Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1925-10-14


worthy foeman less than 100 feet be-
hind at the end of the 5OO-mile jour
ney.
chung-king Great City.
Chung-king, 200 miles above the
gorges, Is walled city with 100000
inhabitants, situated at the confluence
of the Yangtze and the Kia-ling rivers,
and is, through the fiction of foreign
treaty, an open seaport, notwithstand-
ing the fact that it is 1000 miles from
the coast and 1000 feet above the level
or the sea. 1t is now the head of steam
navigation for nearly a dozen steam
ers controlled by the Chinese, the seat
of maritime customs for the West, the
point of distribution for all western
borne commerce and the assembling
depot for all shipments to other parts
Of China and foreign lands.
The chief exports to America and
other countries are paint oils of the
tung tree, medicines. bristles, feathers
and hides, and manufactured articles
Confined between its two rivers, this
city, like New York, is growing into
the air. 1t has no suburban lines to
relieve Its surplus population, and real
estate has accordingly increased in the
i! past decade from 100 to 200 per cent
in value, making it profitable to erect
fine foreign buildings, in which it ex-
cells any purely native city in China.
In travelling from Chung-king
northwestward 300 miles to Cheng-
tn one must go by sedan-chair, borne
on the shoulders of two, three, or four
bearers. The rich ride in tours by
choice, as do the portly without op-
ton.
In addition to the chair-bearers, the
foreign traveller requires a coolie to
bear his cot and bedding, another to
carry his fooo, and an attendant to
cook it. A small party easily be-
comes a regiment, and if an armed
escort accompanies it, as is usual,
the party resembles an army.
Beyond the walls of Chung-king is
the city of the dead The road passes
square-built tombs of the Ming period;
near by are the crowded lines of pub
lie graves for beggars and the very
poor; and then, far away to the top
of the hill about four miles distant,
are the regulation mounds of Chinese
graves, with here and there beautiful
ly carved, terraced mausoleums.
A more orderly section of broad ex-
tent, reserved Tor Mohammedan
graves, shows that the followers of
the Crescent are no mean or incon-
siderable company among the city's
population.
Farming in Sze-chuan.
Out from the crush and the hum of
the city of the living and past the
quiet camp of the dead, the traveller
comes to the country-not, however,
the country of the western world;
rather a mass of terraced paddy fields
and farm gardens. with human be-
ings always in sight. The inhabitants
of Sze-chuan surpaSs in rugged diver
sity of race the variety of the prov
ince's scenery. More valuable than
its rich mineral deposits and superbly
titled land, the people of Sze-chuan
are at once its prime asset and in
terest.
The western part of Sze-chuan
might well be called the museum of
the human races, the as-yetundis-
covered happy hunting ground of the
ethnologist and physiognomist. Here
are to be found the surviving remnants
in the most heroic struggle for exist
ence that humanity has ever waged
and who, for lack of better term,
we call the 'tribesmen."
The Chinese call them "the eight
cen nations" but it is believed that
| there are several times eighteen ma
tions or tribes, each under its own
king, council, or feudal lord, indie
pendent or semi-independent Of each
other and of the Chinese in whose
! borders they dwell.
One notable thing about the roads
OF western China is that not a wheeled
| vehicle is seen. except the wheelbar-
row near Cheng-tu. Thousands of tons
/ Of commerce pass over these high
ways annually, all on the backs OF
men; and as one approaches the CEN
ters of population he finds the sewage
and the water Of the -itysnre on their
backs also.