Oxford eagle., 1921-04-07
CHAPTER ii.

Though we visited several interest
ing places before getting to Wuchow,
my little niece, who was born in Wu-
chow, did not think We had gotten to
China until we came to her home
town. The city is up the West River
two hundred and forty miles in
terror from the. coast port Hong
Kong.
The War At Canton.
For several days we were unable to
leave Canton to go into the province
where Wuchow Is, for there was a.
civil war going on. To anyone who
saw service at the European front it
will seem bit drole to call this quar-
quite real to the Chinese The two
provinces were fighting because a
governor from one province had usur-
ped the power in an adjoining prov
ince. They were trying to oust the
usurper. The opposing forces were
marsha1led on either side Of the
river, and the attacking army sent
word over that they would begin fight
ing at two o'clock P. NJ. The Cover
nor answered, offering to leave Can
ton for five million dollars. They re-
turned an offer for one million. So
they called off the fighting before it
began, and "talked price" for some
weeks. The attacking side then put
across a real feat. They sent to Ma
Gao and paid a French aviator there
to fly to Canton about 9:30 one
night and drop bomb in the neigh
borhood of the Governors home. The
aviator came at the psychological
moment when a most brilliant har-
vest moon was going into total eclipse.
It was the first aeroplane that had
ever been heard in Canton. The
natives thought the dragon" was
swallowing the moon. and that the
world was surely COMING to an end.
Where all these people found a hid
ing place is hard to tell. but in that
city of millions one could hardly find
a Chinaman. Needless to say, that
finished the war; SO far as I know
there were no casualties and the Gov
ernor disappeared before morning.
We left next morning for Wuchow,
crossing S1e "front" without much
trouble. Once some rifles were point
ed at us, but we displayed an Ameri-
can flag and all was safe.
The Entrance To WuchCw.
The boat trip of two days up that
West River Is almost as picturesque
as trip up the Hudson, for there
are stately mountains, narrow gorges,
and quaint Chinese villages all along
the way A Chinese village is much
prettier at a distance than in the
,r+o %xur1xy
chantment there. The mountains all
way up are covered with thousands of
graves. China would be terrific
place for some of our colored friends
who are afraid OF the graveyard at
night, for there are few places in
China where one cannot see dozens of
graves.
Coming into Wuchow, we saw the
large boat population, typical of any
city located near the water. These
people eat, sleep, live, and rear their
families on their little house-boats
not more than twenty feet long. Ami
mails and fowls are also raised on
some of these boats with the family
Children have joint1 of GanfbBo tied
on their back. SO when they fall into
the river the parents can pull them
out by the floating bamboo. Tt is
stated that in some cases women as
old as forty years have been found
on these boats who have never vet
stepped out on the land which is only
fifteen or twenty feet away. To us.
that is about unthinkable. One thing
characteristic of all these house
boats is at one end there is the little :