The Elbert County tribune., 1912-12-20

A the Hudson; steamed down
the whirlpool St Lawrence:
W skilled on the willow-lined
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 Zambesi's cataracts; attend
ed Il 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: floated under the Nile
palms; roamed In the palaces of the
Jumna: smelled the CHATS of the
Ganges and the stencil OF the Hoogh-
ly; hobnobbed with cannibals and
eaten Doorian nuts on the Irrawaddy
all these he may have done and
more. but bis river reveries are in
complete unless he has sailed on
Chinese waters; for like everything
else In the Celestial land. Its rivers
are not like anything else found any
where else in the world.
Few have had the joy of exploring
the great HoangHo or the Kiang; but
those who know the latter put 1t first
among their river experiences, writes
Sarah G. Morrison. The Yangtse-Ki-
ang. as most Americans call 1t. is the
third greatest river In the world, over
three thousand miles long and seven
teen miles wide at its mouth at Shang-
hal. where the writer well 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 It is In the
houseboat 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 a mass of blue bodied
and yellow-decked native steamers;
war 1unks with red standards and
pennants and throbbing tom-toms.
Through Mountain Goroes.
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 its way or
tracks" along over thirteen big rap
IDS and seventy-two minor ones. Yet
his region of perils is annually trav-
ersed by over seven thousand junks,
the average loss being more than
Ave hundred
The mountain gorges being passed.
and these are often 1900 feet high,
one finds himself in a 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 never
heard in these parts. Here the head
man of the village, in sillxen gown,
offers a hospitality OF twenty or thirty
courses from a central dish. his menu
Including such rare delicacies as
sharks fms, cod-bladders. frog legs.
birds nests and slugs.
But It is given to more people to
take the voyage from Hongkong to
Canton on the Pearl river, In south
ern China To begin with, Hongkong
harbor is one of the finest and most
fascinating in the world. From sap
phire sea thronged with fussy steam
launches. cumbersome merchantmen.
hundreds of junks and thousands OF
sampans. rises a steep slope. terrace
on terrace. to 1890 feet. while the
island edge is crowded with three
miles OF solid stone buildings. The
many-colored highways of the city are
alluring with their motley array of
Chinese Mohammedans. Turks. Hin.