The farmer and mechanic., 1907-04-23
A TRIP THROUGH MANCHURIA
ty W. a GRAHAM
10y w. 4. GRAHAM CLARKE

NiuchWang, Manchuria.-I wrote
nome f,,st iast from Peking. have
JuSt returned from 3 trip
through the land Of tba Tartars
ana after my experiences nv present
Hottl, thougn without watcrworI<<
seems an oasis Of comfort ana pre-
'I'9 quIte Il different aspect than Il
dld Whcn | first struck it fresh fro.,l
the modern hotels in Shanghai ana
TientSin. -
from Ticntsin ] came to Much
wang by the English built and operat-
cd Imperial Railway of North chin.
rms road has English engines bDt the
cars have doors at each end after the
american style. The road is Of or
standard gauge, -four feet eight ana a
H'li ihcheS, neaVy ninety pound rails
ana Is well balasted. The road * u,alI
operated and tho trains make .bont
ihlfty miles an hour. Owing Ia the
danger OF robbers. however the trains
Stop Tor the night at Shan-Hail5wan
When ! got off there after dark II
looked at first as if there was :. riot
hundreds Of excited Cinnamon were
Jum ping wildly up and down, waving
tnelr lanterns and yelling at the top
ol thelr voices. / had struck up With
Il German who spoke English and who
mad been here before and found
from hum that these men-there were
Two hundred of them ut least-were
runners for Chinese inns and riclshaw.
men. Each carried glazed DaDer
lantern with candle inside and on.
cach lantern \, dS written the name Of
the Inn. The hundreds of waving
HghtS made q pretty scene but China
man is the noiSiest creature on the
face of the earth and the din was
something fierce. We shoulde:ed our
way out, biting every runner who
trled To capture US and finally landed
Ut the only foreign run hotel at the
place which was fairly decent
ShanHai-k wan is the place whore
the Great Wall Of China runs down IN
10 the sea. We got up early next
morning and walked out to it, 1t is
truly great work. On the inner
side it slopes up to the top but the
outside is q sheer drop Of probably
forty or fifty feet faced from top
70 bottom with large sized brick. At
intervals We're gates with double ap-
pfoacheS. Al intervals also along the
walls and over the gates were battle
towers. At this point the brick fac
ing of the wall has been in many places
torn entirely away, being used to erect
buildings for the foreign troops quar- ,
tered here during the Boxer troubles
The battle towers have crumbled and
the whole wall is in a dilaDidated con-
dition. The Tartars that it was built
To keep out now sit on the throne of
the Chinese builders and the days of
its usefulness are passed but with the (,
pyramids it will live down the centu- |
les as the most imperishable evidence |
of mans handiwork. On one Of the
ed q large %.
We left at seven and arrived at |
NiucnWang at about dusk, having to ]
cross the I4iao river by Il ferry boat /
This river is one of the SWifteSt in the /
world and is about three-fourths. of a /
mile wide at the town. About the first I
of December it freezes over and the |
port becomes ice bound until March.
About half way across we were all
peering ahead ut the lights Of Much
NIrDY " m nn Cn1 l,,
out of the blackness dead ahead,
brOadSidc on and almost under our
boat. There was sudden Whirlwind
Of cries tinlling of bells and scamper
of feet and We barely sWerved in time
for our sharp PROV TO miss the boat q
bare two feet. The Sampan was
thrown bodily at US by the swell and
as it crashed against our sides it keel
ed half over but rightcd itself and Slid
off into the darkness. The angel of
death famed that fellows face with
his wings as he passed but from what |
! have learned Of the Chinese charac-
ter | doubt if his feelings was other
than that of disappointment at not
being able to cross our bows To cross
the bow of another boat or to cross
the street before q vehicle shows his
superiority and according to his no.
ton brings good luck. Though clumsy
the samDan is q pretty boat and for a
month before tho river finally freezes
over when great blocks of ice are COM
ing down the swift current and are
thrown crashing back by the incoming
tide, it is only the Sampan men who
will trust their boats and risk their
lives to get passengers across.
Niuchwang is the port through
which American goods enter Man
churia and is very important to our IN
terest. The great bulk of our goods
enter through Chinese hands, however,
being bought at Shanghai and Mr.
a. T.. Sargent is the only American
merchant here. The japanese by
manipulation of freight rates and 9th
er DETERMINATIONS are trying to build
up Dalny al the expense of Much
wang and to look into this matter is
one reason why / am here.
met all the AnglO-SaXOnS and
good many Chinese while here. The
first firm whose establishment 1 went
into presented a rather mover SiSht.
Just behind the managers desk IN
the office. was a rack with dozen
army rifles loaded and with fixed bay
0nets And other firms also had army
rifles and r1vOlVerS in pr0fuslon. II
struck me as funny at flrSt anu seem
ed like doing business under dlfhcui-
tics but with the sudden squalls lhal
spring uD among the of coolies worked
here it is a wise Drccaution. The to"n
IS however still under Japanese mill
tary control and there is not lnuch
disturbance.
At Niuchwang I secured Mr.. Percy
Farmer to act as guide and lnterpre-
ter through Manchuria. L could not
have gotten q better man. lie IS Il
young Englishman born and raised IN
Manchuria and speaks the Manchu-
rian Chinese perfectly. He was lust
back from "a two years stay IN Soutn
Africa whittier he had carried thouS-
and men from this section to WORK
in the mines and he had also served
in the South African Horse.
We left Niuchwang at eight p. |
m. one night changing ears at the
junction at Ta-shin-4liao and arrived
at Moull den at next morning. ny
road is opcrated by the Japanese gov
ernment From Dalny to kWah-
cIfng-tze 445 miles it is marrow
gauge, feet inches. Both freIsn
and passenger cars are very Snl.tll.
The freight ears are doll baby aHaifS'
having only four wheels, and carry
ing only seven tons each. As oui
IaTee freight cars in America carry
up to sixty tons YOU can get some lued
of how small these cars are 1he
rails of the road from Ta-Shl9-klao 10
are heavy gU-pOund