, Port Ar
thur.
To its position is probably due its de-
lightful and salubrious climate. 1t is pro-
tected from the hot winds of the south
by the mountains lying behind it, which
are a part Of the system which gives
name to the province, Shantung, or Noun
tain-East. In front of it lies the broad
mouth of the Hoang-hai, or Yellow Sea.
and curious conical hills for background
make a very pretty picture, especially in
the summer season. At that time the
earth, under the skillful cultivation of the
Chinese husbandman, is a model surface
of greens and grays. while around the
houses and in the great yamens are near
ly every tree of the temperate zone. Long
before the wall of isolation was broken
down horticulture was prosperous in this
district, but with the advent of the fan
qui (foreign deviD came changes which in
due season brought profit to the thrifty
Chinaman.
Both missionary and merchant WED
with one another and at the same time
testified to their love of home by import
ing the fruits and flowers of Europe and
America. Pears, grapes and apricots
from California, apples from Oregon and
Vancouver, Concord and Catawba grapes
from New York state, Duchess d'Angoul-
emes from England, nectarines from
France English walnuts and fiIberts, mas
turtiums and narrows from the English
mid-counties, Norfolk island pines from
Southern ocean, and even blue guns from
Australasia were brought around the
world and domesticated In this pretty
section Of the far East. They thrived and
in the course Of time the fruits and flow
ers from Chefoo became noted from ia
pan to Singapore.
FIFTEEN years ago when the foreign res
idents organized clubs and floral exhibit
Y TONS the market would compare favora-
bly, with those of San Francisco, New
York or London. But the events of re-
cent years have altered the condition of
| affairs. The transfer of trade to Tien-
Tsn and. above all the war with Japan,
tproved a more effective blight than any
leaf scale or boring insect. Nevertheless.
the work done in the past may still be
noticed today. In the markets and on the
tables the writer has seen berries apples,
pears, peaches. nectarines. apricots,
ounces, grapes, watermeons, cante-
Ioupes, chestnuts, wainuts and even that
good old favorite of the school child, the
peanut. +t7
The sanitary conditions are naturally
good. The land slopes. as in southern Cal
fornia- at a gentle gradient from the
mountains TO the sea- The soil consists
of granite and the products of its decom-
position. It is very porous. so that a
heavy rain is quickly absorbed, and all
drainage disappears from the surface and
flows or soaks through buried strata
down into the waters of the ocean. DIT.
Arnold, an English surgeon, summed up
its sanitary advantages in the quaint cpl
gram: 1.-The only people who die there
are doctors, who starve to death
Chefoo is out of the ordinary lines of
travel The Grand canal passe north
ward hundreds Of miles to the west, and
the broad and cruel Yellow river sepa-
rates 1t from Chih-Li. There is, thus, al
most no overland travel from the rest of
China The people who visit Chefoo
whether natives or foreigners. come by
steamer from Tien-Tsin on the northwest,
Japan on the east or the coast ports on
the south There is but little local travel.
No navigable river or canal connects the
place with the interior Of Shantung. and
the rough. inhospitable mountain country
of the south presents too many difficulties
for the trader or the seeker after employ
ment Ten miles back Of the city the hill
district is so poor that it viii barely sup
port the sparse population which is found
in its poor valleys. The entire population
Of the province IS about twenty-nine mil
lions. which is very small compared with
Su-Kiang-Su. Ngan-hui, or 81 Chuen. OF
this population the vast bulk lives in the
valley Of the Yellow river and along the
banks of the Grand canal Not Eve hun
dred thousand. il IS believed reside upon
the great promontory, and nos one hun
bred thousand within a radius of fifty
miles from the CRY.
In point of numbers Chefoo and i-s dis
trict may be compared to St Johns ard
the island OF Newfoundland. The native:
are among the finest in China They are
utterly unlike the little yellow men @.
Canton. who constitute the chief part o.
the Chinese lsuudry1nen % America
They are tail, b-cad-shouldered, musculsg
ard enduring Many OF them especially
those in the hill districts, are exceedingly
tai. ranging from, six 10 seven feet in
height. It may be questioned z any com
uluniry in the United States is as Iarge
and tall on AZ average As TIRE people 81
Chstoo. They ara proud he better class
being naughty snd even arrogant From
the earliest times they nave supplied ths
empire With great warriors, statesmen
roets ard historians. From this dfs1ric;
, came Coafucius and Mencius. The tN1
most learned teachers q tie far east u
the many 1ynastic wars TIE peopie o.
Shsrfurg have always been tbs arst p
/ 70 into battle and ire last % ask f7T
psace. Il was ShsntunE men VINO fcrrnsa
tie main army with which China f9,lEai
the victorious Mong eliAns and sfte-wards