The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-07-01
VISIT TO TAKU. CHINA.
PIT GRIDLEY's DESCRIPTION OF
THE TOWN.

Cnipe.e OlHcIaI COrruption-CIay
rrtridces and Wooden Cannon.
law Vessels Go Into Mud Quar-
,ars for the Winter-PitiabIe Is-
ororce of the Native Soldiers.
.,.,vberjta A. Hamm, in New York Post.
,rbe Town OF Taku, which has just been
.otnre5 by the allied civilized nations. is
military settlement rather than a city.
= situated al the mou IN of the Peh-ho.
he chief river in the province of Chilli
uas originally a fishing village and
yorite rendezvous of pirates and snug
.rs Even before the first war Of China
in England it was fortified in the anti
ated style so dear to the Chinese heart.
e old fort is still in existence, and is
ondered at and laughed over by the few
bo visit the place. The walls are made
i brick aud earth and are reinforced by
mud banks made from the oozy soil of the
Beirhborhood Originally 1t was armed
NTH smooth-bore, muzzle-loading thirty
Two and sixty-four Founders. 1t was
sronghod according to the standards Of
he last century, but under modern condi-
described to a party of friends by the late
rsot Gridley of the Olympia as the
most satisfactory cattle-pen on the Chi
nese coast" During the war between
France and China in 1SS4-1SS5 the old fort
8 was greatly streng thened by earthwork
batteries on both sides of the river, and
by number of Krupp and Armstrong
huns. 1t was the intention of the Chinese
,ommander-in-chief to use Armstrong;
exclusively. but the British agent refused
| N paw any commission to the Chinese
officials or to give receipts for amounts
larger than those he received. Negotiations
we're therefore broken off with him, and
the remainder of the armament supplied
"A through Chinese Intermediates who fur
nished Krupp guns at figures satisfactory
10 themselves and the purchasers.
"Quaker" Cartridges for Wooden
Guns.
The corruption which marked this Of
cial business was illustrated soon after
he breaking out of the war between
china and Japan, when over one thou
and cartridges in stock turned out to be
sv neatly moulded. siivered and ia
aimed so as to be almost indist ngush-
BE from the real article. Two OF these
quaker cartridges were exhibited in
okohama among other relics of the in
erna tional contest. 1t is said by old res
ents of Tien Tsin that at least two of
hat seemed to be the largest-sized
rupp guns were n4de of wood pa nted,
hlvered and carved so as to be perfect
images of the steel and iron weapons of
he famous German ironmaster.
There is no harbor to Taku, 1t being
pom the low coast of the Hoang-hai or
Mellow sea. The settlement consis of
rracks, officers quarters, a small Gus
In house, and a lot of poor Chinese
buses or novels. The land is a part Of
he delta of the Peh-ho. This river though
mail. brings down an enormous amount
BIZ silt and is steadily shoaling up the
eta beyond. Although the yellow sea is
Father turbulent, the fierce river is NOV
Ing the bar cut steadily. The charts show
his movement very clearly. Those of the
early part of the century make the bar
about three miles from the shore, in 1850
b was about four and a half miles, ana
to-day it is six miles AT this distance
from the land there is only twelve feet at
Bow tide excepting in the four chances.
The bottom is mud, so soft and so free
from rocks that the coasting captains who
ply that part of the Chinese waters think
little of running aground in this neigh
borhood. For many years enterprising
merchants have kept powerful steam tugs
at Tien Tsin, ard they make a handsome
! profit in towing vessels up and down the
Peh-ho, and in pulling luckless ships off
the numberless shoals within the bar.
A DesoInte Landscape.
Taku is exceedingly desolate. Though
the soil is very rich and vegetation grows
with rapidity. yet the poverty of the peo-
pile conlpels them 20 utilize the smallest
| pieces of vegetable matter In the fail
the writer has noticed the natives gath
erng all the dead leaves, and just before
the first frost they dug up all the roots.
even the grass roots, dried them and put
them by for fuel. From October until
April, therefore, the ground is as bare as
a newly ploughed field, and the endless
expanse of clay, sand, and silt forms as
lugubrious a background the eye could
rest upon. So thorough is this ROBBERY
of green things that the land birds go TO
more favorable districts. and even such
winged creatures as the wild ducks make
but a short stay in their long flight to
warmer climes.
The natives of Taku belong TO the same
type as those of other towns in Chilli and
Shsn-Tung. They are much larger heav-
Ter, and stronger than those of the south
who give us 80 per cent. of our Chinese
population and they are of much lighter
complexion, many of them having gray
or hazel eyes, brown and even dark red
hair They are proud and more independ-
ent and often more unruly than their col
leagues in the south. In size and stature
they compare we'll with the average
American. Through this district is found
strain of very tail and powerful men,
who. according to their own legends, are
descendants of famous Monaghan horde
that came from the North several thous-
ana years ago. 1t is this breed Wnlch
produced Chang, the star giant OF Bar
NUNS moral show in the years long gone
by, and Chang's sister, a colossal maiden
eight feet four inches in hight.
The climate of Taku cannot be recon-
mended from any point of view. In winter
II is bitterly cold, and all communication
Is shut off by a wall or great rampant
OF Ice at sea and drifts of snow on land
For three months the place is thus buried
alive. During the spring rains the ter
ritory is a miasmatic marsh, and during
the rest of the year it is hot, dusty. in
sect-ridden and uncomfortable. From
Taku an excellent military road runs 10
Tien Tsin. 1t owes its existence and fine
condition TO Ii Hung Chang, who, during
mis- long official residence there as VICE
roy, bestowed more care and labor upon
the thoroughfares of his jurisdiction than
any other Viseroy. While the road is not
equal to the imperial post road, whlch
runs through the empire, It is much bet
ter than the average Chinese road, which
goes up and down hill with no regard TO
g.. lnNr hgG