Abilene weekly reflector., 1922-09-21
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~ W. Nulii, iofmtriy VI the u. -
Navy, as nov captain and manasel
of u large Chinese boat line wheel
runs nne of boats from Shanghai
to interior China. In letter to his
father he tells of conditions In thai
little known region:
Last voyage we had ON our shil
Burton Holmes and his entire Movie
party. Burton Holmes Is the man
that makes the Holmes Travelogue
Pictures He said that the upper
Yangtze river was the greatest sight
lie has ever seen In the world as II
contained mixture Of everything.
He used all his film and was cursing
his luck that he had no more. We
had several New Workers on board
that had come all the way from New
York Just to make this voyage
through the Yanztze GOrges.
ITO describe this trip Is impossi-
BILE. III you can imagine sailing u
steamer through high, perpendicu-
lar gorges, encountering swift rapids,
races and whirlpools deep enough to
sink a Chinese sampan, jagged rocks
protruding and submerged in all parts
Of the river and q river that rises as
high as 200 feet In the summer at
Chungking and falls almost to zero
In the winter, then you can conceive
this wonderful voyage.
't'p in the province of Szuechuen
the Chinese generals compel the
farmers to grow the poppy so they
can secure large opium tax and
support their large armies, and as u
result there is large gang operat-
ing the smuggling business down the
river Opium can be purchased here
for about $1.35 an ounce and sold
in Shanghai for about 81, so you can
imagine the profits IL II Chinaman
gets through with about ten tons.
There Is an embargo on arms and
ammunition here and the smugglers
coming up the river carry this con
traband--a good revolver can be
sold in Chungking for about $500.
With these possibilities, you can see
what a game is going on here. be-
lieve that the old forty nine days In
California are small In comparison
when you consider the number that
are killed by attempting the rapids
In small boats, by the bandits and
soldiers up here.
Il have some interesting pictures
taken Of a farmers uprising in Wan.
hsien. The pictures are so grue-
some that would not dare send
them through the mail. All the farm
ers in the vicinity Of Wahnsien be-
came dissatisfied with the large
taxes that were being levied by the
military. They armed themselves
with hoes and attempted to kill off
the soldiers. They believed that the
good spirit would keep them from
being killed. For while they were
as the soldiers believed
they were backed by some spirit
However machine guns were brought
into play and they We're moved
down. After they were killed the
soldiers then took knives and cut
them to pieces. The military rules
with an iron hand up here; daily ex-
occur in practically every
port, sometimes by the knife and
sometimes by the firing squad.
There may be little hope that
the new victor, General WI Pei Flu, |
will be able to unite the northern
provinces and bare chance the
In such wonderful coun-
Try with so many latent possibilities
md wealth, it is n shame to see so
much poverty.
Il have purchased some very good
'ilk crepe (the Chungking silk crepe
$ said to be the best in the world)
20 yards at about rs cents u. s.
money yard.
II am planning big Fourth of
uly celebration for the ship when
We arrived in Ichang. We will dec :
rate ship and dispense a few bottles
+ champagne to the few foreigners
nd wish that we were all back In
he states.
"Celebrations are big thing with 9
ne few Americans, English and the 9
rcnch that are scattered In the out c
osts of the interior Of China. The g
.mericans consist mostly Of Stand
rd Oil men, consuls, British Amer.
an Tobacco men and Nggett and
lyers tobacco men, few naval Of
GERS on the river gun boats. and q .
w missionaries who Of course, can
Dt indulge In the festivities. Holi-
ays Of all nations are observed just
# an excuse to knock Off work. y
he story goes, that in Chungking -
e foreigners celebrated the armis- ;,
re day for four months without y
tting up until finally one of the :,
'ad offices in Shanghai wrote to ~
sumo work. Another peculiar
actice in Chungking Is carried on r.
: one Of the local missionaries. He
nds around Il coolie with an alarm Ii
)ck and notice that he will hold T,
urch services at 10 o'clock Sun
y morning and for everybody to II
their watches to agree with the ga
ne of the alarm CLOCK There Is W
standard time and everyone thinks ma
! time Is correct. T,
1.-THE steward on this ship gave tn
Chinese dinner in the Ichang ~ ~
rdens last voyage. We had all the OF
stomary Chinese chow that ac- as as
such affairs: shark fins, W,
Is nests, lily roots, bamboo OF
lnfS nf Ha oloa ean,,rnI