Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1908-08-14
Or. Edwords Letter.


Here is the beginning Of all things
Oriental, o far as manners, customs
and religions are concerned. Here
is the strange people, standing con-
stantly as menace to the Caucasian
civilization, and as l sailed up the
Yelliw river to where the vessel turn
ed into the Shanghai river, COULD
not help likening this yellow contain
nation of the beautiful blue of the
ocean water to what may possibly ha
pen should the vast yellow horde Of
inhabitants of China ever be turned
toward Europe or America.
We sailed in the Yellow sea, and
the waters were still as blue as the
ocean, for We were yet one hunared
China, within one hundred miles OF
and forty miles from the coast OF
China, within one hundred miles OF
the coast Of the Yangste river. A
few miles farther, however, the sea
became deep yellow and the water
Opaque from the contamination Of
the detritus brought down by the
great river which flows through Chin;
for more than a thousand miles. In
my boyhood | had speculated on the
mysteries of China as pored over
my map at school, and thought / ha,
some idea of what all this meant,
but as we sailed out of the blue into
the yellow | received an OBJECT les
son that was more forceful than all
the information gained through books
The Yangste river, itself, is a won
derful stream, and while we were
several miles within its mouth we
were unable to see either isde and it
seemed as If we were still away out
in the ocean. The river here is for
ty miles wide, and in order that
You may obtain some idea of what
it is, l need but tell you that for
eight hundred miles it is deep enough
to permit the passage of the great
battleship.
As we approached the shore, l was
surprised at the apparently barren
condition Of the country. For miles
on either side of the river, the land
stretched away with no sign Of human
or cultivation, although l
was told that this soil is the most
fertile in all China. Covering the
land wer innumerable mounds of vary
ing heights, and l supposed them to
be relics of ancient peoples, some
thing like those who built the mounds
in Ohio, but l learned that these
mounds are the tombs of departed
Chimes, and which ancient custom
forbids ever being disturbed. Here
was my first lesson regarding the
reason for the arrest of development
of the Chinese race. Superstition
precluded the use of this fertile land,
and also precluded roads or telegraph
lines being built across the cuontry.
Chinese superstition will not permit o
a shadow of any kind being cast
upon the tomb of an ancestor.
One would imagine that this vene-
ration would lead them to take ex-
ceptional care of the graves, but sucn
is not the case. In Japan ! saw gray
several hundred years old, which
looked as fresh with flowers and dec
oratiye offerings as if they had been
recently made. In China, however, il
is entirely different. When the grave
is filled it is abandoned and no care
given to it at all. The only protec
ton is that given by superstition
and this accounts for the abandon
ment of the best land in the empire
and also for the lack of progress in
the way of road building and develop
ment. China is notorious for its bat
roads, and were it not for its won
drous water system of rivers ant
canals the traffic of the countr!
would be at a standstill.
It took US several hours to sail I'll
the river through these miles of de
serted tombs, to the Yangste river
and we were much diverted by and Il
terested in the queer water craft tina
we were continually passing. ! hat
seen such boats In pictures ami
models Of them In musing boats, trad
ing vessels, and house boats Of stran
make, rubbed sides with war junk
that looked ferocious only becaus
they were daubed with paint and COY
cred with faces Of fierce devils an
dragons. The fishing boats had hui
dip nets arranged on each side Of th
mast, It viii be remembered tina
II