The Tomahawk. [volume] (White Earth, Becker County, Minn.) 1903-192?, 1916-11-30

GTHE PROVINCE of kuangsi
South China, was originally
the home of uncivilized tribes
called by the Chinese "wild
men," and their homes "barbarisn
caves" These aboriginal tribesmen
are scattered freely through nearly all
parts of the province, but occupy prin
cipally the great north and northwest
sections.
If we draw q line across the map
just west of Kueilin in the north ana
Marking in the south, we will find that
with the exception of Lungchow on
the Annamese border, by far the great
.er half of the province has no estab-
lished Christian work whatever. In
this neglected region there are numer'
GUS walled cities, market towns and
villages, all teemlng with human life
The great majority of the inhabitants
of these vast regions are aborigines,
vari0usly called Mao, Yao, Tung and
Chuang. These tribes have so inter
married with the Chinese that they
have adopted most of the latter's GUS
toms, including mode Of dress, but re-
tain their own form of speech, which,
\ though monosyllabic, is still quite dis
tinct from the Chinese language.
Some of these tribesmen are met
with in great numbers along the road
leading to Tinglinkai. The scenery
along this route is beautiful, indeed,
writes q Liuchowbu correspondent OF
the North Darby Mail. In places one
must walk for hours high up on the
mountain side, while so feet below
rushes foaming mountain stream.
The valley is narrow and on either
side tower huge granite mountains,
wooded almost to the summit with a
stuEted growth of fir, while far below
by the gurgling stream the slender
bamboos grouping shyly together, bend
gracefully over the rushing waters.
The path is tortuous one, winding in
and out round the many bends. Here
and there homestead can be seen
guarding a small section Of terraced
paddy fields, while to secure irrigation
to his little farm the ingenious settler
has to run hollow bamboo pipes from
a mountain spring, thus conveying the
crystal water to his home first, and
then from terrace to terrace all the
way down the mountain side, irrigat-
ing each small field.
These people belong to the Yao
tribe. They have no written language
of their own. Those who have had
any schooling whatever have studied
the Chinese characters and can speak
a broken Mandarin as well as their
own dialect. The dress Of the men is
like that of the Chinese, but the wom-
ems dress differs somewhat. Their
blouses, instead of buttoning on the
right side, Chinese style, come together
in the front, and meet at the neck
in a sort Of sailor collar. Some Of the
women wear high-crowned hats, gay
ly colored and profusely ornamented
by numerous strings Of beads that hang
about the shoulders and down the
back, Others have flat, thin cloth
covered board on their heads made in
a sort of Mother HUBBARD bonnet.
Still others of the poorest classes sim
DIV wrap their heads with long blue
cloth.
AS the tribe lives exclusively in the
mountain regions, where rice cannot
be cultivated in large quantities, their
diet consists for the most part OF corn,
maize and other grains, with plenti'
full supply of vegetables and sweet po'
tatoes. While extremely shy and re-
firing, still when once conversation
can be entered upon we found them
very friendly.
First Sight of White Man.
On one occasion while travelling IN
their district we had an amusing ex'
perience. After traversing the com
paratively level road from Llnhsl to
Shanih we entered a wilder, more
sparsely populated section of the coun'
try, where the most ordinary 1000
such as rice and native vegetables, De-
came our staple fare. We reached
small village about noon, and after
partaking of some red-colored rice ano
some green's we continued our jour
ney westward. Our path now led US
ND q high mountain, and for some ter
Ii or more we gradually ascended
when, coming suddenly around beno
in the road, we met number OF abo
rig,nal women who were out on the
mountain gathering fuel.
They had never seen q white mar
before and evidently did not care te
see much of one now. For a moment
they stood in amazement and looked
at US. but only for moment; ther
they dashed off the road and down the
mountain side like frightened deer
and were soon out of sight among thf
wild srass and scrubby fir trees. W.
stood, both panied and amused; palne'