The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-01-04

are COmIOTCdDlc luey dIe oiNiooO
into compartments, opening upon an
aisle. The seats run almost across
the car. and one can lie down, IL IT
is not too crowded. In the middle or
each coach is a drawing room. with
tables and chairs, and with sofas at
the ends. The cars are well lighted;
in the winter they are heated by
steam, supplied by a boiler in a freight
car attached to the rear Of the train.
The water for the boiler is pumped in
by hand.
During my journey to the Chinese
capital l was much interested in the
passengers. They comprised many
high-claSs officials and other Chinese
gentlemen, all Of whom were dressed
in brocaded silk own big black cloth
boots and skull caps Of satin. On the
latter were blue buttons, in mourning
for the emperor. Their were Chinese
ladies, who, in the solitary grandeur
Of their paint, powder and
silk clothes, sat with the toes Of their
little club feet resting on the floor
There were a score of foreign men in
European dress, and one or two for
eign women. There was also a Man
chu girl, with her hair done up in two
great wings, on the back of her head,
and there was a s~leek-haired yellow
maiden, who wore pantaloons.
The s~econd-class cars contained
Well-tO-dO Chinese, many of whom
were clad in silks. They sat on
straightforward, rude benches, and it
seemed to me they looked very I'M
comfortable. The third class was filed
with coolies, who were about as bad
off as the cattle in our stock cars at
home. They had boxcars, which were
entered at the ends by doors SO low
that one had to stoop to get through
them. The cars had no seats, and the
passengers either stood or sat on their
baggage. All the cars were wei filled,
and the road is said to be paying.
During the trip lunches were
brought in to the f1rst-class passen-
gers. These consisted of tea, cakes
and sweets. We had candied citron
in the shape Of little green balls and
delicious English walnut meats, the
full kernes, embedded in agar. The
conductors on this train were English.
A Road to the Great Wall.
While in Picking l learned much
about the new railroad, which is now
building through the great wall on into
Mongolia. This is a branch of the
Imperial railway system, and it is be-
inc constructed out of the profits of
the Mukden-Peking line. It begins at
Picking, and goes northWard past the
Ming Tombs to the Nankow pass. One
hundred and twenty-five miles are al
ready built, and a connection has been
made with the Monaghan city of Kali
gan on the other side of the great
wall. Kalgan has 10000 inhabitants;
it is the great center of the caravan
trade, a half million or more camels
passing it each year. The road will
have q considerable traffic in carry
in meat, furs and grain from Mon
golia to Peking. 1t will also take tea
to the MongOls. The present plan is
to extend it across the Cobb desert to
Lake Baikal, where it viii connect with
the Trans-Siberian railway, and form
tho ChnrfoSf rntfo IN N}1rnn If Will
put Peking within thirteen or fourteen
days of London, and the time to New
York by fast express train and steam
will be about twenty da!> When 1
visited the Nankow pass a few years
ago / Travelled by donkey and mule lit
ter and it took me three days. BY
this new road the Journey can be
| made in six hours or less.
The road starts from Picking, and.
until it nears the mountains, the coun-
try is comparatively smooth. 1t then
rises rapidly, and the track ascends
1900 feet in ten and one-haif miles.
At the pass itself a tunnel about three
quarters OF a mile long has been con-
structed, through which the trains
pass under the great wall. This road
is well built, although it has been
planned by Chinese engineers and
constructed entirely by Chinese labor.
1t will cost about SIS, 900 600 to ex-
tend it to the Siberian boundary.
China's Big Railway Centers.
China has many cities, already
large, whic" are bound to grow enor-
mously through the new railroads now
projected and building. The chief
OF these are Picking, Tientsin,
Canton, Marking and Shanghai. An
other railroad center will be Chengtu,
the capital Of the province of Szech-
uen, in western China, and an
other will be Yunnan, the capital of
the province Of the same name, in the
southwest. At all these places rail
roads are either in operation or in
projection, and eventually the iron
tracks will go out from them like the
spokes Of a wheel. Tientsin will be a
second New York. It has already a
million, and is growing like a green
bay tree. 1t lies near the coast of the
Gulf of Chilli and is the chief ENTER
OF trade for north China with the
enormous coal fields Of Shensi and
Shansi tributary to It. It is on the