The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1913-07-30
J0TTINGS FROM
WORLD JOURNEY
Reviews Special Correspondents Con-
tinue to Tell of the Wonders
of Far Away China.
MAKE VISIT TO COAL FIELDS
The "Worshipers of Space" a PecuI-
lar Sect-Worship the Sun,
Moon and Stars.

There are two forces, on the Min
river, that contend for the mastery
and these two are as antagOniStlc as
Ralph Corners Murphy and Melon
aid gangs in THE Man From Glen
gary So there are two kinds of Rice
boats. The large ones used by the
kiangsi men and the small ones used
by the FoOchow men. We took pass
age in the later. These Foochow
Rice boats are about thirty feet long
and four feet wide in the center The
cover is just long enough to protect
the rice and just high enough to &C.
commOdate one sitting. Here We ate.
slept and viewed the scenery, when
we We're not nervous over the rapids
that roared ahead. Nine o'clock was
the hour set for our departure, but
when we arrived at the boat landing,
we were told it would be another hour
before the start could be made.
In company with Professor kel-
logg, principal of the boys school at
Shaowu, we struck Off on the trail
that led down the river, telling the
boa man he could pick us up later on.
Just outside the city We passed I'M
der number of Widows Arches.
These can be seen scattered all over
China Usually they are erected by
some man or organization that wishes
to honor some woman who was not
married again after her husbands
death. Such women are held in high
esteem by the Chinese. A little far
Their on we came to the bell hill"
Great virtue is supposed to come from
this sacred mound for the relief OF
physical infirmities. All along the
path We're smooth holes made in the
bank by the coolies with their bare
feet. They believed the god OF the
hill would rest their weary bodies
bruises on the way. ....
Over in the river we saw the cor
morants performing their morning
task. These birds bring great gain to
their masters by fishing. Each man
, has from one to two dozen of these
birds and putting them on his boat,
he rows to the best fishing spot At
his command they drop off into the
water and begin diving for fish. The
lazy ones are driven to their work by
the master striking the water with a
long bamboo pole. Some are so care
fully trained that they never attempt
to swallow the fish, but the majority
have a string around their neck that
prevents the carrying out OF the
natural bent.
We had heard much about China's
immense coal deposits. The state
ment being made that there was
enough coal to supply the world for
thousand years. That may be true.
BIT the verdi would suffer much If
all of Chinas coal had to be extracted
in the crude way We saw that morn
ing. From the few buildings down by
the river We followed the smooth
path that twisted and turned in its
way up the mountain side to the mine.
We soon learned the cause for the
stick runway, coolies We're bringing
the coal in sacks loaded on sleds.
Around the curves they would go at
break neck speed, the heavy load fol-
lowing close behind A misstep and
life would be crushed out by the
swift coming weight. Broken. dan
gerous shafts opened the way to the
hidden fuel The quality of which
seemed very inferior. The reason for
the slow Development Of this industry
is due to the superstitious dread of
the spirits who are supposed to OBJ
ject to the removal of the coal.
From the coal mines we climbed
still farther up the mountain side to
the central monastery of the Worship
ers of space. Dogs many, challenged
our entrance and only after loud re-