Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1908-02-21
Those In the Interior Are About SnU
Worst In the World.

Those IN the Interior are ABOUT kus
Worst In the World.
An amusing picture Of the difficult
ties Of travel In China is drawn by
w. ]. Garnett, third secretary OF the
British legation in Picking, in a report
issued from the foreign Office on a
Journey he made thrOugI gShangtung.
Mr.. Garnett had intended to go far
Their than he actually went, but he
suffered so much from being iolted
about in a Chinese cart that one pOr-
ton of his tour had to be abandoned.
Innkeeping in the Chinese interior is
not a business that calls for the Law
lsh sinking Of capital.
NEARLY every village" says Mr..
Garnett, possesses an inn, and the
only difference between them is the
varying amount of discomfort the trav-
eler has to endure, for none is good.
The best room Of a Chinese inn con-
sists Of four walls, matched roof and
a door, though this is not essential.
The floor is of mud and very far from
being level, and there is the kang,' or
Chinese bed place, on which camp beds
can be erected.
''Chairs and a rickety table can fire.
Quently be obtained, though the inn
keeper may have to borrow them.
There are always windows covered
with filthy paper broken in a thou
sand places, but rarely is glass to be
met with. The walls are usually Of
mud bricks, sometimes partially COW
cred with paper as filthy as that which
acts as windows and usually bearing
a few red paper Chinese characters
expressing happiness and similar
good wishes.
'In many cases the walls do not all
touch the ceiling, and the rooms are
in consequence always open to the air
somewhere. 1t is perhaps needless to
say that the dirt is usually very hor-
rible, and there are plenty Of vermin.
The door frequently ends foot from
the ground. and in consequence the
traveller may find in the morning that
he has had visitors during the night
in the shape of cats, dogs, chickens
and even pigs.
1.-THE question of payment is always
a difficult one The innkeeper never
likes to tell the guest the price, as he
is terrified at naming a sum smaller
than the guest would perhaps pay if
left to himself to decide, but the right
price seems to be about 20 cents for
lodging If the travellers consume a fair
number of eggs and have fire light
ed for boiling their water. Eggs and
chickens can nearly always be obtain
ed in the villages; also Chinese bread, |
which is by no means bad"
Mr.. Garnett was compelled to take |
to a cart between Chinanfu and the |
Grand canal, and the experience in
capacitated him from pursuing a part !
Of the contemplated journey.
These vehicles are two wheeled and |
of the rudest description. They are |
enormously strong to resist the terri
BILE humping they have to undergo.
They are also springless. The driver
sits on the shaft, and this is said to be
the most comfortable place. The I'M
fortunate traveller inside is pitched
from one side to the other against the
wood latticework of the sides as the
cart plows its way over every obstacle,
however large or difficult, until he is
black and blue and indeed sometimes
breaks a limb.
As for the roads, in bad weather they
are practically impossible, being sew
eral feet deep in the thickest imagina-
bic mud. When there is a bridge over
a stream it is in the majority Of cases
avoided by the carts or mules because
it is either broken through in places
or else in such a bad state Of repair
that it would be dangerous to use it,
and so every one fOrds the river as if
no bridge existed.-Cincinnati CONNER
cial Gazette.