The Lafayette advertiser. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], La.) 1865-19??, 1906-02-28
INTERESTING T
From Lafayette Boy Giving Ac-
count of His Trip to Picking
With Notes on Chinese
Peculiarities.

The following interesting let
ter from r. w. Mouton on board
the U. S. flagship Ohio at Yoko-
hama, Japan, will, we are sure,
be read with pleasure:
Ny TRIP TO PICKING.
The night of Sept. 10, 1905, was
calm and moonlight when a merry
party of officers and enlisted men, at
1890 left the flagship Ohio, which
was anchored about fifteen miles off
Taku. for a visit to Tientsin and
Peking. IT was necessary to start at
q somewhat unusual hour in order to
get over the bar while the tide was
high. After three hours steaming we
reached Tongku, having passed, on
our way up the Pei-ho river, the
location of the Chinese forts which
were SO successfully attacked, taken,
and afterwards destroyed by the allied
forces, during the Boxer uprising in
1900. Leaving Tongku at about ; a. IN
the llth. We were soon speeding
across the level plain at . rate OF
more than forty miles an hour, arriv-
ing in Tientsin in sixty minutes. The
railroad seemed in excellent condition
and all accommodations were most
considerable. We were informed that
the rails over which We travelled were
froa America; the engine pulling
our train, from the Baldwin locOmO-
tive works Of Philadelphia, the cars
from st. Louis, and the bridges along
the route from Pittsburg. Tientsin,
thirty miles from the mouth of the
Pei-ho river, and SO from Picking, is
. city of about . million inhabitants.
The foreign settlement is the most up
tO-dase place in the far east, having
clean, well paved and lighted streets,
IN excellent sewerage system, and
buildings, parks and pleasure resorts,
which would be . credit to any city
of Europe or America. The Germans,
British, French, Italians, Russians,
Austrians, and Japanese have con-
cessions, and each country seems to
be trying to pas the other in the
matter of public and private improve
ments. There are q number OF ex-
cellent hotels, the principal one OF
which, like in Shanghai, bears the
name Of that erstwhile leading hosiery
in New York, the Aston House.
The native portion Of Tientsin is
nov one of the cleanest and best
regulated municipalities in the whole
of China, having been under interna-
tional government for some time since
the trouble 1900, when it was greatly
improved in many respects. For
twenty or more FEARS Tientsin was
the home of the celebrated Viceroy
Ii Hung Chang, during which time
practically all the foreign policy OF
China emanated from there. Having
. large foreign population it naturally
incurred the hatred of the Boxers and
was The first object of their attack
after they we're thoroughly organized.
The fierce assault made on Tientsin,
its defense made by marines and
soldiers and its final relief are now q
matter of history, scarcely any
evidence of the destruction of those
trying days of 1900 now remains. and
the whole city, Phoenix like, emerged
from ashes grander and greater than
ever.
From Tientsin to Peking the country
is quite level and in q high state OF
cultivation. AS we proceed to the
latter city caravans of camels,
heavily loaded with merchandise,
we're to be seen coming from ,iorth
and west. The railroad enters Picking
through an opening In the wall of the
Chinese City, and its terminus is at
the gate of the Tartar city not far
from tie street upon which all the
legations are located.
Picking has two grand divisions the
Tartar or Northern City and the
Chinese or Southern City. Both are
surrounded by walls; those OF the
former being about 50 feet thick
1t base and forty high, those of the
latter ere about Is feet high and IS
thick 1t base. Nine gates give
entrance to the Tartar and seven to
the Chinese, each surmounted by .
pavilion. The walls IRE faced with
brick, mud and broken stone used
for filing, and the top is covered with