The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-06
CLIFF JEWELLERS IN CHINA.
A Settlement Like Colony of Sand
Swallows.

pIoW inc Spflngnelu hihpIlCal-J
Prof. G. Frederick White, of oberlin
who started on tour around the world
several months ago, reached China just
before the Boxers outbreak had assumed
dangerous proportions ard at one m-de
an excursion into Mongolia. returning
later 20 Ticntsin. From there, on June
>. he sent an account of singular and
interesting village Of Catholic cliff dwell
lers. which he visited IN Mongolia. 1t is
quite probable that the native Christians
/ he describes nave since been massacied.
Prof. White prefaces the description OF
the village with a few brief paragraphs
about The curious nature of the terri tory
in which il is situated:
The eastern border of Mongolia and
the northeastern part of China are large
ly covered with los Qoess), one of the
most interesting and pulling of all the
geological deposits. Its German name
comes from the valley of the Rhine,
where loess is found in considerable
quantities. The inhabitants of the Ms
sissipi and Missouri valleys OF the United
States are familiar with the deposit in
the bluffs at Vicksburg, Kansas City.
Omaha. and Sioux City. During the siege
of Vicksburg the people took refuge in
spacious rooms dug out in the deposit at
considerable depth below the surface.
River 1t stands in perpendicular expo
sures more than hundred feet high, and
city streets are cut through it's long, per-
pendicular sides, which stand like wall
for many years. When section breaks
off from the cliff it always leaves a per-
pendicular 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 II. 1t is so porous
that the rain which falls upon the sur
face passes entirely through the deposit.
preventing the formation of springs of
water until an impervious stratum is
reached underneath it all. 1t endures
drought better than any other soil.
The most extensive development Of
the loess anywhere in the world is in
Mongolia In an elevated region from 3 900
feet to 5.400 feet above the sea, but 1t
has been eroded by water during long
geological ages into a very uneven sur
face. with numerous narrow valleys from
LOCO feet to 1000 feet deep, with innu-
merable tributary gullies coming down
the sides of the intervening ridges. Many
isolated peaks. also, rise to an absolute
height of from 5000 feet to 1000 feet
above sea level. Into this rugged region
has drifted during recent epoch an i'm
mense amount of fine dust which constl-
tutes the loess. That is has been blown
in BY the winds is evident from the posi-
lions in which It lies. It appears almost
exactly like q series of immense snow
drifts that have accumulated behind he
barriers which have caused lulls in the
wind, permitting the suspended particles
to settle in protected places. while 1t
has been swept bare from the exposed po-
sitions.
These deposits OF loess are specially
valuable because Of their fertility. But
in Northern China it is of especial inter-
est in furnishing cheap. comfortable, and
salubrious dwelling places for multitudes
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 a large
number of such villages excavated In the
drifts OF loess hanging on the sides of the
mountains. In walking over the grassed
surfaee 1t was no uncommon thing to
stumble against a chimney protruding
from habitatlon below. From n dis
lance the side OF the hill looked like an
exposed bank pierced with innumerable
swallows nests. The Interior of the
houses are clean and comfortable. When
the walls have been moistened and
smoothed over with trowei they have a
hard finish which does not crumble off.
The rooms are uniformly dry and are
warm in winter and cool In summer. On
the sloping back OF a 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."