The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1912-12-20

Merrimac; excursioned along
the Potomac; houseboated on the
Ohio; steamboated past the levees
of the Mississippi; barged at evening
on the Sacramento; seined in the Co
lumbia; mined on the Yukon; gath
cred rubber along the Congo; shot big
game by Zambesis cataracts; attend
ed a regatta on the Thames; pulled
grapes on the Rhine hills; reveled in
art by the Arno; been stranded in
the Volga; swan the Tiber; crossed
the Jordan; foated under the Nile
palms; roamed in the palaces of the
Jumna; smelled the CHATS Of the
Ganges and the stencil of the Hoogh-i
ly; hobnobbed with cannibals and
eaten Doorian nuts on the Irrawaddy.
all these he may have done and
more, but his river reveries are M
complete unless he has sailed =
Chinese waters; Tor like everything
else in the Celestial land, its rivera
are not like anything else found any.
where else in the world.
Few have had the JOY of exploring
the great Hoang-Ho or the Kiang;; but
those who know the latter put it first
among their river experiences, writes
Sarah G. Morrison. The Yangtse-Ki-
ang, as most Americans call it, is the
third greatest river in the weld, over
three thousand miles long and seven
teen miles wide at its mouth at Shang.
hal, where the writer we'll remembers
its yellow flood which stained the
ocean for $50 miles from shore. &
One may have taken the 7O0-mile
steamer trip up to Hankow; changed
for smaller boat and three days
ride to Shasi; then houseboated for
100 miles to Chungking, where one
sees the finest 'hongs" on the street
Of the White Elephant. 1t is in the
household days that ones adventures
begin and the grandeur of the Yangtse
! is encountered Brown and blue and
white-striped sails of many junks,
with long-queued, chanting crews, dot
the water between needle.spired pa
godas and bold headlands. At Ichang
and the river is mass of blue-bodied
and yellow-decked native steamers;
war junks with red standards and
penrants and throbbing tom.toms.
Through Mountain Goraes.
During the next 500 miles the river
rises 500 feet as 1t runs through the
mountains of the Seven Gates and
then the boat fights it's way or
tracks" along over thirteen big ran.
ids and seventy-two minor ones. Yet
this region of perils is annually tray.
ersed by over seven thousand junks,
the average loss being more than
five hundred.
The mountain gorges being passed
and these are often 1890 feet high,
one finds himself in rice-irrigated
section, or, that impossible, sugar.
cane, sweet potatoes, or tea is the or
der. Here the persistent, peculiar
Chinee lives simply, crudely and pic
turesquely, with no malice toward
foreign devils" phrase neye,
heard in these parts. Here the head
man of the village, in silken gown
offers a hospitality Of twenty or thirty
courses from central dish, his men,
including such rare delicacies AZ
sharks fms, cod-bladders, frog lers
birds nests and slugs.
But it Is given to more peopla Il
take the voyage from Hongkong &c
Canton On tho Pearl river, in south
ern China. To begin with, Hongkons
harbor is one of the finest and mos,
fascinating in the world. From san
phire sea thronged with fussy steam
launches. cumbersome merchantmen
hundreds of iunks and thousands q
, sampans. rises a steep slope, terrac,
, on terrace, to $500 feet, while n,
island edge is crowded with tire,
miles Of solid stone buildings IN,
, many'colored highways Of the city Sc,
alluring with their motley array, :
chinese Moharnedans, Turks. Hiu