Evening star., 1902-02-22


that stream. great part Of the Grand
Canal is In bad repair, but south Of the
Yangtse 1t is mighty trade route. filled
with all kinds of vessels.
The labor upon the canal has been enor
nous and vast amount of work Is being
done upon it today. At every few miles
stone bridges have been built across 1t
and many of these bridges have wide stone
arches high enough for the boats to pass
through. From the boat these arches are
exceedingly picturesque. They form
frame for the long water way covered with
boats of all kinds. l counted thirty bridges
in sight at one time and this not including
the little stone bridges which cross the
side canals at every few hundred feet
The banks of all the canals have foot
paths worn smooth by the tread of thou
sands Of bare feet. Many of the boats are
hauled along by trekers. men. women and
children, who are harnessed up like horses
and who pull the boats onward by ropes
attached to the masts. The women work
as hard as the men. thrifty boatmah hav-
ing several wives, each extra wife being
an extra slave TO the husband.
How They Fish.
All the canals are filled with fish and
there are fishermen everywhere. There
are fish traps built at intervals across the
waterway. through which your boat goes
with scraping, grating sound. There are
wicker fences, so fixed into the bed Of the
canal that they will bend down when the
boat presses against them. They are meant
to stop the fish from coming down or up
stream and to turn them into the s1nuous
pens of bamboo at the sides, where once
in they cannot get out. Such pens are ire
quently near great stone bridges.
There are also fishermen using hooks and
lines and fishing parties with nets and also
many men fishing with cormorants. The
cormorant fisherman paddles along in
canoe, upon the sides of which sit from
twenty to thirty birds, which look much
like ducks. They are on the rim of the
boat fastened there by strings tied to
their legs. At a word from their master
they will dive down for fish and bring them
up in their mouths. Each cormorant has
ring about its neck which prevents it from
swallowing the fish it catches. The fisher
man sits in the stern of the boat and pad
dies it along.
One of the most important cities on the
Grand canal is Soochow. 1t IS bigger than
ST. Louis and was founded about 800 3. c.
1t is the capital of Einaesu province and
is in the heart Of a district as thickly pop
ulated perhaps as any part of China. 1t
is very rich city and great manufactur-
ing center. 1t makes silks, linens, cottons
and all sorts of things of iron. ivory and
glass In the new China it will be one of
the great cities of the empire and one
of the chief railroad centers. Railroads
have already been surveyed to connect it
with Shanghai and before many years 1t
viii be known all over the world. 1t is
only five years now since it was opened to
foreign trade. This was at the close of
the Chinese-JapaneSe war. At present there
is foreign settlement and the English,
Germans and Japanese are already begin
ming to do business.
Right near Soochow is the great Taihu
lake, which is connected with the Grand
canal by a marble bridge with ffty-three
arches. This is one of the finest bridges
in China. 1t is very long and it's arches
are as perfectly made as though cut with
sculptors chisel. l sailed by this bridge on
my way to the city.
A New Road to Literature.
Soochow has many pagodas and it is also
celebrated as a literary center. One group
of pagodas has a queer story connected
with it, which shows the superstition of the
Chinese. Originally the group contained
but two pagodas with pool Of water near
them. Not far away was the examination
hall. Shortly after the pagodas were built
1t was noticed that the students from Soo-
chow always failed in their examinations
when they went to Peking. The necroman-
GERS were asked to determine the cause.
They found it in the pagodas. Said they:
"You have here the water" pointing to
the pond; you have also the ink brushes"
pointing to the pagodas; but you have no
ink pot or ink block. How can your schol-
ars write essays with the only brushes and
water!
"Ah," said the Chinese, I'VE will fix that"
black the shape Of Chinese ink pot. This
changed the fortunes Of the scholars i'm
mediately, and Soochow since then has be-
come the ATHENS Of China
1t took us long time to get around the
walls of Soochow into the city. Soochow
has at least twelve miles of wall about It,
The wall is as high as three-story house
and as wide as the ordinary country road
1t is today almost as perfect as when 1t
was built, and there are parts of it which
recentlV arfS
are being torn down and rebuilt. The Chi
nese have walls about all their cities and If
a new city were built today 1t would have
wall about it. Not long ago some hundreds
of thousands Of dollars were spent in re-
pairing the wall of Nanking: and I suppose
that one Of the first appropriations made
by the government after they have ar
ranged for the interest on the foreign debt
brought about by the late war, will be to
repair the walls of Peking.
SoochoW fills the most of the space within
this wall, and In places the city has gone
outside. All along the banks of the canal
straw In which live people more ragged and
filthy perhaps than any beggars Of the
world. Many Of them go about In boats
and whine for aims while they thrust out at
you long poles to which are attached little
baskets or bags in which you are expected
to put your gifts.
The Biggest Drug Store Of the World.
III I1dHSCHOW the Otner day i went
through the biggest drug store Of China
and one which Consul General Goodnow
says Is the largest drug store Of the world.
1t covers a vast area and is made up OF
many rooms in which Chinese clerks are
selling drugs Of all kinds and making rem
cdies for all sorts OF Chinese ailments The
store was filled with purchasers. wholesale
and RETAIL and the talk was so noisy that
1t made me think Of the stock exchange in
Wall street during panic. In the factory
found them grinding roots and bones to
powder for pills. The grinding was done
In mill stones moving one on top of the
other and fed through hole in the top
stone The motive power Of each mill was
q half naked man, perfectly blind, who
pushed round pole attached to the top
stone like horse in the bark mill Of q
tannery. l asked why blind men were en-
ployed and was informed that 1t is for
two very good reasons: One Is that 1t is
considered charitable to givo blind men
work and another is because it Is cheap.
Leaving the grinding went into an
other department. where scores of men
were molding pills and putting them away
In stone Jars. Adjoining this room was an
other which might be called a pill ware
house. 1t contained an enormous number
Of stone jars each holding about fifty gal
Ions of pills. There were enough pills there
to physic all China. The jars were ar
ranged In sections. They had different
labels upon them, although those on one
a ,o1l