Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-16
BY GIDEON A. LYON.


Member Of American Journalists Party
Touring Orient as Guest OF Carnegie En-
downment for international Peace.
ON TRAIN TO HARDIN. MAN
CEURIA, June 18.-My report of yeSter-
day, it may have peen noted, ended
quite abruptly. I was about to give a
brief description OF the Manchurian
territory when word reached me that
owing to a change of schedule on the
Chinese Eastern Railway, which took
effect on the 18th, there was a mis-
understanding about the time Of the
departure of our train to Hardin in the
morning. 1t seems that those Chinese
officials who had planned this part Of
the trip-which has been turned over to
them by the Japanese as matter Of
courteSy-had not known Of the change.
So We were hurriedly rounded up with
amended instructions, to the effect that
the train would leave at 7:5o instead of
8 o'clock. That meant packing for the
Hardin trip over night, and that in turn
means swift action and the letter had to
end where it was.
The first-tinne traveller from America,
passing through this region. finds it
Strikingly like his home land. Going
eastward from Changchun, as indeed
all the way up to that point, and I
understand for q vast distance north
ward, the fields stretch out like the
prairieS Of the Middle States. The hort-
ION is marked by blue hills, fairly good
sized mountains when reached. Unlike
in Japan and Korea-save for the upper
part of the latter country-the fields
are of great size. There are no fences,
no walls, apparently no marks of di-
vision or boundary. The roads or lanes
running through the fields doubtless
constitute the limits of individual or
group holdings.
Habitations are scattered about here
and there, usually in clusters. Mud
walls surround them, sometimes fairly
high when seve1al houses are gathered
into a tiny village. The houses them
selves are primitive, rarely built Of any
other material than mud with a few
baked brick. At first they are ugly and
grotesque to the unwonted eye, but after
a time they acquire certain beauty of
the picturesque. Their roofs are thatch-
ed and also in some cases tiled. The
roof lines are straight, with tendency
to up-turn the ends Of the gables, in
Chinese style.
Fields Are Extensive.
No blowing is being done now, that
work having been finished some weeks
ago. The crops are coming along well,
soya beans-sometimeS called soy
corn, sorghum or "kaoliang," millet,
wheat and other things. Beans and
kaoliang are the chief products. They
are planted here by the thousands of
acres. The fields, as have said, are
extensive, and the furrow lines run in
pleasing curved lines, not rlgidly
straight as in Japan and the United
States, but with graceful sweeping
bends, the exact reason for which
have been unable to ascertain. Some
say that the burrows are curved because
of the inpossibility of the plowman to
walk q straight line. Others say that
they are curved because Of better drain
age. Still again it is limited that there
is a cryptic reason which is somewhat
like that for the building OF the spirit
gate" in front of the entrance to a
dwelling or q compound. an outer shleld
to prevent the entrance OF the eVll
spirits, which cannot proceed save In
STRAIGHT line. One never quite knows
the reasons for the unusal happenings
in this strange country.
The trees here are numerous ana IN
good condition. Little groves STAND mere
and there in the middle Of the fields,
and the hills are thickly covered with
them. The titled land runs straight
across country for miles, clear to the
hills, and even up toward the tops OF
the heights. .,,
frequently in the fields appear small
conical mounds, covered with turf. Inc
burrows of grain run closely around
them. Just barely skipping them. These
are graves. There are no headstones or
markers" just simple piles OF eartn
beneath which lie the bodies OF the
dead. Just at this moment, glancing
out Of the window, saw, close to tne
track, two of them, one larger imam
the other, doubtless the graves OF nus
band and wife. The other evening,
running between Kirin and Tunhua,
two large mounds were pointed out 70
ms as the graves of king and queen
of ancient time, the larger one being
fully SO feet high.
Mounds Considered Sacred.
No farmer will touch these mounds
with the pillow. They are sacred. This
is not merely q matter Of filial respect
for the dead, but there Is a certain
degree of precaution about the immunity
granted the earthen piles. No China
man viii knowingly break open the
grave of q dead person lest the evil
spirits that are imprisoned in the grave
break out and work destruction. Yet q
money consideration may allay this
fear.