B STImnmli^jjH i^^^^H] >.\ III >h;l ;i iiiiKiUfHfl GINN AND ■ 1 ^B ^' 1 1 m^, ■T W^Wf^" ^nch; LI FOR N1 A. cos ANC^ei rP CALIF. w GEOGKAPHICAL AND INDUSTRIAL STUDIES ASIA BY NELLIE B. ALLEN GF N AND COMPANY BOSTON • ; KW YORK • OHKIAGO ■ LONDON ATLANTA • ^ LLAS • COLUMBUS • SAN FKANCISCO 68839 KNTKREU AT STATIONKRS' HALL COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY NELLIE B. ALLEN ALL BIGHTS RESERVED 524.7 ICfte gtftengum jgregg GINN AND COMPANY- PRO- PRIETORS • BOSTON • U.S.A. ^ PREFACE The aim of the writer has been to make the Far-Eastern continent of Asia mean more to the readers of this book ^ than a collection of colored areas, a series of names, or a "^ maze of dots and lines. "tr The locating of black dots and wiggly lines with no .i\c^ mental pictures of the real places fen- which they stand, and the memorizing of lists of products only to forget the country to which each belongs, is the geography of the past. Modern geography is alive. Tlie up-to-date teacher K deals with real people, real industries, real places, and ^ i-eal relations. The uneven lines are mighty rivers filled with craft, furnishing water for irrigation, and power for Hghting and manufacturing. The black dots are large cities \ crowded with busy workers whose lives, homes, and oc- \ cupations are as real as those by which the pupils are surrounded. The world is bound together by ties of close relationship, boundaries are changing, and countries heretofore closed to outside nations are opening their doors to the great world life and are entering into commerce and trade. As the United States has readied fartlusr and farther into the Pacific Ocean, Asia has come correspondingly nearer, and our future relations with this great continent may be as close and as vital as those which at present exist between our country and Europe. vi ASIA Tlif pupils of the grammar grades should have a broad know It'd^c oi' these densely po[)ulat('d countries across the Paeilie ; a better appriM-iation of tiie skill, industry, and. thrift of the peoples ; a keen realization of the fact that many prculucts which add to our (hiily conifoit are due to the labor of Eastern nations; and a sympathetic under- standiug of the lives, customs, and ideals of these millions of Orientals. 'They should know something of those historic lands whicli foi'nied the Cradle of the Race; of the vast deserts which have been as great a barrier to connnunica' tion as have the mountain ranges ; of tliose political ques( tions which may involve great nations in war; of the influence of European nations in the East ; of the lands now under their control and of the work which they are doing to develop the resources of their Eastern possessions. The greatest continent in tlui world, the most densely peopled areas, and the most abundant resources are found in Asia. The attitude of our future citizens (wlio are at present in the schools) toward the many (piestions which will arise between the United States and the awakening nations of the East will be a matter of vital im])ortance to our country in the coming years. Because of the interest in descriptive geography, loca- tional geography is sf)metimes neglected. The maps and the questions and lists given at the ends of the chapters are intended for drills to fix in mind places and facts of importance. Thanks are due to the following individuals and firms for their valuable assistance in the shape of suggestions, criticisms, photographs, and other material: K. Asakawa, Yale University ; A. B. Bacon, Oriental Rug Department, PREFACE vii Chandler and Co., Boston ; Mr. B. E. Baker, Corona Kid Mfg. Co., Boston ; Honorable James Bryce ; G. H. Cara- gulian, Boston ; Revillion Freres, Furriers, New York ; Kametaro lijima, Consul General of Japan; Mr. F. A. Lucas, Director of the American Museum of Natural History, New York City ; Mr. C. L. Preston, Riga, Russia ; Quill- Jones, Rug Collector and Connoisseur ; Mr. Schubert, Tash- kend, Turkestan ; Frederick A. Shattuck, Principal of Model Schools, Willimantic, Connecticut ; William Morgan Shuster, ex-Treasurer-General of Persia ; J. H. Snodgrass, Consul General, Moscow, Russia ; William H.- Ukers, Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, New York ; Professor M. S. Yorperian, Euphrates College, Turkey ; Imperial Commer- cial INIuseum, Tokyo, Japan ; American Board of Foreign Missions ; departments of government, Washmgton, D.C. ; American and Asiatic consuls ; officials of the Public Library, Boston ; officials of the Public Library, Fitchburg, Massachusetts. NELLIE B. ALLEN CONTENTS CHAPTKR TAa I. Introduction 1 II. The Land ok Great Waterways 9 III. Chinese Farms and Farmers 51 IV. Tea Farms and Tea Drinkers 75 V. Tibet and Turkestan 88 VI. Among the Mongols 109 VII. Manchuria, Giant Russia, and Little Japan .... 121 VIII. A Trip on the Trans-Siberian Railroad 143 IX. Central Asia and its People 178 X. Life on the Plateau of Iran 212 XI. Peoples of Western Asia 242 XII. India — the Land and the People 276 XIII. Some Indian Cities 296 XIV. Indian Farms and Factories 327 XV. Ceylon, the Pearl of India 339 XVI. Beyond the Bay of Bengal . 351 XVII. Land of the Rising Sun 379 XVIII. City and Country Life in Japan 388 XIX. Silkworms and Silk Manpfactures 413 XX. Formosa and Kokka 423 REVIEW QUESTIONS 435 INDEX 437 viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE PAGE The Desert Frontispiece 1. Human Burden-Bearers 3 2. Ruins of Ancient Cities 4 3. A Water Carrier 6 4. Signs in a Cliinese Street 10 5. Water Population in Cliina 13 6. A Cliinese Wheelbarrow 17 7. A Street Scene in China 19 8. Coolies handling Freight 20 9. The Foreign Settlement of Shanghai 23 10. Coolies unloading Tea at Hankow 29 11. The Gate of Peking 34 12. Plan of Peking 36 13. A Peking Cart 37 14. Many Chinese live and eat in the Street 39 15. Chinese Barbers 40 16. Cormorant Fishing 43 17. A Street in Hongkong 45 18. Hongkong has Modern Conveniences 46 19. Rice Fields showing Earth Banks 55 20. A Child riding a Buffalo ,56 21. Plowing a Rice Field 58 22. Threshing Grain 59 23. Combing Rice (iO 24. Pounding Kicc (il 25. Grinding (irain in Northern China (i3 26. A School in China (i8 27. Tea Shrubs and Rice Fields 77 28. Rolling Tea Leaves 79 29. Cliinese Graves 82 30. Buildings in China have Curving Roofs 83 31. A Caravan outside the Walls of Peking 84 ix X ASIA FIGURE PAGE 32. Inhabitants of Tibet Ill 33. A Tibetan Tea Clnnn 03 34. Coolies carrying Tea 1)4 35. A Prayer Wheel 96 36. A Tibetan and his Yak 98 37. Threshing Grain in Turkestan 104 38. Winnowing Grain 105 39. Farmers riding to Market 106 40. A Chinese Conveyance 110 41. Camel Carts from Mongolia Ill 42. The Great Wall of China 112 43. Chinese Wheelbarrow in Mongolia 115 44. Tents of the Mongols 117 45. The Mongol moves often 118 46. Plowing in Manchuria 128 47. A Street in Dairen 130 48. Difficulties of Travel in Manchuria 131 49. Shipping Beans from a Manchurian Port VS3 50. A View of Mukden 134 51. A Manchurian Home 137 52. Using Chopsticks ' 138 53. Chelyabinsk 144 54. A Sledge Team in Sakhalin 146 55. Russian Emigrants at Chelyabinsk 147 56. A Scene on the Trans-Siberian Railroad 148 57. A Station on the Trans-Siberian Railroad 149 58. A Siberian Village 151 59. House of a Siberian Peasant 153 60. A Mammoth 155 61. A Russian Tarantas . 158 62. The Sledge of a Wealthy Russian 161 63. Ermine Skins from Siberia 167 64. Railway Station in Vladivostok 1 74 65. Highway over the Dariel Pass 181 66. Oil Wells on Fire near Baku 185 67. A Caravan on the Desert 191 68. Coppersmiths at Work in a Bazaar 194 69. Silversmiths in the Bazaars of Bokhara 195 70. A Desert Dweller .... 196 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi FIGURE PAGE 71. Hides and Skins in Central Asia 197 72. A City in Turkestan 200 73. An Araba 202 74. Traveling in Turkestan 203 75. Transportation in Turkestan 204 76. A Town in the Desert 216 77. A View of Tabriz 218 78. The Coppersmiths' Lane 219 79. A Desert Scene 221 80. A Nomad tending his Sliee]) 225 81. A Persian Village 228 82. Making Butter in Persia 230 83. A Winter Day in Persia ". 231 84. A Beggar 233 85. The Great Square in Teheran 235 86. A Baluchi Village 238 87. The Shell of a Pearl Oyster 243 88. Reed Huts of the Arabs 245 89. Splendid Horsemanship on the Desert 247 90. Ruins in Mesopotamia 248 91. Gooffas on the Tigris River 251 92. The Muezzin in the Minaret 253 93. A Swift Camel 256 94. Packing Figs in Smyrna 259 95. A Letter Writer in the Bazaar at Damascus 261 96. A Peasant working in the Field 263 97. A Street in Jerusalem 265 98. The Via Dolorosa 266 99. The Well at Nazareth 267 100. An Encampment of Bedouins 268 101. A View of Aden 271 102. A Crowd of Hindus 277 103. A Street in India 279 104. Scene in an Indian Village 280 105. A Well in India 285 106. Potters with their Wares 287 107. A Village Potter at Work 289 108. Washermen at Work in the River 290 109. A Village Barber 292 xii ASIA FIGURE PAGE 110. Bombaj% the Eye of India 298 111. The Native Quarter of Bombay 297 112. Co\v.s connected with Iliiulu Ti'iiipU's 299 118. Snake Charmer.s 800 114. Victoria Railroad Station in limiiliay 302 115. Tower.s of Silence 303 110. The Chowringhee. the Finest Street in Calcutta 300 117. A View of Simla 308 118. Darjeeling 309 119. The Khyber Pas.s . 311 120. Weaving Shawls in Kashmir 314 121. The Main Street (.f Delhi 315 122. The Taj Mahal 317 123. Worshipers at a Temple in India 319 124. The Biusket Trick 321 125. The Bank of the Ganges a( Benares 323 120. Funeral Fires at Benares 324 127. A View of Calcutta 328 128. A Poppy Field 329 129. The Shore of Ceylon 340 130. A Street in Colombo 341 131. The "Black Town" of ColoiiilH) 342 132. Picking Coconuts 345 133. Preparing Cinnamon Bark 347 134. Reaping a Rice Field 353 135. Elephants at Work in a l.umber Yard 357 136. Elephants bathing in the River 358 137. A Burmese Child 359 138. A Burmese Picnic 300 139. A Boat on the Irrawaddy River 301 140. A Teakwood Raft on the Irrawaddy River 362 141. A School in Siam 365 142. House Boats at Bangkok 366 143. A Village in Siam 368 144. Buffaloes Bathing ' . . 370 145. Pounding Rice 372 146. Two Japanese Maidens 379 147. A Common Sight in Japan 380 148. Coaling a Ves.sel at Nagasaki 383 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii FIGURE PAGE 149. Ainus in their Dugouts 384 150. A View of Fujiyama 389 151. A Street in Yokoliama 391 152. Interior of a Japanese House 392 153. Tlie Floors are covered with Mats 393 154. Schoolhouse in Japan 394 155. Japanese Coolies 396 156. Planting Rice Fields 397 157. Cherry Trees in Japan 399 158. Under the Wistaria 400 159. Lantern-Makers at Work 402 160. Tea Pickers 406 161. Painting Chinaware 408 162. Silkworms • 414 163. Cutting Mulberry Leaves 415 164. A Japanese Doorway 417 165. Trays of Silkworms 418 166. A Filature in Japan 419 167. Preparing Raw Silk for Shipping 420 168. Interior of a Silk Mill 421 169. A Camphor Tree 425 170. A Twig from a Camphor Tree 426 171. A Street in Korea 428 172. A View of Seoul 430 173. A Street in Seoul 431 174. A Bullock loaded with Wood 4.32 175. Plowing in Korea 433 LIST OF MAPS Asia 1 The Chinese Republic and Korea 8 Siberia and Central Asia 142 The Plateau of Iran 212 Western Asia 242 Southern Asia 276 The Japanese Kinpire 378 Something is to be learned from every book. — Old Chinese Proverb ASIA CHAPTER T INTRODUCTION We are going to travel in Asia, the largest continent in the world. It is larger than all the lands in the Western Hemisphere and stretches from the desolate arctic shores almost to the equator. Its northern plains are so cold as to be uninhabitable, and its vast deserts are too barren to support life, yet other parts are so crowded that there are more people in Asia than in all the rest of the world. The loftiest mountains on earth, the Himalayas, lie in the southern part of Asia. They are only a few degrees from the equator, yet they are so high that their heads are always covered with snow. Just north of this " roof of the world " are great stretches of desert land where for miles no life can be found. To the east and south are immense plains so rich, so well watered, and so fertile that more people live on them than on an equal area in any other continent. Asia contains not only the highest mountains, the greatest deserts, and the most thickly peopled areas to be found anywhere m the world, but it has also some of the longest rivers. These flow northward from the great deserts, east ward across the wide plains, and southward from the lofty mountains. Some of them, winding slowly through fertile 1 2 ASIA tit'lds, are lilli'd witli boats carrying food and clotliiiig- prod- ucts to crowded cities. Others, rushing down steep slopes, overflow fields and towns, flood crops, and drown people. In the future this tremendous power, which now destroys ]\\'o and property, will be harnessed and made to move the machinery in great factories, turn mill wheels, and light crowded cities. .Make a list of the twenty-livc! largest cities in the woi'ld, and >()U will find that more than a third of them are in. Asia. Besides these there are dozens of others each con- taining more than a hundred thousand inhabitants. They are (jueer cities with narrow streets, low houses, crowded bazaars, veiled women, tnrbaned men and boys, water car- riers, street barbers, and human steeds and burden-l)earers. Some of the largest and fiercest animals of the world live in Asia. We shall see huge elephants carrying heavy lumber and dragging small plows. We shall hear dreadful tales of the terrible man-eating tigers, which are sometimes bold enough to enter villages and carry people off. We shall see snake-charmers playing soft music for their ugly pets, and we shall learn wdiat great numbers of natives die each year from snake bites. Asia is big in many respects, and it is as old as it is great. It is the cradle of the race. From western Asia the earliest peoples migrated eastward into China, southward into Africa, and westward into Europe. We shall see relics of these old civilizations, we shall enter temples in which people have worshiped for thousands of years, and we shall travel over deserts where to-day no life is found, but where piles of stones, crumbling ruins, and sand-choked canals tell us that, ages ago, great cities flourished there. INTRODUCTION 3 In our present-day civilization we use many things for which we are indebted to these people of ancient times. From their queer old libraries, made up of carvings on sun-dried brick and stone, we have learned much concern- ing these early nations. To them we owe the invention of FiG.l. We shall sek Human Bukuen-Beaueks the al[)habet, of printing, of gunpowder, and of silk maini- facture. Our mathematicians can build on the foundation they laid, our astronomers can rely on many of their calcu- lations and pr('di{;tious, and our engineers can build no greater works than tlie inigation systems, canals, and giant walls which, for thousands of years, have been the won- dci- of the world. Some, (»f tlicir industi'ies also are such that no Westei-n nation has cwr iMjualc'd tlunn. No such 4 ASIA wonderful rugs, soft, lasting dyes, delicate embroideries, and tine, dainty carvings are made in any other continent. Asia is the birthplace of the great religions of the world. It is tlip home of Hnddliists and Rrahmahs, who make up © Uiiiierwood i Underwood Fig. 2. Where to-day No Life is found there are Ruins of Large Cities, Beautiful Temples, and Irrigating Canals about a tliird of the human race, and of millions of Moham- medans, who are scattered in every country. In the western part of the continent we shall travel in lands where the scenes took place which are told of in the Bible stories. INTEODUCTION 5 Asia is as rich as it is great and old. It is rich not only in the skill and industry of the people, but in material re- sources — in stores of minerals, in great rivers, in limitless forests, and in fertile plains. You remember that it was to obtain the riches of eastern Asia — the gems, the spices, the gums, and the rich silks — that Columbus set out on his search for India. His theory was correct, and if North and South America had not lain in his way,, he could have reached India by sailing west as easily as Vasco da Gama, the great Portuguese explorer, did by traveling east. In the early days of trade, quantities of goods reached Europe by sea, river, and overland routes. The Italian cities of Venice and Genoa were the centers of this com- merce, and eastward-bound vessels sailed through the Medi- terranean, carrying metal goods, wine, glassware, and woolen and linen cloth. These goods were taken overland to cities in western Asia. To these centers merchants, bringmg silk, cashmere cloth, perfumes, gems, and spices, traveled hundreds of miles on weary caravan journeys. Venice and Genoa had become the greatest seaports of the world, and the commerce of the East had grown to immense proportions, when it came suddenly to an end. The Mohammedan hordes from the desert regions of Asia poured over the lands to the west, conquering and pillag- ing them. Every Christian was an object of attack. The Mohammedans, scouring the Mediterranean, captured and destroyed the ships of Christian merchants, robbed their caravans, and closed their trade routes through western Asia. It was at this time that European nations began their search for a water route to India and the East, with the result that Columbus discovered a continent and ASIA Vasco (la (iania louiuletl the Cape of (iooil Hope, crossed the Iiuliaii < )(i'aii. and reached what is now the great city of Calcutta. If you were to jour- ney through this won- derful land, you would hear more languages than you ever knew existed, you would smell more bad odors than ever before en- tered your nostrils, and you would have to struggle with more hard names than you ever yet tried to pro- nounce. You would have to do many queer things and to get along with few^ comforts. In entering a house you would remove your shoes but keep on your 1 lat. In some countries you would squat on your heels like the Hindus, and in others you would sit cross- legged like the Turks. The girls would probably go barefooted, but they would keep their faces veiled and would go about in public very (C InrUrw (lod & Underwood Fig. 3. Yor will bk okligkh to drink Watkk out ok a Skin Bag INTRODUCTION 7 little. They would enjoy few picnics or merrymakings, but would spend much of their time at home. The boys might go to school, but while there they would make a great deal of noise by studying aloud. You would live m houses which have no chairs or tables, eat without knives or forks, and travel much of the time where there are no railroad trains or electric cars. In some countries you would sleep by day and travel by night. You would have to endure the aw^ful heat of the torrid zone and the biting cold of northern lands and of high mountain regions. You would be obliged to drink lukewarm water out of a skin bag, be blinded with dust in a desert sandstorm, and be sore in every bone of your body from the motion of the camel which carried 3"0u. We must lay aside for a time our Western ideas and try to see with the eyes of the far-seeing Japanese, to think with the mind of the brilliant, thoughtful Hindu, and to toil with the hands of the hard-working Cliinese. As we become better acquainted with these people, we realize what a great future lies before them. There are such num- bers of them, many of them are so intelligent and so indus- trious, their land is so big and so rich, that, when they are once started on the road to progress, no one knows how far they will go. They are our neighbors across the Pacific ; our trade and commerce will increase as they progress, for they need many things which we produce and manufacture and which we shall be glad to send them in exchange for the goods for which the countries of Asia are noted. In the future we shall be closely connected with these people of the East, and the more we know of them and their land the better friends we shall be. ASIA TOPICS FOR STUDY I 1. The great size of Asia. 2. Surface and drainage. 3. Asiatic cities. 4. The animals of Asia. 5. Early peoples and cities. 6. The religions of the East. 7. The resources of Asia. 8. Ancient trade routes. 9. Colundms and Vasco da (lama. 10. Strange sights and customs. 11. The future of Asia. II 1. Name the continents in the order of their size. AN'hich is the most densely jtopulated? the nu)st thinly settled? 2. Sket<*h a map of Asia. Show the countries and the surrounding waters. 3. Name the rivers of Asia that flow north ; east; south. 4. Tell the waters through which Vasco da Gama sailed on his voyage to Calcutta. 5. What great achievement of the present time is having as great an effect on the trade routes of the world as the closing of the Mediterranean and Red seas by the Turks had on ancient routes? Ill Be alile to spell and pronounce the following names. Locate each place and tell what was said of it in the chapter. Himalaya Mountains Venice Arctic Ocean Genoa Indian Ocean Calcutta Pacific Ocean India Cape of Good Hope Portugal Mediterranean Sea China CHAPTER II THE LAND OF GREAT WATERWAYS An old Chinese proverb says, " One seeing is better than a thousand telling you of it." This is true of any strange land, but for us it is especially true of China, as that coun- try is very different in many ways from the United States, and the customs of the people are often the opposite of ours. ]\Iany of them seem to us very queer indeed, but we must remember that our manners and customs seem just as queer to the Chinese. In greeting a friend, a Chinaman shakes his own hand instead of that of the other; when in mourn- ing, he dresses in white rather than in black. The finest present which a Chinese boy can give his father is a coffin ; he would hke this gift better than any other, and would proudly point out its beauties and describe its merits to his friends. Instead of building fires in the winter to warm their houses, the Chinese people put on more clothing, and thus increase their size as the weather grows colder. They become smaller again in the spring as layer after layer is discarded. They read the long, vertical street signs from top to bottom instead of from left to riglit, and begm at wliat we should call the last page of a book to read it through. Chinese girls do not usually go to school, though to-day girls' schools are being slowly introduced. Those which the boys attend would seem very (jueer to us. The pupils 10 ASIA study aloud and stand to recite with their backs to their teacher. When 3'ou are puzzkid in school over some of the hard words in your lesson, you sometimes scratch your head, but a Chinese boy kicks off a shoe and scratches his foot. When the teacher asks the pupils' ages, they reckon from New Year's Day, as all tlie Chinese re- o-ard that as their birthday. If a child is born only two or three days before the end of the year, he is considered two years old on the first day of the new year. His first birth- day was the day on which he was born, but Ms second and all his succeeding birthdays are sup- posed to be on New Year s Day. This queer land is a very old one. When America was still undiscovered and when Europeans were only rude barbarians, the Chinese were keeping historical records. They have seen many ancient countries — Persia, Egypt, Greece, and R(mie — rise and fall. They claim the honor of inventing paper, silk, gunpowder, and the art of printing. ) ITii(lerwoo Underwood s I'nderwood Fig. 9. The Foreign Settlement of Shanghai is as Different FROM THE Chinese Quarters as the Slums of New York are Dif- ferent FROM Fifth Avenue will take a fine large steamer for our trip up the great river. It is hard to realize that we are on a river at all, as for some miles no land is visible on either side. We should like to take a coasting steamer or a house boat for a trip to Hangchow just at the head of the wide 24 ASIA nioutli of the Yangtze, for it is so beautifully located, overlooking the river, the sea, and a lovely lake, that an old Chinese proverb says, " Above is heaven and below is Hangchow." For miles around, the mulberry trees tell us that we are in the center of the silk region. The trees are planted in every possible place — along the canals, on the ridges sep- aratincj the fields, and in orcat orchai'ds. There are also many nurseries where joung trees are raised. If we were to explore the city, we should find many rude hand looms in the little houses, thousands of power looms in the fac- tories where silk is woven, and many fascinating shops where it is sold. llancT(;how is situated at the southern end of the Grand Canal, which stretches northward to Tientsin and is continued by the Pei River to Peking. This canal, six hundred miles in length and connecting the waters of the two greatest Chinese rivers, is one of the longest canals in the world. Enormous sums have been spent in building and maintain- ing this great waterway, which is made up largely of small streams and lakes, with artificial connections, and which seems more like a winding river than a canal. Formerly this water highway through the heart of the densely popu- lated country was of immense importance and was crowded with junks carrying rice, tea, silk, and other goods to Peking, the capital of China. More recently this traffic has been carried on by sea to Tientsin and thence by rail or water to Peking, and the canal in places has been so out of repair as to be unnavigable. Repairs are being made at present in several places on the canal, and in the future this waterway will once acrain be of OTcat value to the nation. THE LAND OF GREAT WATERAVAYS 25 Hundreds of canals branch off from the Grand Canal and from the rivers of the region. These subdivide into still smaller ones, which branch yet agam into ditches and creeks. It is said that in the low delta plains of China there is a canal for every farming area of forty acres. No other country in the world has such an immense number of waterways intersecting so large an area. From an air- ship we could get a good view of the network of canals and of the fertile fields, covered with rice and millet, cotton plants, and mulberry trees, lying between them. Even if the scattered villages were not visible, we could tell their location by the willows and elms clustered about them. Elsewhere the plain is bare of woods. Near each village is a narrow creek or canal which winds far inland through the rice country. Curious-looking craft — junks, sampans, fishing boats, and house boats — fill these waterways so that it seems impossible tliat any boat can ever free itself from the tangle ; yet with much shouting and confusion the boats finally separate from the crowd and slowly start on their different journeys. Besides serving as highways, the canals are useful to the Chinese in many other ways. They serve as hatcheries in which to breed immense numbers of fish, duck farms are found everywhere along them, and a bulb, known as the water chestnut, is raised in them in great quantities and used by the people as a cheap food. The farmers dredge the canals for the mud which accumulates, and spread this on their fields, thereby serving the double purpose of en- riching the land iiiid keeping the canals in good condition. Baskets are woven from the grass and reeds which grow in and around the canals. The most important way, however, 26 ASIA in which the canals serve the people is by carrying the enormous amount of traffic which is necessary in this densely populated country. So important are they in this respect that the Chinese would be as helpless without their canals as we should bo without our railroads. Continuing our trip up the Yangtze, we come to Nan- king, the old capital of C-hina and at one time the largest city in the world. The word Nanking means '' southern capi- tal," in contrast with Peking^ which means " northern capi- tal." The city itself lies live miles away, and from the river one sees only the encircling walls and the modern forts and barracks which overlook the stream. Your grandmothers will perhaps rememl)er using for their dresses a strong cotton cloth called nankeen. As you may imagine from its name, this cloth was made originally in Nanking, where cotton manufacturing is still an important industry. China is the land of fans. In the sontlieni j)ortions especially, everyone — the policciiian on his rounds, the soldier on guard, the coolie in the ricksha, and tlie hidy in her apartments — carries a fan in warm weather and uses it constantly. Nanking is a center of the fan in- dustry, and tliousands of people there are engaged in making the folding fans such as we use, as well as tlie coarse, strong palm-leaf fans so necessary for the comfort of the ('hinese. This latter kind is also made in immense numl)ers in and around Canton. Perhaps you have heard of or have used rice paper, a dainty, thin material on which delicate painting and print- ing is done. It is made, not from the rice plant, but from a reed which grows in the swampy lands. Nanking is the THE LAND OF GREAT WATERWAYS 27 chief center for the making of this paper and also for the manufacture of an excellent quality of India ink. Until one travels on the Yangtze one cannot realize what an immense river it really is. Six hundred miles from its mouth it is a mile wide, and even a thousand miles from the ocean it is fully three quarters of a mile from shore to shore. Many large tributaries, canals, and creeks open up the country around and make it possible for everyone to reach the river, which is the only outlet for some of the richest farming lands in western China. The lines of junks which crowd the stream at every town and city tell us of the vast amount of goods which are carried on these waterways. The Yangtze is not beautiful, for it is yellow with the silt that it carries. During its summer floods it deposits this silt on the land and drops it in enormous quantities in the sea at its mouth ; because of this annual fertilization of its valley and the careful cultivation which the farmers give to it, the soil yields abundant harvests of rice, vege- tables, and grain. These great crops are necessary to feed the immense numbers of people who live in the Yangtze valley. A little more tlian six IhhkIiumI miles from the ocean, just wlicre the I Ian Itiver enters the \'angtze, is Hankow, one of the great centers of the republic and the most ini- portant tea market of the country. 'J'his city is the largest distributing center in China, and as we notice its location we can see the reason for tliis. It is on the railroad which runs from Peking to Canton. On this road great quanti- ties of goods are shipi)ed to and from the north. An enor- mous amount of freight is brought on the Yangtze from tlie east and from the west, to be reshipped up the I Ian River 28 ASIA and thence, by its branches and intersecting canals, through the region to the north. For miles along both rivers lie the junks which are engaged hi this carrying trade. The city, inclosed by walls, lies near the river, and farther away along the creeks and canals are the crowded suburbs. We shall find but little paving in the narrow, dirty alleys which serve as streets and which are consequently worn into deep ruts by the wheels of the thousands of heavily loaded wheelbarrows constantly passing and repassing. At llankow we must leave our large, comfortable steamer and change to a smaller one for our trip of five or six days to Ichang, the head of navigation on the Yangtze. On the way we meet many boats filled with raw cotton, raw silk, wheat, and the ever-present rice and tea. So much of the last-named product is carried on the Yangtze that it is sometimes called the River of Tea. We see also many timber rafts come floating down with the current, and sampans lashed together, yet kept apart by platforms built between them. These are loaded with the great reeds which line the bank for hundreds of miles. Many people along the river are engaged in cutting and transporting reeds, which are used for roofs, for fences, for fuel, and, plastered within and without \\itli mud, for the walls of houses. The fuel question is a serious one in China on account of the scarcity of wood. Roots, straw, leaves, weeds, ma- nure, everything in fact which will burn and which is not needed for other purposes, is used for fuel. In the cities the hot-water peddler is well patronized, as it is cheaper to buy of him what is needed than to use the precious fuel to heat water at home. ) Underwood & Underwood Fig. 10. Coolies unloading Tea at Hankow, the Great Tea Market of Interior China 29 30 ASIA 111 parts of its course the Yangtze is protected by huge dikes, ovi'v which we can see nothing except the carved roof of a temple as we pass some city or town. These places, usiiallv walled and fortiiied, are dirty and unattrac- tive. The refuse is thrown into the river and accumulates in great heaps which at low water give off odors better imagined than described. Filthy beggars, black pigs, and dirty dogs wander over these heaps, picking up here and there strav bits which may help to ({uiet the pangs of hunger. vTlie river narrows and becomes inore and more crowded with craft cjf various kinds as we approach Ichang, where all passengers and cargoes have to change boats. Heavy junks built to withstand the rapids of the upper stream lie waiting for their loads. Those going down the Yangtze have their masts lashed along their sides, as with the current there is no need of sails. Beyond Ichang lie some of the grandest gorges found ori any river in the world. Towering cliffs hundreds of feet high shut in the whirling mass of waters, which tear down over the wihlest rapids ever navigated b}' boats. The Chinese sailors are very skillful in guiding their boats through this dangerous stretch of w^aters, yet in spite of their skill hundreds of junks are dashed to pieces and many lives are lost in this part of the river every year. Tlie heavy boats are drawn upstream by hand, as in China hand labor is cheaper than steam-driven machinery, and coolies' food than coal. Strong bamboo cables attached to the boat are seized by scores, and in the case of large junks by hundreds, of sweating, screaming, scrambling coolies. Over rocks and cliffs, now falling on sharp stones. THE LAND OF GREAT WATERWAYS 31 now slipping into the water, now straining forward until they appear like animals walking on all fours, they tug and pull with might and main, taking as many hours to pull the boat a few miles upstream as it will take minutes for it to come down with the swift current. Each junk carries many men to pull her up the river, but at the rapids many more are needed. The coolies A\'ho do this hard work are called trackers, and they represent one of the lowest classes of Chinese laborers. During the navigable season they come from long distances to the river, and their miserable villages can be seen all along the upper Yangtze. Close to the water, in rude huts of matting, they live, half clothed, dirty, and noisy, eking out a miserable existence on a few cents a day until their exhausting labor wears them out. Even more exciting than the tug up the river is the plunge down through the whirling waters. As a great junk takes the leap into the rapids, the rowers, all yelling and scream- ing, direct her course, while the captain's voice, as he shrieks his directions, rises above the tumult. The foam and spray dash high over the boat as it spms around, but it usually emerges safe and sound at the foot of the rapids. Some are less fortunate and are dashed against hidden rocks. Tim- Vjer and wreckage are carried downstream, and the crews are lost beneath the foaming waters. Perhaps you wonder why this river trafific is carried on against such odds, and \\hether the goods transported are of sufficient value to justify tliis loss of life and [)roperty. The Yangtze River with its tril)utaries is tlie outlet of the province of Szechwan in western China. This })rovince, the largest in China, is smaller than Texas, yet it contains two thirds as many peoj)le as the entire United States. 32 ASIA It is one of the richest divisions of the country ; from it fruits, vegetables, grains, opium, tobacco, rice, silk, hides, musk, rhubarb, and many other products are shipped in immense quantities down the Yangtze, and there are rich stores of coal and other minerals awaiting future develop- ment. A railroad has been planned for the Yangtze valley, but for years the river will carry much of the immense trade from the inland provinces to the coast. • There are other rivers in China which are much smaller than the Amur, Hwang, and Yangtze, but which are of great importance. One of these is the Pei River, which, though only about tlie length of the Hudson, is the most important river in the north. The city of Peking is only about twelve miles west of the Pei, and Tientsin, the great- est commercial port in tlie northern part of the republic, is about eighty miles from its mouth. The Pei is one of the crookedest rivers in the world, and its twists and turns are so many and so sharp that it needs a short ship and a good pilot to navigate it as far as Tientsin. Beyond that city it is unnavigable except for small native craft. The province of Chihli, which the Pei River drains, is about as densely populated as the plain farther south, and near Tientsin and beyond, the river is nearly filled with Chinese junks, European vessels, and other craft. The banks are lined with villages of mud huts and little one- story houses packed so close together that every available inch is covered. Women doing men's hard work, children with interesting faces and bare, brown bodies, and men with loose, dark-blue cotton blouses and trousers, such as are worn by nearly all Chinese, are as thick as ants on an ant hill, and as busy. THE LAND OF GREAT WATERWAYS 33 Tientsin is the port of Peking and the door of northern China, Mongolia, and the adjacent Russian possessions. It is situated at the northern end of the Grand Canal and at the head of steamer navigation on the Pei River, where many waterways and highways converge, and it dominates northern China as Shanghai does the part of the country farther south. It is a city of nearly a million people. The low houses built of dingy gray brick, the dull-tiled roofs, the crowded quarters, and the narrow streets have no beauty or splendor, yet Tientsin is much cleaner and healthier than many Chinese cities. In the Boxer riots of 1900 much of it was destroyed, and in its place, under foreign engineers, a modern city has been built for the Chinese, which, compared with many native cities, is clean and decent. The streets are not so wide, however, but that we must crowd against the buildings to avoid being run down by the long line of shaggy, soft-footed camels, which, with noses high in the air, move silently along, turn- ing their heads neither to the right nor to the left. If we could peer into the heavy packs on their backs, we should find them full of wood, furs, hides, grease, plaited straw, and other products from the tribes of Mongolia and Central Asia. In the part of the city near the river are warehouses filled with brick tea, the refuse from the tea factories of the south pressed into hard cakes. After a short rest the camels will be loaded with baskets of this brick tea and will start back on their long journey to Mongolia and the northwest. The rice, grain, and tea which formerly came northward by the Grand Canal is now shipped by sea to Tientsin, where it is stored. From there it is sent to Pekin^r and 34 ASIA thence distiibuti'd ilii'ouoli the northern provinces. In the river we ean see the junks and steamers which have brought these pro(hicts from Shanghai, and the smaller native boats which will carry tliem through the surrounding region. By taking plenty of time we might, if we wislicd, go from Tii'ntsiu to Peking on a wlieelbarrow, or we might* ■ ■ ■ ■■;■" Fig. 11. The Gate of Peking is a Centek of Life make the trip a little more quickly, though not much more comfortably^ in a jolting, tliumphig mule cart. For thou- sands of years camels and coolies, horses and mules, have traversed tlie same path between the two cities, which no one in the Western world would dream of calling a road. In all that time it has probably never been repaired, though it is the main land highway for the swarms of people whose villages border it for nearly the entire distance. THE LAND OF GREAT WATERWAYS 35 The small, slow boats on the river would be much more comfortable than any land conveyance, but if we would combine speed with comfort, we must go by train. The cars are by no means as luxurious as those to which we are ac- customed, but they are much to be preferred to any other method of travel, and after a ride of four or five hours we find ourselves in Peking, the capital of China. As you can see by the map, Peking is really a city within a city. The Chinese quarter, in the shape of a rectangle with its greatest width from east to west, is at the south. North of this and partly within it is the Maiichu, or Tartar, city with its greatest length from north to south. Inside this rectangle is the Imperial city, walled and fortified like the other two, and in the heart of this inner city lies still another, the Forbidden city, sacred to the ruler, his household, and his guards. From the plan of Peking given on the following page you can note these various divisions and can see that the sacred city with its yellow walls lies in the very heart of the capital. The family who ruled China for more than two hun- dred years previous to 1911, when the government was changed to a republic, were not native Chinese but Man- chus, people from the province of Manchuria in the north, an interesting region of which you will read in anothei' chapter. The ]Manchus differed in many ways from their southern ncighl)ors, and the people of China always re- sented the power of these foreign rulers. For fear of a sudden attack the Manchus separated their city from the southern Chinese section by a wall thirty to fifty feet high and broad enough at the top for three or four carriages to pass one another. 3G ASIA There arc Imiidreds of walled cities and towns in China. Think of the time and labor spent in hnilding these de- fenses, which are practically useless in modern warfare. The walls of some of the cities are in ruins, but those of Fig. 12. Peking is keally a City within a City Peking are in excellent repair. In years past the gates were closed at night, and travelers in the roads around the city made all possible haste to get inside before they were shut. The heart of Peking is where the center gate of the Manchu city opens into the Chinese quarter. The great THE LAND OF GREAT WATERWAYS 37 streams of trade and travel, the dust, the hum, the shouts, and the smells are thicker here than anywhere else in the city. Here we should meet numberless beggars, heavily laden donkeys, endless processions of Pekuig carts (which some one has described as red and blue dog houses on Yic. 13. Wk shohm) mkkt Manv Peking Cauts wheels), loug- lines of ungainly camels bringing their heavy loads from the nortli, closely curtained sedan chairs con- taining some royal beauty or higli official, creaking wheel- barrows pushed and pulled by coolies and mules, and the never-ending stream of sweating, shouting, bending, straining Iniiiinn carriers forcing their way through tlie crowd. 68839 38 ASIA Peking is the only Chinese city which has any consider- able length of wide streets. In the Manchu portion there are several macadamized highways and some others wide enough for two carriages to pass each other ; extending southward tioiii the center gate of the Manchu city through the Chinese quarter is another wide avenue two miles in length ; but elsewhere in the great capital there are few wide or paved streets. Most of the traffic made necessary by a population of a million people is carried on through narrow lanes, Avhich are dusty, muddy, or cut into deep ruts. The numerous workers, barbers, cobl)lcrs, blacksmiths, and sewing women, the tea, fruit, and rice stands, and the svares displayed before the doors of the shops serve to make the narrow streets even narrower, so that in many cases they are not more than ten or twelve feet wide. These narrow streets are lined with tiny shops, and if it were not for the dirt and the smells, we could wander for hours among them and see everywhere something to inter- est us. In the bazaars one can find anything from a jade li(^lt buckle and dainty fan to second-hand clothing and furs. Tlie lantern bazaars are interesting and carry on a thri^'ing business. In certahi parts of the city where there are no electric lights everybody carries a lantern at night. Many of the houses are lighted with these queer-shaped lanterns, though lamps are comuig into use more and more each year. The houses all look very much alike, and as we ride through street after street lined with odd little dwellings, we wonder where the wealthy people live and where the poorer families are found. It is one of the queer things THE LAND OF GREAT WATERWAYS 39 about China that the houses of the rich and the poor are crowded together in the same streets. Most of the build- ings are one story high with blank walls facing the street Fig. 14. The Tka, Fi:i it, and IIki; .Stands aiakk tiik >.aukow Stkekts even Narrower and with windows and yai-ds and courts in the rear where they can be enjoyed in privacy. In the Manchu city we meet many tail, line-looking women with graceful carriage and well-formed feet. The Manchiis have never disfigured themselves by foot-binding. In the Chinese quarter, however, we see a few women 40 ASIA hobbling along on their poor little stumps of feet in a most ungainly fashion. Imperial edicts have forbidden foot- biuding ; missionaries have labored for years against it ; educated Chinese have seen the folly of it. ]\Iuch progress has been made, but foot-binding is still done in places. When a little girl is from five to eight years old, her toes are bent down and tightly l)ound in that posi- tion. From time to time the bandages are drawn tighter around the poor de- formed feet, and for weeks and months and even years the pam is dreadful. But no matter how great the suffering, there are still some mothers w\u) \n\\\ the bands closer and closer, in order that their daughters, when grown, may have the much-desired " golden lilies," as the tiny dwarfed feet are called. Peking is one of the most interesting cities which we sliall visit, and even though we spent weeks instead of days Fig. 15. The Itixekaxt Chinese Barbers HAVE their Places of Busine.ss wherever THEY find Customers THE LA]^D OF GREAT WATERWAYS 41 inside its high walls, we should still be loath to leave it. We shall not have a correct impression of this great nation, however, unless we visit southern China, as the life there is different from that in the north. So we shall leave the great capital for a trip on the Pearl River, a southern waterway which, though shorter than any we have men- tioned, is of great importance and, through its branches and canals, penetrates liunclreds of miles into the interior. Because the great city of Canton is situated on its banks this waterway is also called the Canton River, while in the Cliinese language it is known as the Si Kiang. Strange as the scenes on the banks of the river may seem to us, the life on the water itself is yet more inter- esting, for the river is inhabited as well as the land. Thou- sands, even millions, of people in China live on the water. Not only the Pearl, but the Yangtze, the Hwang River, the Grand Canal, and many of the smaller waterways are crowded in places with the house boats of people who know no other homes. They have never been out on the open sea, perhaps, and many thousands of them have never lived in a home on the land. ]\Iany of the boats have huge, staring eyes paintcnl on them. Their use was explained by a Chinese in his broken language as follows : " S'pose no got eye, no can see ; s'pose no can see, no can walkee." The boat in which a family lives serves not only as a home but as baggage car, peddler's cart, ferry, and work- shop for " butcher and ])aker and candlestick maker." On these little crafts, shaped something like a watermelon cut lengthwise, tlie people live ])usy lives, fishing, tugging, cargo carrying, and peddling goods of every description. The boats swarm witli naked children and yellowish-brown 42 ASIA. dogs. jNIany of the eliildron, especially the boys, are tied to some object on the boat, to prevent their falling over- board. In some cases they have fastened to tlieir backs a small sealed cask, -which will lloat in the water and so prevent drowning. Each boat is numbered and has its own particular moor- ing place at night. The river people can buy everything necessary from boats, just as the people on land buy from stores, and each boat displays from its mast a sample of the goods it carries for sale. There are boats with vege- tables, groceries, cloth, flowers, flsh, crockery, and fuel ; there are barbers' boats, doctors' boats, kitchen boats, and boats with everything needful for life. Alany Chinese are engaged in fishing, as fish is a very common article of food, and many and strange are the de- vices employed in catching them. One of the queerest methods is training cormorants to do the Avork. A cormo- rant is a large iish-eating bird Avith a long neck, around which the fisherman fastens a ring just large enough to prevent the bird from swallowing its prey. The cormorants stand on the edge of the boat until the iishing grounds are reached, when they are put one by one into the water to dive for fish. When a l)ir(l has one or more in its mouth, it returns to the boat, where the owner removes tlie fish and puts the bird back into the water to catch more. So well are the cormorants trained, and so quickly do they work, that three or four will support a family. Another queer occupation which we shall see on the Pearl River and its branches is duck farming. On some old junk the farmer raises both his ducks and his family. At suitable places the ducks are put on shore to feed, and at THE LAND OF GREAT WATERWAYS 43 night they are driven back to their qnarters in the junk. They come in a hurry, flying and quacking, as the last one on board always gets a whack from the farmer's stick. © I'nderwood ,% I'niiorwood Fig. It}. <>NK f)I TIIKIR (,[1 KKHK.ST MkTHODS OF FiSHING IS TRAINING Cormorants to do the Work The island of Hongkong, near the mouth of the Pearl River, is one of the most distant colonies of England. The lonely soldier stationed there was right when he said in his humorous way that they could not send him farther from 44 ASIA home without sending him nearer. This Chinese colony is of innnense importance to Ent,^huul. On account of her business interests in Chuia and Japan and her possessions in India it is necessary for England to keep a large war fleet in these Far-Eastern waters. To furnish fuel for the vessels a coaling station near at hand is absolutely neces- sary, and Hongkong, with its wide, deep harbor, makes a fine one. The island also commands the trade of southern China, with its millions of people just awakening to a knowledge of the great wealth of their own country, and of the neces- sities and luxuries which must come to them houi other parts of the world. Hongkong is the meeting place for freight and passenger steamers from North America, South America, Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and India. On the water front we meet representatives of nearly every nation on the earth, see a motley collec- tion of costumes, and hear a variety of languages, from the familiar English and the musical Hindu to a jargon of mixed Chinese and English spoken by the natives of the southern coast towns and known as " pidgin English." The first view of Hongkong is very different from the approach to Shanghai or Peking. Those cities are situated on low, wide plains, while Hongkong is on a rocky island with mountain peaks rising behind the city to a. height of nearly two thousand feet. The city itself is built in stories like a house. On the first floor, nestling at the foot of the cliffs, is the business (pu\rter. Above, in the second story, are beautiful houses with many of the comforts and con- veniences common to Western cities, such as good streets, parks, gardens, and electric cars and lights. On the hills behind these rise the summer residences, where most of the ) Underwood & Underwood Fi<;. 17. On tiik First Floor, nestling at the Foot of the Cliffs, IS the Business Quarter, and above, in the Second Story, are the Homes and the Gardens 45 46 ASIA Hy rnclerwoocJ & Underwood Fiu. 18. Yui: ^vii.L iind in Hongkong Good Streets, Gardens, Parks, and Electric Cars and Lights Europeans find it necessary to go during the hot, damp season. Hidden in the cliffs and rocks are forts which com- mand every landing place, and the British soldier is as familiar a sight on the cliffs of Hongkong as he is on the heights of Gibraltar and in other British possessions. THE LAND OF GREAT WATERWAYS 47 Leaving Hongkong, we will sail up the Pearl River to Canton, ninety niiles away. This city, a great center of southern China, is nearly three times the size of San Fran- cisco. As we approach, the river grows more and more crowded with craft of all kinds, until the tangle of boats is so great that it seems as if we could not possibly get through ; but with much shouting and confusion we finally succeed and tie up at one of the wharves. Here in Canton, as in other Chinese cities, the foreigners live by themselves in a section which they have made to resemble in many ways their Western homes. No one ex- cept a Chinaman could live and work surrounded by such crowds and smells and dirt as are found in the native quarters. The foreign settlement in Canton is on an island in the river, where we shall find attractive houses, gar- dens, and l)road streets well lighted and paved. But all these we can find in our cities at home, and as we wish to see new sights, we will remain for a time in the native quarter. Can you imagine a city of a million and a third people, one of the largest centers of the most populous nation on earth, with no wagons in it, or horses, or other beasts of burden ? Can you imaghie St. Louis with no water supply except what is obtained from the river and carried around tlie streets in pails by water carriers ? Can you picture Chicago with no electric lights and with no street cars; wiih policciiicii will) sound a rattle as they make their rounds in the darkm-ss, to frighten away rather than cap- ture burglars; with l)uildiiigs only one story high instead of skyscrapers; with streets only eight feet wide and in some cases roofed over with matting to keep out the sun ? 48 ASIA Can you imag-ino, in front of the stores, long, narrow ver- tical signboards several feet long and brilliantly painted in yellow and black ? If you can picture all these things, you will then have some idea of what certain parts of the Cliinese city of Canton are like. As in other Chinese cities, each kind of business is carried on in a section by itself. The little shops with open fronts \\hi(li Ime the alley-like streets are extremely interesting. We see not only the goods for sale but the men at work on them. There are jade polishers, carvers of ivor}', sandal- wood, and teakwood, and fan makers pressing, drying, and l)in(liiig th(! huge palm leaves. Perhaps the matting on your floor, the candied ginger root which you like so much to eat, or that beautifully embroidered silk robe which you saw displayed in a shop Avmdow may have come from some little shop in Canton. There are markets with curious products, such as birds' nests for soups, which only the rich people can afford, and rats for the very poorest. There are many shops filled with articles which the Chinese think their dead may need in another world — paper money, weapons, and tools. These are purchased in great quantities, as not even the poorest Chinese coolie would tliiiik of allowing any of his relatives to wander through another Avorld lacking the means of making himself comfortable. Canton is a center of the silk industry, and besides the thousands of little shops such as we have described, there are large factories filled with modern machinery. Having seen the great waterways and a few of the cities of this interesting nation, let us next visit the country por- tions and see the farmers at work. We shall find the farms THE LAND OF GREAT WATERWAYS 49 small and the methods of work strange to us, but for all that, the Chinese are the best farmers in the world and care for their tiny farms in a way that would make even a thrifty New Englander open his eyes in astonisliment. TOPICS FOR STUDY r 1. Queer customs of the Chinese. 2. Age of the Chinese Empire. 3. Isolation of the country. 4. Size and population. 5. Land of great waterways. 6. The Amur River. 7. The Hwang River. 8. The Yangtze River. 9. Cities of the Yangtze valley. 10. The Grand Canal. 11. The Pei River. 12. Tientsin and Peking. 13. The Pearl River. 14. Hongkong and Canton. II 1. What do you know of the ancient history of Persia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome? 2. Name the natural boundaries which separate the Chinese possessions from the rest of Asia. 3. How wide is the Pacific Ocean? How long does it take to sail from Hongkong to San Francisco? 4. What river for a jtart of its course bounds Manchuria on the north? Which is the most useful river of China? 5. Fiml the mountains in which each river rises. 6. Write a list of the Chinese cities which are mentioned in this chapter. Beside each one write the name of a city in Europe, and one in America, in the same latitude; make another list of European and American cities of about the same size. 50 ASIA 7. Name the waters sailed ou aud the cargoes carried in going from Shanghai to some port in England ; in France ; in Germany. 8. Sketch a map of the Chinese provinces. Show in it the following* a. The surrounding countries aud waters. b. The chief cities. c. The chief rivers. (I. The Grand Canal. 9. Name any articles that you have seen which you tliink may have come from China. Ill Be able to spell and pronouuce tlie following names. Locate each place and tell what was said about it in this chapter. British Kmpire Russian Empire Persia Siberia Japau Egypt Greece Rome France England Germany Holland Minne.sota Louisiana Texas Florida Mongolia Manchuria Tibet Chihli Szechwan San Fiuuciseo St. Louis Chicago Hongkong Iciuuig Nanking Tientsin Hangchow Peking .Shanghai Yangtze River Hwang River Pei River Pearl River Amur River Sungari River Hudson River Mississippi River jMissouri River Columbia River CHAPTER III CHIXESE rAK:SIS AND FARMERS In undeveloped countries the majority of people are usu- ally farmers, each one raising on his little farm the whole or a part of his food suppl3^ China is such a country, and the Chinese are the most economical and industrious farmers to be found anywhere in the world. Most of the farms are small ones of t\\'o or three acres each, yet so carefully are they cultivated tliat this little area supports a whole family in Avhat the Chinese consider a comfortable way. The Chinese possessions include such a large area that the climate, and therefore the products, of the northern and southern portions differ greatly. Everywhere except in the extreme north the land is made to yield at least two crops a year, and in the southern regions e\'en more. Every farmer cultivates as much land as he can irrigate and fertilize. These areas are so small that there are parts of the country which, though fertile, are as yet undeveloped. No land in the cultivated regions is wasted. One reason why th(! roads are so narrow is In'cause the farmer pushes his crops inch by inch out into the highway until this becomes a mere footpath. 'IMie nuul washed down by the heavy rains is scraped u[) and returned to the fields. The traffic on these narrow roads is very heavy, and they gradu- ally become lower until they lie below the level of the land around, and in wet weather are simply ditches and mudlioles. 51 52 ASIA Little land can be spared for orchards except those of the luulbenv, and evi'ii liere beans and other vegetables are planted between the rows of trees. Fences are seldom seen, but sometimes useful trees, such as the mulberries or bamboos set close together, serve the purpose. The banks which separate the rice fields are planted with a single row • of beans, and even the grains, barley, rye, wheat, and millet are sown in rows, so that some crop which ripens at a dif- ferent time may be planted between tlicni. __^-~-^ Besides the more common vegetables such as are raised in the middle and northern parts of the United States, the grams mentioned above are the chief product of northern China. Millet is the most important of them all and is raised in great (juan titles. Wheat is the chief food grain in our country, but millet and rice are used in the East. Millet grows to about the same height as corn, which it resembles in appearance, though it has a smaller stalk and a narrower, thinner leaf. The giant millet grows even taller than our tallest corn. The grain is crushed and ground into flour, the stalks yield a rich sirup and a coarse sugar, and, w^hen dried, are used for fodder and fuel. Of all the products of Chuiese farms, tea and silk are the most valuable. Their cultivation and manufacture will make so long a story that we shall need a separate chapter for each of them. One farm product Avhich has been raised very extensively in China, and which has been the cause of poverty and suffering, is the poppy plant, from which opium is made. For many centuries its cultivation was forbidden in China. It was, however, raised m great quantities in India, and hundreds of tons of opium were sold in Chinese ports. It was impossible to stop the importation, as the CHINESE FARMS AND FARMERS 53 trade was in the hands of English firms who were powerful enough to do as they pleased m the matter. Rather than see so much money go out of the country to pay for the drug, the Chinese government permitted the plant to be cultivated at home. Soon thousands of acres were devoted to the raishig of poppies, which in many provinces took the place of wheat and millet, thus causing famine and suffering. The poppy was a profitable crop, as a little opium has a greater money value than a much larger quantity of grain. It is easily harvested and, on account of its small bulk, is readily transported on the backs of carriers or in wheel- barrows. Perhaps you wonder why, if opium is such a profitable crop, the Chinese government should have made laws forbidding its cultivation. One reason was that the land was needed for food crops ; another was because of the very bad effect that opium has on those who use it. Opium smokers become lazy and mdifferent, unable to thmk well or to do hard work. After one has become accustomed to its use, it is almost impossible to give it up. The Chinese were no exception, and the opium smokers would part with almost anything to obtain the drug. Crops, lands, liouses, and in some cases even wives and children were sold to procure it, until in many provinces the majority of the people were reduced to miserable poverty. So bad did conditions become that the government finally took the matter in hand and decided to abolish its culti- vation and its use. This has been a hard matter to accom- plish, as the government is handicapped for help. In the (nited States the government would be aided by the churclics and newspapers and magazines, the schools and woman's clubs and other organizations, but we must 54 ASIA reiiieiiihcr tliiit tlio ('hinese government lias no such helps in |)utti^^■ llirmmli iniy rel'orin. There is no preaching such as we have in onr churches; the schools would not think of taking up snch questions; women liave no place in pnhlic life, no part in any discussions; there are few newspapers and fewer magazines prmted ; the Chinese sel- dom leave their liomes to make visits or to travel through the country, so there are but few ways of spreading new thoughts or of reaching the people. So long as China remained a nation of opium smokers it was probable that she would never progress far in civi- lization and power, but with the curse removed there is no reason why she may not advance in industries and com- merce and gradually take her place among the important nations of the world. If bread is the staff' of life in Europe and America, its place is taken in eastern Asia by rice, which is the staple food for the majority of the people of China, Japan, India, and the East Indies. These are the most densely populated regions of the world, and it is said that more people live on rice than on any other grain. 'J'o su])ply the immense demand for it, millions and even billions of pounds are raised in Asia. To draw the crop of China alone, estimat- ing two tons to an animal, the horses, if harnessed in pairs, would reach nearly halfway around the world. Rice is raised in nearly all parts of the country, but southern China is the rice region and the southei-n Chinese are the rice eaters. The grain has been their chief food for thou- sands of years, and for centuries they have carefull}^ studied its cultivation in order to get as large crops as possible from their tinv farms. CHINESE FARMS AND FARMERS 55 The products of any laud depend largely on its soil, surface, and climate. In China these are well suited to the production of rice. In the warmer portions of the country there are many low plains and fertile river valleys, where ' ' Keystone View Co. !"](,. l'.». Kick Fiki.ds akk incloskd by Low Eakth Banks the rice plant flourishes and where the many streams fur- nish plenty of water for irrigation. 'I'he fields are inclosed with low earth Ijaid^s in order tliat the crop may be flooded wliile it is growing. There is no pretticir sight than a Cliinese rice field when the grain lias just coNcrcd the marshy ground with a tliick, grassy mat of soft, delicate green. 6G ASIA Not all parts of China, liowever, are low, level, and easily flooded, but so necessary is the rice crop to the people that in many places the farmers have terraced the hillsides and surrounded each terrace with low walls. These liii^liei' t'iirnis need irrigating even more than the low lands. \'>\ means of \\ater wheels tnnie(l hy loot power or by nndes Fici. 20. A Small Child oftkn kii>es on the Back of the Buffalo TO SEE THAT IT DOES NOT STRAY TOO NEAR THE CrOPS or buffaloes the water is lifted to the uppermost terrace, from which it trickles down over the lower ones. In our trip through the country we shall see many buffaloes, which are the common farm animal of southern China. Some are taking their daily nap in the nuuldy water of river and canal, where flies and mosquitoes cannot annoy them; some wander slowly along the banks, nibbling the green grass, while small children, perched on their backs, see that they CHINESE FARMS AND FARMERS 57 do not stray too near the crops ; others are slowly drawing through the flooded rice fields small wooden plows, which churn the soil into a rich liquid mud. The fields of China have been cultivated for thousands of years, yet there is no sign of soil exhaustion. This is due partly to its fertility, but largely to the painstaking care of the Chinese farmer. Fuel and fertilizer are his two greatest necessities. Streams are dredged and fields and highways scraped, and what cannot be burned is used on the farm. The muck from canal beds, the sewage of the cities, the thick, muddy water of the rivers, the refuse from the home — all are used to enrich the soil of the small strip of land which, m thousands of cases, keeps the family from starvation. Rice is first sown in some small patch, where it springs up as thick as grass. The fields where it is to be planted are flooded to a depth of three or four inches, and after the soil has been softened by the water, the farmer stirs it with his ph:)w into a thick mud. We should hardly care to join the rice planter in liis work, for he is usually bare- footed, ankle deep in mud and water, and many of these farmers suffer in conseciuence from diseases of the feet and from rheumatism. Look at those people in their ])ig hats, wading in the water to transplant tlic; rice. They take tlu; green shoots a few at a time from the plot where the seed was first sown, make deep lioles in the mud about ten inches apart, set the plants, and press the earth firndy about them. All througli the summer tliey Avork in the muddy field, lioeing, weeding, and lloodiiiL;- the pr(!ci()us crop, until in the fall the tall yellow grain is ready f(jr harvesting. 'J'lie farmer 58 ASIA iind ]iis family start in the early morning for the fields^ often ss, cabbages, and other vegetables, some jars of pickles, and some of watermelon seeds, of which the Chinese eat great quantities. The njonis have; no closets, and the, few clothes of the family are either packed in a small chest or 66 ASIA laiiiii^ on a ItainlitMi l)ar. At'tt-r scciiiiL;- tlicir lioines we do not wkikUt lliat tilt' (liiiii'Sf propk' carry dh imich ol' their work ill the stri'cts. An ardiitt'cl wtuilil lind hiisincss very didl in China; the houses ail' sn much aUkc that thi-rc is no lu'cd of liaving any plans drawn. Tlicre is iiuL a chiniiiey in the village; the smoke goi^s out wluTe it ean. or, if it finds no outlet, it sta\s ill. ( 'o!isc(|iic!it l\ the kitchens arc black with soot. What a (jucer-looking stove that woman is cooking on ! It is hnilt ot hrick. and on it is sonu^ rice cooking in a kettle Uiiich larger than the one your mother uses. In a smaller dish some chopi)ed meat and vegetables are boiling. Food is usually cut into small ])ieces, as no knives or foi'ks are used at table. How should yoii like to eat with chopsticks? The Chinese use these smooth round sticks, about as large as a lead pencil, instead of knives or forks or spoons. A Chinese boy or girl can empty a bowl of rice or meat very <|ui('kly with a pair of them, but I am sure that you would get impatient befoiv you could satisfy your hunger. See that sober-faced little girl feedmg the fire with sti'aw and leaves! Uhe light fuel burns so quickly that she is kept constantly busy. Except in tlie extreme northern part of tlie country, fire is used only to cook with and not to warm the houses. In tlie colder portions of ('liina, flues to carry the heat from the stove are built under tlie low brick platform which sei'ves for a bed. In the winter time, though one may lind his bed too hot to be comfortable on retiring, he is likely to become cold before morning, as the fire dies down quickly. CHINESE FARMS AND FARMERS 67 In the United States the family gatherings around the table in the evening, with books and games and pleasant conversation, are very delightful even among poor, hard- working people. Not so in Chinese homes. The only light in thousands of houses is a twist of cotton in an iron cup of some vegetable oil. The flickering flame does not light the mean little room, and the family often go to bed with- out any light at all. Kerosene oil and cheap lamps are beinsr introduced into China, and someone has said that kerosene may prove as great a civilizer as the missionary. If it affords a means by which the family can gather in the evening for a social hour, for reading, or for study, it certainly will help in elevating the life of the poor. Perhaps you would like to know something of the edu- cation of these neighbors of ours across the Pacific. In most Chmese homes, except the very poorest, the boys are sent to school, even if great sacrifices have to be made to keep them there. An old Chinese proverb says, " Better to rear a pig than to bring up a son who will npt read." Until very recently the highest offices were given to the students who could pass the highest examinations. Every parent was ambitious to have his sons educated, as other- wise no position of honor was open to them. AVith the girls, the Chinese thought, an education was of very little advantage, as they would live a secluded life in the home. If they were able to spin and weave, to cook the rice, beau curd, and stews, little more was expected of them. An old Chinese school would seem like a queer place to us. When our schools are in session, we expect the building to be very quiet, but we can hear the noise from a Chinese school before we reach it. Every boy is studying aloud. 68 ASIA "Of coui'st'," says tlic scliooliiiaster ; " liow else shall I kiiDW that they are studying at all?" Over and over agam thr puj)!! repeats the long, hard lessons until he is sure of tlieiii. Tliis iiifiiHiry work is about the only task which a Chinese selioollMn has, and he must do it tlioroughly or 1 wm K ^ J i^^S^^Hn 1 i -^ ^^^^^^C2^^'* ^ E^Hsk^^BL^^^^^SH^^^^I 9R If pi ii I^BU^j^ l-I. liii. I'lrii.* idMi: TO Tiiii Front of the Koom and tukn TiiEiu Backs to the Teacher punisjinient will surely follow. Now the master is to have a recitation. The pupils stand in a row in the front of the room and, with low ])ows, turn their backs to the teacher and repeat the long lesson they have learned. " How queer," you say, " to recite with one's back to the teacher ! " But again the master replies, " Why, of course ; how else can I be sure that the pupil does not get a peep at the book which I hold?" CHINESE FARMS AND FARMERS 69 There are many reasons why you would not enjoy the old-time Chmese school. The sitting on the floor or on hard benches would be uncomfortable, the noise would tire your head, and the long hours \yould be wearisome. A Chinese boy goes to school before seven o'clock in the morning. He studies until ten, when he goes home for his breakfast. He goes to school again from eleven to one, and again after lunch, if he has one, until five or six o'clock. He has no Saturday holiday or even a Sunday ofl^, for except in a few places there are no weekly days of rest in China. He has a few days scattered through the year when he or the master attends some wedding or funeral or en- joys some feast or festival, but his only real vacation is two weeks at New Year's, when everybody, young and old, takes a holiday. You would find the lessons in a Chinese school long and dull. Except in a few of the most modern ones there is no science, no geography, no music, no drawing, nothing but the memorizing of long, dull pages of Chinese history or the sayings of Confucius, that ancient writer whose books are regarded by the Chmese in much the same way as the Bible is by us. Formerly, and to some extent at the present time, the training of all boys was just alike, regardless of the posi- tions which they might hold later. The young man who could pass the best examination on the rather useless sub- jects taught in the schools, who could write the best essay, or compose the finest i)oem was sure of the highest office. Nothing else counted in gaining a position. You can im- agine that such an education did not fit a man to become a mhiister of war or of finance or to be an officer in the 70 ASIA iuinv «•!■ navy. It is no wonder that with officials trained in such luiiiraclical ways the country did not advance rapidly. lla{)|)ily t()-(hiy different ideas in regard to educa- tion are heginnini; to prevail More schools are being established, broader and more practical subjects taught in them, and better-trahied teachers appointed to take charge of them. The education of girls is slowly beginning. It will take time for these improvements to reach all parts of such a great country, but now that a start has been made we can hope for better thhigs for China in the future. If you should ask a Chinese how many children he had, he would tell you only the number of l)oys, as he does not consider the girls of suthcient importance to be counted. During the lirst yeais of her life a little Chinese girl spends her time j)laying with other little girls and boys. After she is eight or ten years old she must not play or speak with any boys or men, nor must she be seen in public any more. To be sure, one sees numbers of women on the streets of ("hinese cities. These belong to the poorer classes. The higher one goes in the scale of society the more secluded the women are kept. A (hinese girl's life is dreary and monotonous. In a family of the higher class she is seldom seen out of the house, though there is little in it to interest or amuse her. She has no books, few games and companions, and she sel- dom makes visits. She spends her time in spinning and weaving, feeding the silkworms, taking care of the babies, embroidering her shoes, cooking the rice and vegetables, and scraiiing the soot from the bottom of the rice pot. If the family is poor, she may go out into the fields to gather CHINESE FARMS AND FARMERS 71 fuel, pick the tea leaves, or even do the heavier work of carrying burdens on her shoulders like the men. The life of a Chinese girl is so hard that in many cases she welcomes the day when the matchmaker comes to her home to make arrangements with her parents for her mar- riage to some boy, whom perhaps she has never seen. When she is married she will leave her old home forever and be- come the slave of her mother-in-law. The life of a young wife is always a hard one until lier own sons have grown up and married. Then her lot becomes easier, as her daughter-in-law will do the hard work for her as she did in her time for her husband's mother. A wife who has no sons is much to be pitied. Nothing else will give her so high a standing in the connnunity or bring her so much respect from her neighbors as a family of boys. If a Chinese gentle- man has no sons, he often adopts some relative or, failing that, even some stranger. To understand why a son is so necessary we must know something of the Chinese religion. Christianity has been intrijduced by missionaries, but as yet it has few followers compared with the otlier great religions of the country. The majority of the Chinese are followers of Confucius, a great philosopher who lived and taught hundreds of years before Clu-ist. Confucius said little about Cod or heaven, but taught the people to love goodness for its own sake; and to perform certain duties, chief among them being to lionor and serve one's parents, to obey one's elders, and to be loyal to one's sovereign. The respect shown to parents and ancestors has been carried to such an extent that it amounts to worship. Few Chinese children would think for a minute of disobey- ing their parents, and no penalties are so severe as those 72 ASIA inllictt'd for criiucs (•(Hiiiiiittcd aj^ainst them. So great is tilt' it'spcci ill wliii'h parents are held, however, that it is st'ldoin m'l-t'ssary to inflict pnnislnnent. lilocks of wood with inscriptions on them, called ances- tral taUlcts, arc round in every lionsc, and each morning the nicmhcrs of the tamily kneel before them with offer- ings. The graves of ancestors are visited at stated times, and U)nd and uKuiey (made of red paper) are left on the moiuitls which mark the resting places. The son of the liouse, or, where there are several sons, the eldest, takes charge of these ceremonies, and for that reason all parents desire a son, in oi'der that their s[)irits may be cared for in another world. Vou can easil> understand that when respect for one's ancestors is carried to such an extent, it must have a bad effect on the* progress of a country. The young people think they can do no better than to follow in the footsteps of those for win mi they have such reverence. Hence it is hard to introdiice new customs, new ways of doing things, modern machinery, and time-saving and labor-saving de- vices. But, tied as they are to old methods, the Chinese are learning many things from the foreigners who are doing business in the country. They are beginning to realize something of the enormous resources waiting to be devel- oped in the country, and the tremendous power of the ffiui- hundred million people within its borders. 'J'he broad, thoughtful, progressive men of China have come to see that if their country is to advance, they must build railroads, open mines, sink oil wells, harness water power, erect mills, adopt machinery, reforest mountains, construct irrigation works, introduce better breeds of CHINESE FARMS AND FARMEKS 73 domestic animals and plants, and apply science to the production of food. They must drop ancestor worship, prohibit foot-binding, educate their girls, elevate the posi- tion of women, introduce better systems of education, and restrict child labor. The Western world is waiting to see these things accom- plished. It is turning its thoughts to this great awakening nation and trying to predict what its future will be when it is fully aroused to its own great strength and possibili- ties. A Chinese official recently said to the delegates from some foreign countries, " You are all anxious to wake us up and to start us on a new road, and you will do it ; but you will all regret it, for, once awakened and started, we shall go fast and far — farther than you think, much farther than you wish." TOPICS FOR STUDY 1. Size of Chinese farms. 2. Variety of crops raised. 3. Economy of Chinese farmers. 4. Millet and its uses in northern China. 5. Pop{)y farms and opium. 6. The cultivation of rice and its im{)ortaiice. 7. Uses of bamboo. 8. The cotton industry. 9. The production and manufaitture of sugar. 10. A Chinese village. 11. Chinese homes and their furnishings. 12. Education in China. 13. Life of a Chinese girl. 14. The religion of China. 15. The future of China. 74 ASIA ir 1. Mnko n list of all products which V"^" think may be grown in the iiortlitM-ii jtart of "The Land of Great Waterways"; in the southern jiart. 2. Sketch a map of the country. "Write the names of the chief products in the regions where they are raised. 3. Describe the route by which a boatload of rice would go from some city on the Yangtze River to Peking. 4. Ship a cargo of rice from India, and one from Japan, to China ; to the I'nited States. Name the waters sailed on in each voyage, and the shipping and receiving ports. 5. Write a list of the uses of bamboo. Write opposite the name of each article tiie material of which it is made in the United States. 6. Tell some of the industries which you think will be carried on in China in the future. 7. Take a trip from your home city to China. Name the railroads on which you will travel; the sailing port; the places of call on the ocean voyage ; the cargo carried by your steamer j the time necessary for the journey. CHAPTER IV TEA FARMS AND TEA DRINKERS The century in which we are living is a time of special- ties and specialists. Not many years ago the family physi- cian was the highest authority in any case of sickness which might arise. To-day we liave specialists for the ear, the eye, the brain, and many other organs. In our great manu- facturing plants one superintendent cannot look after all the departments ; each one has at its head a man who is a specialist in that particular line. We might liken different countries to the departments of a great industrial establishment. Chile, for instance, fur- nishes most of the nitrates of the world ; South Africa, the diamonds ; Italy, the macaroni ; Persia, the most wonderful rugs ; France, immense quantities of wine ; Switzerland, fine laces and embroideries; England, splendid ships; and Ireland, l)eautiful linens. Wliat a blessing it is that all countries do not produce the same crops or manufacture the same articles ! On ac- count of the position, soil, surface, climate, drainage, or water power, or because of some special skill which the [)eople liave developed, each nation furnishes its own I)eculiar offering for the comfort or enrichment of the world. In a large Jiiaindacliiriiig plant the hcaiis of (l('i)ai'(ments liave much genci'al iiitormation as well a,s tlie technical knowledge concerning their particular part of the work ; 76 76 ASIA so tlio couutrios of tlic world yield many common useful prodiK-ts besides the one or more specialties for which they are piirticularly noted. Fifty years ago tea was a specialty of China. To-day we shall have to call it a specialty of sonthern and eastern Asia, for Japan has found it a very protitahle crop, and English planters are cultivating it in large plantations in India and Ceylon. Man has found many foods in grains and roots and herbs, but he uses only four beverages of great commercial im- portance. Many of the alcoholic drinks are considered haniiful. and nations are trying to limit rather than to en- eourage their use ; coffee is a strong stimulant, and some people find it injurious; cocoa is nourishing but rather heartier than many people desire. Tea, when properly made, is the t)nly light, stimulating drink which most people can drink with no ill effects. It is often spoiled in the making, as many people do not know how to prepare it. I will give you a recipe for making a good cup of tea. Draw some fresh water and allow it to come to a boil. When it is boil- ing har© Keystone View Co. Fig. 27. The Hillsides around are COVERED WITH TeA ShRUBS, AND THE Broad Valleys are Green with the Rice Plant 78 ASIA and by visiting both a Cliinese and an Indian tea farm and ftdiipiuiiig tlu' nu'tliods wliich are used on each we shall discttvcr tlu- n-ason for this. (ircat (jiiaiititifs dt' tea are raised on the slopes of the hills in the Yangtze valley. Let us go into the fields and watch the people at work. AVhat a wonderful view spreads (lilt Ifforc lis! There in the lowlands, as far as the eye can i-racli. lie tlic liflds of rice, a jialc L;rt't'ii carjx't with lines of (hukiT green show ing the low earth banks ])uilt to hold in the water Mheii the lields are Hooded. Stretching up from the \alle\' toward the siinniiit of thi' hills ai'e the tea farms; each one is a tiny unit ot" oidy a few acres, but there are so man\- of thcni that the lines of plants stretch on and (»n until lo>i ill the disiaiit haze, 'i'lie bushes are from three to live feet hi^h. 'I'hey would grow niiicli taller, but tliey aie ke[)t primed back to a height IVoui w hicli it is com cnieiit to pick the leaves. Below, ill the valley lietweeii the rice tields and tea orciiards, are the huts of the pickers. While the mists of early morning still hang thi(;k over the lowlands the women and ehildren come toiling up the hillsides to the bushes, where they work all day picking the young, tender leaves near the ends of the shoots. These bushes have been picked once before this spring, in April, and now, in early June, are yielding their second harvest, the principal one for the season. The leaves will be gathered once more during the summer, but the tea which is made fnmi the third picking is of an inferior grade. Tea plants yield their first harvest w hen they are about three years old. After this their leaves are pickeil three times a year for eight or ten years, when the plants are replaced by new ones. TEA FARMS AND TEA DRINKERS 79 Soon the baskets are heaped with the tender green leaves, which in shape and size somewhat resemble small rose leaves. As the sun sinks over the hills the tired workers go down the paths to the little huts in the valley. They are weary with their long day's work, but before retiring they must prepare the leaves which have been gathered. Fiti. 'Zb. Tin. Li;avj:s ai;i; iiikn si'ueau out on a Table, where a WORKAIAN ROLLS THEM BACK AND FORTH During the day men aii<] boys have brought the baskets down from the hillsides and have spread the leaves to dry in shallow pans. They are next put into roasting pans, which are heated by fires underneath. Here they are shaken and rolled and moved about for several minutes and then spread out upon a table, where a workman rolls them back 80 ASIA aiul t'ortli with a peculiar motion of . his hands. They are tlu'n (hied in llii* open air and again heated and shaken ovi'r a slow, steady tire. Tlicy are finally twisted and curled l»v rolling in the hands, until they look hke the tea which we l»n\ IVoiii our grocer. Later, while the rest of the family are away on the hills, those left at home will spend the long hours sifting and sorting the dried leaves and making then: ready for the merchants, who Avill soon come to buy up the ciop of the village. There are some large tea factories in China, but the greater part of tlie innnense crop of several hundred million ])onn(ls is prepared, just as it has been for centuries, in the little cottages of the villages or in small sheds built for the purpose. Most of the product of Japan and Formosa, as well as that of China, is prepared by hand, and you can readily see that where each farmer handles liis own crop in the same way that liis father and grandfather did before him, there is little uniformity or improvement in the quality of the tea. Just here lies the reason for the rapid growth and the uicreasing popularity of the teas of India, Ceylon, and Java. In these countries tea is raised on large estates em- ploying hundreds of laborers, and the picking of the leaves is about the oidy part of the work done by hand. In the great factories there are rolling machines and drying ma- chines with hot blasts and revolving fans, from which the crisp leaves come out pure and clean. In spite of her unsanitary methods, China is the greatest tea producer in the world. As she awakens to new ways and int n iduces modern machinery her tea industry is growing in like i)roj)ortions, for the soil, climate, and surface of the country are well adapted to the crop. The Chinese have TEA FARMS AND TEA DRINKEES 81 objected to the use of machinery on the ground that if a machine requiring only one or two hands to run it can do the work of twenty-five men, the other twenty-three or four will necessarily be out of employment. They have fought the introduction of railroads for the same reason, arguing that the thousands of human carriers who now convey most of China's burdens on their backs or push them in heavily laden wheelbarrows will have nothing to do. They do not yet realize that in order to furnish food for the greedy machmes, to dispose of the products, and to supply the loads for the puthng engines, a thousand new occupations will spring into being and old industries will need more hands. In a previous chapter we spoke of the religion in China being one of the causes of her lack of progress. Another is the superstitious character of the people and their belief m spirits, lucky days, and magic. It is said that the Chmese language has no word for patriotism, but that there are nearly a hundred to express good luck. The Chinese ob- ject to high houses or tall chimneys belching dark clouds of smoke, because they may offend the spirits of the air. The long, dark shadows from telegraph poles would have the same effect on the sj)irits of the ground. Awful disas- ters, which have not happened, were foretold if the puffing engines with their heavy loads should be allowed to rumble through the country. Can you imagine what a bother it would be for you to have to wait for a lucky day to come before you could be- ghi to go to school, make a visit, start a piece of work, get married, or even be buried ? Comparatively few bodies are buried within a few days of death, as is the custom here. 82 ASIA Often months and even years pass before the body is taken to its final resting i)lac'e. 'Hie Chinese think that if the earth should l)t" disluriu'd on an unlucky day, the spirits of the ground would be so angry that dreadful disasters might overtake the living relatives. Their crops might be de- stroyed, their animals die, or the niend)ers of their family ) Underwood & Underwood Fui. 29. It is said that in China more Land is occupied by Graves than by Cities become ill : and in the spirit world still worse things might happen to the dead person himself. When a lucky day finally comes, the body is taken to a lucky place, even if this happens to be on the most fertile field of the little farm. A tenth, and in extreme cases a fifth, of tlie small amount of land owned by the farmer is often occupied by the gra.ves of his ancestors, and large TEA FARMS AND TEA DRmKERS 8a areas are thus lost to cultivation. Indeed, it is said that in China more land is occupied by graves than is covered by cities. The graves of their dead are peculiarly sacred, as the Chinese believe that the spirit will sometime reenter the body. If the resting place of some re- spected ancestor is disturbed and his body removed to an- other spot, his spirit may be doomed to wander forever with- out a body. The evil spirits which the Chinese thmk so numerous cause a great deal (jf trouble in other ways. They always fly, so the people think, m straiglit lines. Consequently the roofs curve up at the lower edges and corners, and the streets are made with many corners, so that the spirits cannot fly easily through the cities and towns ; and for the same reason the doors of the houses on opposite sides of the street are not in line. Before the doors of many houses screens are placed, so that the evil spirits will fly agahist them and be prevented from entering. © Underwood & Underwood Fig. 30. The Roofs of the Buildings curve up at the corners 84 ASIA When we think of all these superstitious beliefs, we wondt'i- thiit ('hinese farmers accomplisli as much as they (1(1. A tier the needs of the family are supplied there is lit- tle left to exiHirt, hut the people are so industrious and eco- nomical, and tiie tiny farms are so numerous, that the total amount of goods carried thi'ough and out of the country is enormous. Each farmer packs his tea or rice or silk or cotton, and either shoulders the bur- den or loads his wlieelbarrow and carries or pushes his })roduct to the near- est canal or river, whence it is shipped to the great centers. Enormous quanti- ties of tea are tlms taken to the Yangtze River and shipped down to Hankow, the greatest tea market of China. Foochow is another im- portant center, and so numerous and so productive are the farms in the surrounding country that more than thirty thousand coolies are engaged in carrying tea into the city. By train and by boat enormous quantities are sent to Peking, where long lines of shaggy camels utter their odd cries of j)rotest as they kneel to receive their loads. We can see them restmg ui the city streets and on the march Fk..;j1. A\'i: (AN sKii C"ami:i.- mi ,Mahcii OITSIKE THE WaLLS OF PEKING 9 TEA FAEMS AND TEA DRINKERS 85 outside the walls. They will carry tea and other Chinese products northward into Manchuria, Mongolia, and Siberia, and westward into far-away provinces of Central Asia. In southern China thousands of coolies, with sweat rag, fan, and load of tea, trudge for weeks along the narrow paths of Tibet, that isolated mountain land of which the world knows so little. In the harbor at Hankow, European steamers wait for their loads of tea. In former years, as soon as it was stored in their holds they started on then- long ocean race, each vessel trying to make the greatest possible speed, as the tea first landed commanded the highest price. To-day, how- ever, the tea sent by the Trans-Siberian Railroad enters the Russian market before any other. Many of the tea merchants of Hankow, and some of the steamers which sail from the city, are from Russia. Rus- sians are very fond of tea, and some of the highest-priced Chinese product goes to that country. Those who can afford it drink a great deal. The total amount used in the country is not so great as in some others, as many of the Russian peasants are so poor that they cannot afford even the cheap brick tea made from the waste in the factories. Not many years ago in China there were few treaty ports, that is, cities where foreign nations were allowed to trade. Now there are a great many both on the coast and in the interior of the country. At some of the most important of these — Shanghai, Canton, Hongkong, and Amoy — large steamers, bound for the United States and European coun- tries. South America, Africa, Australia, and far-away islands of the globe, are being loaded with iliousands of lead- lined boxes containing the favorite beverage of the world. 86 ASIA Tlu'i-e are people \vln» think they can tell fortunes by lookint,' at the grounds in a teacup. The next time you look at a cup of tea perhaps you will think, not of your i'uturc. l)iit (if llif riifiue growth m China of this great in- clustrv whii'h at present is so han(licap[H'(l l)y the backward coiulitions of the country. rol'ICS FOR STUDY I 1. An age of specialties. 2. Area of tea jn-oduction. 3. Making tea. 4. The consuiuptiuii of tea. 5. The tea industry of China, Japan, and Formosa. 6. The tea industry of India and Ceylon. 7. Chinese superstitions. 8. Tea centers of China. 9. Tea in Russia. 10. Treaty ports and tea ships. II 1. Name the countries from which the most important beverages of the world are obtained. Name the chief port of each country and the waters sailed on in a trip to London. 2. On a map of the world, color the wine-j)roduciug countries ; with other colors show the countries which produce coffee, cocoa, and tea. 3. Have you ever tried to make tea? IIoW did your nictliod differ from the one recommended here ? 4. How many horses, each drawing one and one-half tons, would be required to move our annual importation of tea. Allowing ten feet for each horse, how far would the team extend ? 5. Describe the processes in the manufacture of tea. 6. Ship a cargo of tea to the United States from Japan, China, and India. Name the shipping and receiving ports and the waters sailed on in each voyage. TEA FARMS AND TEA DRINKERS 87 7. Ou a map of Asia show the tea-producing countries and all the places mentioned in this chapter. 8. Name the ports in South America, Africa, and Australia to which you think tea is shipped. Ill Be able to spell and pronounce the following names. Locate each place and tell w'hat was said about it in this and in previous chapters. China India Japan Ceylon Formosa Java Manchuria Mongolia Siberia Tibet Russia South America Africa Australia Yangtze River Hankow Foochow Peking Shanghai Canton Hongkong Amoy CHAPTER V TIBET AND TURKESTAN The great Chinese republic is made up of several dif- ferent divisions, of whicli China is the largest and most important. The densely crowded areas, the great cities, tiie boat population, and the rice, tea, and silk industries belong chiefly to this one section, which is about half as large as the United States. Life in other parts of the country is very different. Let us visit some of the outly- ing divisions and contrast the sights which we shall see in them with the things which we have seen in China. Besides this most important province there are four other great divisions of the Chinese republic. These are Tibet and Turkestan in the west, Manchuria in the ex- treme northeast, and in the north, Mongolia, separated from China by the Desert of Gobi. Of these four prov- inces Manchuria is the most important, Turkestan the least known, Mongolia the most dreary and monotonous, and Tibet perhaps the most interesting. Few people realize the immense size of the little-known regions of Central Asia. Tibet is a country nearly as large as Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, and is the highest inhabited region of the world. Imagine a..^reat barren plateau from two to three miles high dotted with salt lakes and swept by fierce winds. It is surrounded by a wall of lofty, snow-capped mountains, some of them the S3 ^f TIBET AND TUEKESTAN 89 highest on earth, in which the chief rivers of China and India have their sources. Until within a few years Tibet lias been visited by very few foreigners. Tliis has been due chiefly to two reasons. Its queer people, shut away from other nations by the great mountain wall, think of their land as we do of ours, as the most beautiful, the richest, and the healthiest coun- try in the world. They think that their religion is the best and their civilization the highest of all nations, and they do not care to see foreigners or to have them enter their country. Comparatively few have done so, as the difficulty of getting mto Tibet is great enough to prevent anyone except the most adventurous from attempting it. Whether one enters from India, Turkestan, or China it is a long, hard climb over cold, dangerous mountain passes. In spite of the dangers, however, they are constantly trav- ersed by native traders with loaded ponies or yaks. A few of the passes are so difficult that sheep are the only ani- mals that can cross them safely. On some of the routes leading southward to India we should meet long caravans of sheep, each carrying its load of twenty-five or thirty pounds. On arrivmg at the border of Tibet, the tired, foot- sore animals rest for some weeks. Goods are exchanged between the Tibetans and the southern traders, and the sheep are sheared and their wool sent south to Indian fac- tories. The route is so difficult, the rate of travel so slow, and the periods of rest so long and frequent, that the trip occupies nearly a year. The route into Tibet from Mongolia and northern China is a historic highway, and for centuries pilgrims have toiled over it to the holy city of Lhasa, tlie capital of Tibet. 90 ASIA Lhasa is as sacred to these Eastern worshipers of Buddha as Jerusalem is to the Jews or Mekka to the Mohamme- dans. Besides worshiping in the temple, many of the pilgrims take a six-mile walk around the city, praying constantly and kneeling often. Many prostrate themselves every few steps, then draw themselves up, only to measure their length on the ground again, thus making progress in iiiiicli the same manner as the inchworm does. If we are coming to Tibet from the wc^.st, we shall enter from the Indian province of Kashmir, through the trading center of Leh. This is the most important route for Euro- pean trade, and Leh is the meethig place of caravans from the east and the west. It is a busy place of several thou- sand people, the number being greatly increased at times l)y tradeis from Tibet, India, Bokhara, Turkestan, and even from far-away Mongolia and China. After the long, wearisome journey over mountains and deserts they re- main at Leh for some weeks to rest themselves and their tired animals before starting on their homeward way. All products nmst be exchanged, and all traffic carried on be- tween I'ibet and the sniiounding countries, during the .short sunnner, when the mountain passes are open. Dur- ing the long, cold winter all trade is at a standstill, as for several months of the year Nature locks up this isolated country with a white, frosty key. If we entered Tibet by this western route, we should find ourselves as far from Lliasa, the capital, as St. Louis is from Philadelphia. Our journey eastward to the holy city takes us across a rain- less, treeless, desolate solitude given over almost entirely to wild beasts. We meet only a few wandering tribes, who live in these wastes and who change their encampment TIBET AND TURKESTAN 91 with the season in order to find food for their flocks and herds. Their tents are made of coarse yak-hair cloth. Here is a settlement just ahead of us. Be careful as you approach not to dismount until the people call off their dogs, which are barking furiously at us. These Mongolian Fig. 32. Wk gkt oi;k Fikst Gmmi-se of the Imiaiutams oi Tibet dogs are numerous in all the nomad camps ; they seem gentle enough with their owners, but are unfriendly to all strangers. A^ the people come out from their tents we get our first glimpse of the inhal^itants of Tibet. How queer they look ! The faces of the men are wrinkled and seamed from ex- posure to tlie cold iiiid dust and wind and the glare of tlie sunlight. Tlie women's faces are covered with a black, dirty grease which, if it is put on to preserve the 92 ASIA complexion, is worse than wrinkles and crow's-feet could possibly be. The nomads do not shake hands, but give us a cordial greeting by thrusting out their tongues full length and invite us to enter their tents. In spite of the dirt and the smells we are glad to see how they live, though one visit is quite enough. Around the tents are accumulations of dirt and refuse, and as we step inside, the odor of unwashed people, badly preserved skins, and stores of old cheese make us almost wish that we had refused the hospitable invitation. There are no tables or chairs, and we sit down on the skin-covered ground and lean back against tlie boxes which line the edge of the tent. Scattered around on the ground and hanging from the walls are pots and pans, water jars, and skins containing oatmeal or barley meal and butter. The butter is made from the milk of the yak, sheep, or goat, and is preserved in skuis for months and even years before it is considered fit to eat. A stove made of mud occupies the center of the tent, the smoke from which is supposed to go out through a crack overhead left for the purpose. Perhaps some does find its way out, but a great deal stays inside and covers the sides of the tent and everything in it MMth a coating of soot. Should you like to stay to dinner ? You might enjoy it once, l)ut I am sure that afterwards you would wish to carry your own provisions. In a brass kettle over the fire is some strong black tea to which a greasy-faced woman is adding some salt and some soda. She pours this mixture into a tall wooden churn something like those used years ago in New England. While she churns the tea vigor- ously the family sit down around the stove and each one TIBET AND TURKESTAN 93 takes from inside his loose gown a small wooden bowl. He fills this with tea, to which he adds some of the rancid butter. Before taking his first sip he mutters a short prayer, dips his fingers into the bowl, and sprinkles a few drops to the north, south, east, and west. These prepara- tions over, he proceeds to drink his tea with great relish, blowing aside the butter at every sip. When the bowl is nearly empty, he pro- duces from somewhere in the folds of his convenient gown a httle bag. From this he takes a handful of barley meal and puts it into the bowl. With his fingers he mixes it with the tea and butter until it forms a pasty ball, which he swallows at a gulp. He then laps the bowl clean and restores it to its place in his gown, where it remams until the next meal. Sometimes the food is varied by boil- ing with the tea small pieces of mutton or pork. After gnawmg the bones the tent dweller wipes the grease from his fingers either on his face or his boots, whichever one most needs lubricating. The Tibetan has no difficulty in keeping his meat from spoiling. After cleaning it he hangs it up in the dry, cold air out of reach of the dogs. The juices soon evaporate and the meat dries up and in this state will keep indefinitely. By the time dinner is over, the air in the tent has become so bad that we are glad to get out of doors and continue our journey through the country. The most traveled path Fig. 3.S. She pocks THE Tea into a Tall WoooEN Churn 94 ASIA into Tibt't is tht; famous tea route from China. By this route the Chinese lirst enteretl Tibet as concpierors, and over it to-day mt)re trade is earried on than on all of the other routes put to.s^ether. Over this highway thousands Fu;. 34. Moke than Three Thousand Two-Horse Teams would be REQUIRED to DRAW THE TeA WHICH IS CARRIED OVER THIS RoUTE Annually on the Backs of Coolies of Chinese coolies plod slowly along, carrying on their backs heavy loads of tea. This is shipped up the Yangtze River to a trading center at the head of navigation. From there it is taken by coolies who, with a load of two hun- dred pounds each, travel day after day along the narrow, uneven patli. On the border of Tibet the tea is transferred TIBET AND TURKESTAN 95 to the backs of yaks and ponies, and carried to Lhasa and other parts of the interior. By this slow means immense quantities of tea and other goods are taken every year from China to Tibet. More than tlnee thousand two-horse teams would be required to draw the tea which is carried over tliis route annually on the backs of coolies. Besides the tea, large quantities of cotton, silk, leather goods, sugar, tobacco, and hardware are carried ui the same slow way. In return for these goods the Tibetans bring to tlie borders of then- country for export yak hides and tails, skins of the lamb, fox, lynx, and leopard, musk, rhubarb, and salt. Let us follow the coolie procession which throngs this old highway into the eastern part of Tibet, where most of the towns are located and where the greater part of the people live. We shall stop for a while in one of the villages and visit the people who live on this lofty plateau. We may not wish to accept their hospitality, as their manner of life does not make a close acquaintance desirable. Perhaps if we lived in their country we might find their customs easier to follow than our own. In a re- gion where there are several degrees of frost even in the warmest months, where tlic skin chaps in the cold air, where there is no fuel except dried niiiiiine, where water is scarce and receptacles for holding it are few, probably we siioiilil iiot take any more baths or keep any cleaner than tlie Tibetans do. As we approach one of tlie houses in the village it seems as if we must be mistaken in regard to the cleanlhiess of the people, for we see what looks lik(^ a part of the family wash flying from the roof. Tliey are not garments, liow- ever, but pi-ayer flags. Tlie peojjle are very religious and 96 ASIA [)riiy a great deal, but they think tlieir prayers will be answered just as readily if printed on a flag and hung from their houses as if they spent their time m saying them. We shall liiul also hundreds of prayer wheels in our trip through the country. These are curious contrivances containing rolls of paper on wliicli prayers are printed. By turning a handle the paper roll is wound and unwound. These prayer wheels are of all sizes, from small ones easily carried in the hand to those as large as barrels and turned l)y wind or water. How queer the vil- lage looks with its roAvs of two-story, flat-roofed buildings made of stone or brick or mud. The first floor is occupied by the animals — the yaks, the sheep, and the goats. Steps on the outside take us up to the second story, where the family live. If we accept their invitation to dinner, we shall fare but little better than in the tent of the nomad in western Tibet. So, instead of eating, we will look around the village and see, if we can, what these people do all day and in the eve- nings. The only lights in the houses are furnished by a little twist of cotton or wool hi a dish of butter. Because of its age and unpleasant flavor you would probably like Fn.. .■>"). Tm; I'iiaykk Whkki.s contain Rolls ok 1'ai'kr on which Prayers ark printki) TIBET AND TURKESTAN 97 better to burn the butter than to eat it, but the Tibetans use large quantities of it in their food and cannot afford to spare much to light their houses ; so, as soon as it is dark, every one goes to bed. Most of the men of the village are away from home much of the time. Some of them are with the caravans, driving the yaks and ponies ; some of them are hunting the smaU deer from which musk, one of the important exports of Tibet, is obtained ; some of them spend their time in re- pairing guns and kettles, making and mending saddles and bridles, and doing other odd jobs. Women as well as men work on the little rocky farms, raising rhubarb to be sent over the long route to China, cultivating the stunted grain and the few vegetables that will grow in this bleak land, and watching and milking the flocks. Of all their animals the yak is the most common and the most valuable to the people. They drink its milk, eat its flesh, weave cloth of its hair, and load burdens on its back. It is a curious- looking animal, reminding one of a buffalo with skirts on, as its hair is so long and thick that it hangs nearly to the ground. In the summer the yaks, sheep, and goats must all be sheared, and the wool packed for export or cleaned and spun for weaving. In every house is a rude loom on which the women weave the coarse cloth which is used for tent coverings and for clothing. In all of the work which is carried on the women have an important place. They rule in the household, and theirs is the deciding voice in any buying or selling which is done. The boys and girls find plenty to do even if they have no schools to go to and no books to read. They fetch the water for cooking from the brook or well. Tliey blow the 98 ASIA lire with a lullows made of a goatskin aiul stir the I'cxxl boiling in tlir liivphice. The}' wander for hours over the plains and mountains, collecting fuel, for little wood is to he found on the high, dry plateaus of Tibet, and everythmg which will burn is used to feed the lire. When they are Fig. 36. Of All their Animals tiii; Yak is xiiji Most Commox and THE Most Valuable older they will watch the flocks and herds, milk the ani- mals, and dress skins. When the girls are quite young they learn to spin and weave, and the boys to ride and slioot. They have few games but find some time to race and slide, to practice throwmg stones at a target, and to cast the sling shot. Their fun soon ends, as when still TIBET AND TURKESTAK 99 very young they are obliged to join their parents in their hard fight for the necessities of life. The religion of Tibet might almost be classed among the occupations of the country, as nearly a fifth of the people are in some way connected with its observances. In every family one or more of the boys become priests, or lamas, as they are called. In traveling, one meets lamas every- where, and in the city of Lhasa alone there are more than twenty thousand. They live by themselves in communities called lamasaries, some of which are as large as small towns. The lamas are a burden to the country, as they are sup- ported entirely by the rest of the people, over whom they have a o-reat influence, much of it won through trickery and deceit. Education is wliolly in the hands of these priests, and as it is easy to deceive people who are ignorant, the lamas are careful to keep their followers in that condition. The Tibetans are followers of Buddha, and believe that the Grand Lama of Lhasa, the ruler of the country, is a god closely associated with Buddha himself. Consequently he is worshiped by all, and the place where he lives is very sacred in their eyes. This is the reason why Lhasa is re- garded with so much reverence by all Buddhists, in what- ever country of Asia they may live, and why thousands of them are willing to^make any sacrifice and undergo any hardship for the sake of once visiting it. From every town (»n the l)()rder of Tibet a road (if the narrow paths which serve as highways can be called such) leads to Lhasa. From every neighboring country a traveled route takes one to the sacred city. The Cinuid Lama, or the Dalai Lama, as lie is called, is usually a child or a young boy, and the governmeut is 100 ASIA really in tlic liaiuls of a Ixxly of men who use him and his influenct' for their own benetlt. He seldom reaches man- hood, but, just when he begins to have a mmd and a will of his own, usually disappears, and a new god, found by- some miraculous invention of the lamas among the chil- dren of Tibet, takes his place. Lhasa, the capital, is the center of interest in the coun- try. It lias often been called the Mysterious City, and for many years it was the goal of ambitious travelers, who in various disguises attempted to enter it. So watchful were the people, and so cruel were the punishments they inflicted on strangers, that up to tlie time of tlie English expedition from India in 1908 less than half a dozen white people had ever been witliin its walls. Now, however, travelers may visit the city, the sacred temple, and even the palace of the (rrand Lama. The mystery and the charm of the unknown have disappeared, leaving in their place a knowledge of the filth of the city and the ignorance of the people. We approach Lhasa through a pleasant country, where willows grow in green meadows beside clear flowing streams, where marshes, alive with wild ducks, and fields of oats and barley stretch away to the distant hills. When still a long distance from the city we can see glittering in the sunshine the great palace of the Grand Lama, which for more than a thousand years has marked the most sacred spot in eastern Asia. It is surrounded by fortifications, temples, and monasteries, and a fine avenue lined with trees leads from it through the city gates to the temple. This is the only decent street in Lhasa. All the others are narrow, dirty lanes in which pigs and dogs wander, searching for food in the piles of ill-smelling refuse. On either side stretch TIBET AND TURKESTAN 101 long rows of low houses built of brick or stone and covered with whitewash. On the inside, however, every- thing white has long since disappeared under smoke and dirt. In the center of Lhasa, surrounded by bazaars and shops, is the temple, the goal of thousands of Buddhist pilgrims. From all the buildings, shops, houses, and the temple itself waves a motley collection of prayer flags, giving to the city the appearance of having what it very much needs — a general wash-day. ]\Iany of the houses are brightened by a box of gay- colored marigolds and a song bird in a wicker cage. Here a baker is kneading his huge lumps of dough, unmindful of the dust which a heavily laden yak raises as he goes slowly by. Near the door of her low hut a woman is weaving a briffht-colored rug. In that dark little house an incense maker is fashioning for the temple worship some incense sticks which give a delicious odor that is very welcome after the noisome smells of the street. Farther down the lane a brass molder bends over his heated metal, and near by a smith toils at his forge. The manufactures of the city are few and unimportant and are confined to some common articles used by the people in their daily work. A country so bleak and barren, so difficult of approach, so sparsely populated, so lacking in agricultural wealtli, would seem of small importance, and you probably tliink that the great nations of the world are but little interested in Tibet and its people. In this you are mistaken, as England and Russia, two of the most powerful nations in Europe, are much interested, l)()tli in the com dry itself and in peering across it at cacli other. England, you remember, controls India on the southern border of Tibet, and to the 10-2 ASIA north lies tlie Russian territoiy. Because it lies between the possessions of these two important nations, Tibet is souK'tinies called a buffer state. Each of these ambitious cDUiitrics hiis for years kept a watchful eye upon the move- nu-nts of the other — the Enc^lish to see if the Russians make any southern step through Tibet toward their In- dian possessions, and the Russians to ascertain whether any northward advance of the English threatens theii inlhicnce in northern Asia. It was partly to make sure tliat the Tibetans made no treaties with Russia wliicli would give that nation a foot- hold farther south, and partly to develop trade in Tibet, that England sent the military expedition referred to from India into the hitherto forbidden land. With much diffi- culty the soldiers made their way through the mountain passes up to the high plateau and into the sacred city of Ivhasa. Ulie small company of English were far outnum- bered by the Tibetans who opposed them at every step, but the superior discipline and weapons of the invaders made their progress an easy matter. In Lhasa the government was forced at the pohit of the sword to sign a treaty of peace, if one can call it such. In this treaty the Tibetans were obliged to agree to destroy all their forts on the Indian frontier, to establish markets f(ir trade with India, and to pay the English government more than two milhon dollars; most important of all, they had to promise not to lease or sell or mortgage any of their territory to any other nation, not to make treaties, not to allow anyone to interfere in any way with the gov- ernment or to develop mines or l)nild railroads without the knowledge and advice of England. TIBET AND TURKESTAN 103 The English now feel safer about the northern border of their Indian possessions. Whether or not the Tibetans are satisfied, nobody seems to ask. Strong nations all over the world have always made treaties of peace with weaker ones in a similar fashion. Doubtless it is much better for the people of Tibet to be looked after by a progressive nation like England than to live as they have don-e heretofore, shut off by their mountain doors from the rest of the world. North of Tibet and separated from it by the lofty Kuenlun Mountains lies the Chinese province of Turke- stan, often called Eastern Turkestan to distinguish it from another province of the same name which lies to the west of the Tien Shan Mountains. Chinese Turkestan is larger than Tibet. If a map of it were laid on that of the United States, it would cover the states of Texas, Louisiana, Ari- zona, and New jNIexico. It is very thinly peopled, however, for it contains fewer inhabitants than the state of Louisiana alone. It is for the most part a dreary, barren land sur- rounded on three sides by mountains and merging on the east into the great Desert of Gobi. It is of little impor- tance save for the fact that it lies in the path of tlie trade routes between eastern and western Asia. Little or no rain falls in Turkestan, and the only farms lie in the valleys near the rivers, where water may be ob- tained for irrigation. Probably you have never even heard the names of tlicse rivers, whicli, because tliey make pos- sible the little life which is found in central Asia, are of tlie greatest importance. The Tarim liiver, about a thou- sand miles long, is tlie chief one of the region, and all the permanent cities and towns are situated on it or its branches. ]\lost of the people live in its valley, though 104 ASIA \vaii(lt'iiiii;- IrilK's, who dwell in tents and keep large flocks anil herds, ritani over the more desolate parts of the coun- try. In the summer some of tlie men drive the animals to the higher lands for pasturage while others remain in the oases to care for the little fields of grain and the patches of beans and melons. Their farming is (;arried on m the simplest fasliion, and their crops are scanty. At one end of the village stands the threshing floor, beaten hard by use. The farmer strews the ground thick with his sheaves of wheat or barley and then drives his oxen Ml- donkeys or per- haps a camel and a donkey round and round over the scat- tered crrain until © Underwood & Uiidtrwuud Fig. .37. The Farmkk drives his Oxen or Donkeys, or perhaps a Camel and a Don- key, OVER THE Scattered Grain they have broken the dry straw into bits. When a windy day comes, the men toss the grain high in the air and the chaff is blown to one side while the heavier grain falls to the ground in a pile by itself. This is used as a food for the people and in the winter for the horses and cattle, though during much of the year they have to forage for themselves. The sununers are hot and the dust blows in clouds; the winters are cold and the winds fierce. Living in the open in such a climate, the animals become hardy and tough. The horses are especially noted for their en- durance and their ability to get along with little food. TIBET AND TURKESTAN 106 As one travels over the desert these httle settlements, shaded by poplar and mulberry trees and surrounded by green fields, are very conspicuous against the brown, barren waste which stretches away on every side. There are not very many of them, however, and the dis- tances between them are so great that the people of the desert always ride on don- keys or ponies. Yaks are not used here, as they are unable to en- dure the summer heat, which at this lower level is much greater than in Tibet. Camels are used, especially in the winter, to make long trips across the desert, and donkey carts are common. You will be sur- prised to liiid large cities in such a land as this. Yarkand, witli nearly a hundred thousand people, Kashgar, with sixty or seventy thousand, and Khotan, with forty tliousand, are ini[)ortaut tradiug centers for merchants from C'liiua, India, I.okliara, and Russia. In eacli of these cities, after passing through tlie gate in the nmd wall, you will see dirty streets, low mud liouses, and crowded bazaars. © Underwood & Underwood Fig. 88. 'J'lii; Fau.mkr selects a Windy Day and tosses the Broken Straw High IN the Air 100 ASIA The sights on a market day are especially interesting, for then the people for miles around have ridden from the lililc farms nestling close to the life-giving stream to buy or sell or to enjoy the crowd. We see ponies everywhere, some Willi i)acks on tlu'ir backs and led by their owners, ©Underwood & Underwood Fk;. 39. On Market Day tiik People from the Little Farms for Miles a hound ride into the Bazaars who are clad in dirty sheepskin, and others ridden by wild-looking men with long, tangled hair and beards or l)y wonu-n wearing heavy fur hats or big white head- dresses. There are ponies harnessed to queer-looking wagons, while others with no burden to bear or load to draw are waitinor for new owners. TIBET AXD TUEKESTAN 107 Among the crowd you will see dark-skinned people from the southern borders of Turkestan carrying bags of musk, and sunburned men from distant oases sitting comfortably on mounds of sheepskins and goatskins piled high on the backs of patient donkeys. They will exchange these for cheap tea, bright-colored silks, and gayly figured cotton cloth brought by patient camels over the desert from the Far East. INIingling with the crowd and adding to the noise and confusion are water carriers, beggars, story-tellers, and jugglers. You can see the coppersmith hammering sheets of metal, saddlers working on great sides of leather, weavers making coarse carpets, and cooks stirring mutton puddings flavored with the dust of the street, while " the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker" ply their trades in the low open shops. TOPICS FOR STUDY 1. The divisions of the Chinese rejmblic. 2. Situation and size of Tibet. 3. Reasons for the isolation of tlie jieople. 4. Trade routes into Til)et. 5. Life in western Tibet. 6. Trade between China and Tiliet. 7. Life in eastern Tibet. 8. The religion of Tibet. 9. The city of Lhasa. 10. Interest of other nations in Tibet. 11. Situation of Chinese Turkestan. 12. Iiii])ortanfi' of the rivers of Turkestan. 13. Life in Turkestan. 14. Important cities of Turkestan. 108 ASIA II 1. On a iiia]i of Asia, sliow the five chief divisioiis of the Chinese republic. 2. Sketch a map of Tibet and Turkestan. Show the mountains dividing and surrounding them. Add the rivers, the chief trade routes from neighboring countries, and the cities spoken of in the chajitcr. 3. Wluit is meant by a buffer state? 4. Find in tlio encyclopedia what musk is and how it is obtained. Ill Be able to sjiell and pronounce the following names. Locate each place and tell what was said about it in this and in any previous chapter. China Mongolia Manchuria Russian Tui'kestan Cliinese Turkestan Tibet Kashmir Bokhara Russia England India Lhasa Yarkand Khotan Kashgar Leh Mekka Jerusalem St. Louis Philadelphia Yangtze River Tarim River Yarkand River Kueidun ^lountains Tien Shau Mountains CHAPTER VI AMONG THE MONGOLS For our next visit let us go to Mongolia, which lies to tlie north of China. ^Mongolia is nearly as large as Cliina itself, but it is as different as it can possibly be. China is fertile, covered with farms, and crowded with people ; Mon- golia is barren and has scattered farms and a sparse popula- tion. We shall find the INIongols very interesting, however, and a visit to their country will more than repay us for the difficulty of getting there. Our best way of entering ]\Iongolia is from Pekmg over the great trade route which leads from China to Siberia. What will you choose for your conveyance ? You can go, if you like, in a chair or a sort of curtained box with long shafts at either end, somewhat like the one shown in Fig. 40, carried by coolies or mules. The road is only a rough path full of deep ruts and holes, and you will find that at times one of your mules is deep in a mudliole while the other is scrambling over large bowlders, and the litter, with you inside, is tipping at a dangerous angle. No railroad penetrates this desolate northern region, and no carriage could be drawn there, but if you prefer, you can ride on the back of a donkey or you can join a camel cara- van. You ^ill hav(; no difficulty in finding one, for outside the walls of Peking tlu!re are hundreds of camels waiting to start on their long trip. ]0() 110 ASIA The roek-stivwu, uiievt.'U putli wliicli we must follow is one of the most important highways of all Asia, and for centuries lias been tiavelcd by mnlcs and donkeys, camels )T'nderwood & T'ndem-ood Fig. 40. Yoc can ridk in a Chair or Sort of Curtained Box CARRIED HY COOLIES OR MuLES and coolies. ^Millions of dollars' worth of tea, sugar, tobacco, cotton, and silks are carried northward over it annually, and loads of furs and skins, soda, salt, and lumber are AMONG THE MONGOLS 111 brought by this route to Peking. We shall not find the trip a lonely one, for ahead of us and behind us there are long lines of camels swinging silently along. We halt for a time at Kalgan, a busy, crowded place where hundreds of camels are resting before continuing their long journey, and where nearly all of the people are connected in some way with the caravan trade wliich passes through it. On the narrow, uneven streets we meet, coming from the north, long trains of camel carts filled with soda. We see Fig. 41. We meet Long Trains of Camel Carts filled with Soda also heavy oxcarts piled high with skins or carrying heavy loads of lumber. They are driven by ISIongols in dirty sheepskins, who will exchange their loads for food, cloth, cooking utensils, or perhaps for a new saddle. iSlany peo- ple from the surrounding country have come in on horse- back, and after fastening their purchases upon the backs of their shaggy ponies they mount also and ride away. Kalgan is just iiisidr the Great Wall which the Chinese people l)uilt ccntvu-i(!S ago to keep out th(^ fien^e tribes of the nortli, among them these very Mongols into whose 112 ASIA country we are goiiirr. There are walled cities in many j)arts of the world, but who ever heard of a ruler who, in order to keep his enemies out, built a wall around his empire ? Vet the Great Wall extends along the whole northern border of Chma for more than fifteen hundred miles. It climbs the tops of the highest mountains and dips down into the deepest valleys. It averages more than Fig. 42. The Great Wall extends along the Whole Northern Border of China twenty feet high and twenty feet thick, and at mtervals of a few hundred feet it is surmounted by towers fifty feet high, where watchmen were stationed. Can you imagine the thousands of poor Chinese coolies who toiled and suffered and died while the great structure was building ? Can you picture the tall towers filled with archers, and the arrows from the twanging bows flying at the hordes of northern tribes as they struggled for entrance AMONG THE MONGOLS 113 into the southern kmgclom ? The Great Wall and the Grand Canal of China are two of the wonders of the world. They tell, perhaps more plainly than any other relics, of the strength and development of the Chinese Empire when European nations were barbarians and when America was yet undiscovered. Passing northward through a gate in the Great Wall, we find ourselves in Mongolian territory. For some distance the country appears much like northern China, fertile, well wooded, and hilly. As we go farther north the farms grow more and more scattered and the people fewer, until, when three days' journey by camel caravan from Peking, we find ourselves on the edge of the Desert of Gobi, which occupies a large part of Mongolia. Perhaps no greater contrast can be imagined than the busy, noisy, crowded. capital of China which we have left behind and the dreary, empty, silent land before us. The Desert of Gobi is one of the most desolate areas in the whole world. It is a part of an immense barren area which extends through the Eastern Hemisphere from the Atlantic border of the Sahara desert in Africa over the sands of Arabia, Persia, Turkestan, and Mongolia nearly to the Pacific Ocean. The winter winds from the northwest de- posit their moisture on the northern and western slopes of the high mountain ranges which border these sandy wastes on the north ; the sunnner monsoon winds from the south and east leave their life-giving drops on the seaward slopes of the highlands south of the desert. As a result of this lack of rainfall there is no settled fife in Gobi. Wandering tribes with their flocks and herds dwell in the oases, but in the greater part of its vast area there is no water, plant, 114 ASIA or man. Tlio fierce glare of tlir sunshine on the hot sand is iilniost intolerable ; the dust-laden wind sweeping down between the mountain ranges cuts the face like a knife ; the bare hills, the empty watercourses, and the skulking wolves make the region a forbidding one; and, with the exception of tlie caravans which cross it, its solitudes are broken oidy by the few miserable tribes who live there. Swaying on our camels, with our faces protected from the fierce wind, we make our way northward for six hun- dred miles, until at last we arrive at Urga, a center of the caravan trade between China and Siberia. Motor cars now run in the sunmier montlis between Kalgan and Urga, the trip taking four days. As we a[)proach Urga we see the h»w houses, the crowded streets, and the loaded wheelbar- ro\vs of the Chinese ; on the left is the Mongolian section, with temples, prayer flags, and curious prayer wheels at every corner. Between them, most conspicuous of all the buildings in the city, stands the Eussian consulate. The Russians control the caravan trade to Siberia, and many Russian merchants live in Urga. Plere the tired camels, dropping their loads of tea, cotton, sugar, tobacco, leather goods, and iron and copper utensils, ]-est for a time and then reload with hides and skins, lumber, soda, and salt, and start back over the bleak j)lain on their weary home- ward journey. Others, laden with the products which have been brought from the south, go northward through the w^ooded hills and mountains which lie between Urga and the Siberian city of Kiakhta, two hundred miles away. If ^^•e wish to see the real Mongol and become acquainted with his life and habits, we must leave the trading centers and go out into the country. People traveling on long AMOXG THE MONGOLS 115 journeys in Mongolia often go on camels or in slow, lum- bering oxcarts, but as we are to make only a short trip, we will find it more convenient to go on horseback. Every- body rides in Mongolia — rich and poor, men, women, and children. As the little settlements are separated by miles of desert waste, no one ever thinks of walking. Fig. 43. In Urga wk ske the jieaviev Laden WiiEKi.iiAUKows OK THE Chinese Only those people who live in the few cities have settled homes. Most of the Mongols camp for the winter in some spot where water can be obtained, and during the sunnner move from place to place to find pasturage for their flocks and herds. The women and some of the men remain at the camp to care for the few crops — the grain, l)eans, and melons — which are raised there during the warm months. 116 ASIA As lohbpi-s are not uncommon, we must have a guard for our trip through MongoHa; we shall need a guide also, as we shall be unable to lind our way through the trackless open country. We may journey for hours without seeing any sign of life. In the distance we may perhaps catch a glimpse of a flock of sheep on the hillside or a herd of deer brt)\vsing in a green valley. AVe may chance upon a drove of wild liorses which, startled at our approach, gallop off across the plains with flying manes and tails. We may meet a lama twirling his prayer wheel or telling his beads, for lamas, prayer wheels, and temples are as common m Mongolia as in Tibet. We shall be sure to see a drove of black pigs making a cloud of dust as they are hurried along to some trading center, and farther away, showing black against the clear sky, a long, silent caravan of tea-laden camels. Here is a Mongol camp ahead of us. Horses, sheep, and ofoats are feeding around the inclosure inside of which are tlie round black tents of the people. A number of dogs, barking furiously, rush out to meet us. They are as good as a doorbell, for here come the people aroused by the noise. How queer they look! The women and men dress very much alike, and it is hard to distinguish one from the other. Both wear loose trousers, high boots, and long coats which come nearly to the ground. The only difference in tlie costumes that we can see is that the robes of the men are belted in at the waist, while those of the women hang loose. Whenever they stoop down to milk, to tend the fire, or to do any other work, their cloaks drag in the dirt, and consequently they appear rather dirtier than the men, if such a thing is possible. In the winter all clothing is made AMONG THE MONGOLS 117 of sheepskin, as neither wadded cotton nor wool is suffi- ciently warm when the temperature runs from twenty to forty degrees below zero. Because of their own necessities, Mongols have learned to be very hospitable, and at their invitation we dismount from our horses. There are no inns in the country, and the homes are the only places of shelter for travelers, who are always warmly welcomed and given the best that the house Fig. 44. The Tents are Circular in Shape affords, though to our Western eyes the best is exceedingly poor. We are curious to see the inside of a Mongol's tent, but we must pay for our curiosity by enduring the bad air which greets us as we enter; iniwashed people, badly dressed skins, mangy dogs, newborn lambs and kids, and the contents of the kettle boiling over the fire make a com- bination of odors wliich it would be hard to e(pial. The tent is circular in shape and is made of a framework covered with a coarse, dark felt. It has a wooden floor ex- cept in the center, where a fire is burning directly under the smoke hole in the top of tlic tent. Some of the people are beginning to build houses heated by great brick stoves 118 ASIA such as are used in Kiissia, but most ot" the inhabitants still live in these cold, uncomfortable tents. We are invited to join the family circle, and we take our seats with the others on the edge of the floor, with our feet on the ground near the fire. The position is not uncomfortable, as we can lean back against the trunks and boxes in which the goods of the family are kept. The ]Mf)ngol has few clothes except w liat he has on, and few cooking utensils except those over Fig. 4.J. Tin-: Mon<.ol moves ofxkn the tire. He moves often, and all the goods which he cannot conveniently carry he buries in the ground, where they remain until he comes again to that place. The men of Mongolia, though good-natured and hospi- table, are not inclined to work very haid. Some of them are caravan drivers, some tend the flocks and herds, a few are away working in the salt mines and soda mines, and some spend their time in liunting and trapping in the parts of Mongolia which are far enough north to be included in the region where valuable fur-bearinsr animals live. AMONG THE MONGOLS 119 The Mongolian wonuui has a much harder hfe. Her bed is the farthest from the fire, where the cold creeps in under the edge of the tent ; her cover of felt is the thinnest and poorest ; her food is what remains in the kettle after the men's appetites are satisfied ; lier work begins in the morn- ing before the men are awake and ends late at night after the others are asleep. She prepares the food, milks the animals, dresses the skins, gathers the fuel, feeds the dogs, makes the clothing, brings the water, works in the fields, and rears her children. In the East women are not treated with the same respect as is shown to them in the Western Avorld. All this nuist be changed before these nations can progress very far on the i-oad to civilization. TOPICS FOR STUDY T 1. Transportation in Mongolia. 2. Trade route from Cliina to Siberia. 3. Description of Kalgau. 4. The Great Wall of China. 5. The Desert of Gobi. 6. Descrii)tion of Urga. 7. Life in ]\Iougolia. 11 1. Skt'tcli a map of Mongolia and tlie surrounding countries. Show on it the Desert of fiohi, the (ireat Wall of Cliina, the trade TonUi from Peking to Kiakhta, and tlie imi)ortant trading centers. 2. Name as many differences as you can ))ct\veen Cliina and Mongolia. 3. What arc monsoon winds? How do th.y Mow? W'liat are their effects on the countries over wliidi liny tilow? 120 ASIA 4. ( )ii ii iiiiiji of the Eastern Hemisphere show the desert strip ex- teudiug tliruugli Africa and Asia to the Pacific Ocean. Write the .names of the countries included in it. 5. I'se tlie se-dhi of \a>"i' map and measure tlie distance from Peking to Kiakhta. Compare it witli some distance in the United States. Ill Be abh' to s])ell and pronounce the following names. Locate each place and tell wliat is said of it in this and in any jn-evious chapter. Cliiiia Sahara desert United vStates Atlantic Ocean Siberia Pacific Ocean Arabia Kalgan Persia Urga Turkestan Kiakhta Desert of (iobi Peking CHAPTER VII MANCHURIA, GIANT RUSSIA, AND LITTLE JAPAN In the northeastern part of the Chinese repubUc is the province of Manchuria. We shall find a visit to this land, tlie origmal home of the Manchus, an interesting one, as the country is very different from the dreary Mongolian plain which we have just left. In past years no part of Asia has been more talked of, more overrun with soldiers of different nations, or more changed in many ways than Manchuria. Perhaps it is because of its position at the meeting place of Russia, China, and Japan that it has been so much involved in the quarrels of these countries. Russia is so closely connected with these troubles that in order to understand them we must know something of her history and ambitions. Centuries ago Russia was not the great nation that she is to-day, with a vast territory stretching from the Baltic Sea in Europe to the Pacific Ocean on the eastern border of Asia. At that time the frozen Arctic was her only water front; the Swedes held tlic laud between her and the Baltic Sea, and the Turkish possessions, much larger than they are at the present time, included the northern shores of the Black Sea. Knowing that a people can never become a great com- mercial nation without easy access to the ocean, Peter tlie Great and other rulers gradually enlarged their territory 121 122 ASIA until the Black and Baltic seas washed Russian soil and the cities on these waters became Russian seaports. As the great empire slowly developed, each ruler realized more clearly than the one before him the advantage of having seaports on the open ocean instead of on inland seas whose narrow entrances were controlled by other nations. The Danish city of Copenhagen lies at the mouth of the Baltic Sea, and Constantinople, long under Turkish control, guards the entrance of the Black Sea. Russia might easily have conquered these weaker countries and obtained pos- session of these important strongholds if other European nations had been willing ; l^nt the Great Powers preferred that a great nation like Russia should not have the entire control of these two great inland seas and thus be able to develop her own commerce and her own interests at the expense of other peoples. When it became known that large parts of Siberia were fertile, that the mountains abounded in minerals, and that the forests and furs might become sources of immense wealth, Russia turned her attention to eastern waters and connected them with her western cities by the Trans- Siberian Railroad. Vladivostok, the most southern city in Siberia possessed of a good harbor, was made the ter- minus of the railroad. Unfortunately its harbor is ice- bound during the winter, and commerce is thus hampered as in Riga and Petrograd. Still intent on her purpose of obtaining an ice-free port on water which she might control, Russia asked, or rather forced, permission from China to build a railroad branching southward at Harbin from her main Siberian line (see map opposite page 142_). It passes through Manchuria and ends MANCHURIA 123 at Dairen on the southern end of the Liaotung peninsula. You will find these places given on the map opposite page 9, and you can understand that this southerly ice- free outlet was an immense advantage to Russia in her trade and commerce. "With the railroad to help her, and with other privileges hi industries and commerce which Chma was forced to yield her, there was little doubt that, had not another nation become mterested in the matter, Manchuria, like so many parts of Central Asia of which 3'ou will read later, might sooner or later have become a part of the great Russian Empire. Bordermg ^Manchuria on the south lies Korea, a country larger than the state of Minnesota, with valuable forests, stores of minerals, and much fertile land, and with ports even farther south than those of ^Manchuria. Very quietly, and with few people realizing what was going on, Russia obtamed from the Korean government certain important luml^er privileges. She sent hundreds of Russian peasants into the deep Korean forests, and built on the Yalu River, the boundary between Manchuria and Korea, one of the largest saw-mills in the world. Then what was more natu- ral than for Russia to order her soldiers into Korea, to protect her lumbermen who were living there ? Although by til is time the nations of tlie woild rcalizccl tiiat this was only another southward step of the great Russian bear toward better harbors and warmer Avaters, none of them interfered and things went (^[uietly on. Little Japan ob- jected very earnestly to this IJiissian cntraiict' inlo Ivorea, but no one [)aid nuich attention to licr — least of all, liussia, for what could a little nation like Japan, occupying an 124 ASIA area about that of California, do against an empire nearly three times iis large as the United States? But, you ask, why should Japan object? To answer that question let us drop tlie story of Russia for a time and see what Japan has been doing all the time while the Russian bear has been creeping closer and closer to her Island Empire. Japan was about the size of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, yet her population was more than half that of the entire United States. INIore territory and greater op[)or- tunities in neighboring countries to increase her trade were absolutely necessary to her in her future development. Korea was long a buffer state between China and Japan, ruled sometimes by one country and sometimes by the other. The two nations had made a treaty concerning Korea, in which it was agreed that it sliould remain independent, that both China and Japan should have certain commercial privileges there, but that neither should send armed troops into the country without notifying the other. In 1894 China violated this treaty, and Japan immediately made war upon the country nearly thirty times as large as her- self. The world held its breath at the sight, most people expecting to see the little Island Empire crushed by the Chinese, but to their astonishment Japan won every victory, and, at the close of the war, which lasted between one and two years, was able to make terms favorable to herself in the treaty of peace. According to this treaty Korea was to remain independ- ent ; China was to pay Japan a large sum of money, was to cede to her the island of Formosa, was to keep her hands off Korea, and, more important than all, was to give to her MANCHURIA 125 the Liaotung peninsula in southern Manchuria, with full control of its seaports. By this treaty Japan gained what she had so earnestly desired — room for her crowded em- pire to expand and ports through which she might foster her trade with the interior of the contment. You can imagine Russia's dismay when slie learned that the Manchurian ports, which she had had in mind all the time that she was building her railroad, were now to belong to Japan. Russia realized that if Japan held Manchuria, her own southward progress toward ice-free ports was checked. She would not willingly give up this great pro- ject of hers and all that she might gain by her railroad to Dairen. What to do was the question. England was a friend of Japan, and though Russia was willmg enough to fight Japan alone, she dared not take any steps which would bring on trouble in Europe between herself and the British. So she went to work in another way. What she whispered in the ears of France and Germany was some- thing like the bargain of the small boy who says, " Give me a bite of your apple and I will give you some of my candy." Together the three great powers sent a courteous note to Japan, which said in effect that it would not be best for the peace of the continent that an island nation like Ja[)an should control a part of the mainland ; that Korea miglit be independent, as had been planned in the treaty ; that Japan might have the money which China was to pay her, and that she might keep the island of Formosa; but that she could not have any part of Manchuria and must with- draw from that country directly. Japan, thus robbed of the best fruits of her victory in the war, had to say, " All right." What else could she d(j ? England did not come to her J 2() ASIA assistance, and of course it was useless for her, weakened as sIr' was by the wdr with China, to think at that time of fighting those three strong nations, or indeed any one of them ; so she with(h-ew her sokhers from Manchuria. Quietly she strengtliciu'tl licr army and navy, and she watched — oh, so carefully — i'\ery move of the Russians. She saw them crt'oping southward on the raihoad from Harbin; she saw tlicin l)iiilding tlie city of Dairen ; she saAV their hiiiil)ermen cross the Yahi Kiver into Korea, and she saw the soldiers follow. She had held her peace while ]\Ianchuria became more and more controlled by the Russians, but Korea — the country about Avhich she had fought with China, the pt'uinsula which almost touched lier own shores, the land wliich, if properly developed, might serve as a successful buffer state between lu'r and the continental nations — Korea should never belong to Russia ; Japan would make it a part of her owii empire first. And so when, in 1904, the Russian soldiers crossed the Yalu River into Korea, the little island country sent a message to the Russian government, " Take your soldiers out of Korea or light." A tremendous challenge, was it not, from a dwarf to a giant ? Again the eyes of the world Avere turned to the East in amazement at what seemed to be such an unequal struggle, for in this case Japan was fighting against an empire fifty times as large as her own. Russia, however, fiiught under a great handicap because of her distance from home, and after months of warfare the Japanese gamed the advantage, though neither side was willing to give up the struggle. President Roosevelt used his influence for peace, with the result that the war came to an end and tlie treaty of peace was signed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. MANCHURIA 127 By this treaty Japan was allowed to control the Liaotung peninsula, and all the rest of Manchuria was restored to China. Russia agreed to withdraw from Korea and not to interfere with anything that Japan might do there, and the enterprising Japanese soon set about improving and de- veloping the land which was now a part of their empire. Many people think tliat liussia lias not yet given up her quest for ice-free seaports, even though it seems at the present time that they will not lie on the Pacific Ocean. The Caspian Sea, which is entirely controlled by Russia, is only five or six hundred miles from the Persian Gulf, and in the chapter on Persia we shall see what Russia has done in that part of the world. Now let us take a short journey into jSIanchuria and see what kind of region this disputed province, once and a half the size of Texas, really is. It contains splendid forests which for many years will supply immense quantities of building material; in these forests live many fur-bearing animals — the sable, squhrel, otter, wolf, fox, and bear; the rivers and coast waters teem with fish, and on the grassy hillsides many thousand cattle, horses, sheep, and goats can find pasturage ; in the fertile valleys is some of the finest agricultural land in the world, waiting only for the farmer's hand to make it produce wonderful crops. On the northern border of Manchuria flows the Amur Iviver, a waterway about as long as our own great Missis- sippi, and naviga])le from May to October. Through the country flow the Sungari and the Liao rivers, both mivigable during the warm months and draining rich farming lands. ( )n the coast are cities with good harbors — Newchwang, Dairen, and I'ort Arthur, the two ]att(!r icc-fi'cc (birin;^ the 128 ASIA entire j'ear. Not much more than a fifth of Manchuria is at present under cultivation, and on her undeveloped land there is room for thousands of colonists. To the south, China and India, crowded with millions of people, are de- manding in greater quantities each year the grains which Manchuria can supply. Across the Pacific Ocean our great © Underwood & Underwood Fig. 4G. In tiii; Vai.i.kys of Manchuria is some of the Finest Agricultural Land in the World Western cities are ready to furnish farming tools, machinery, and clothing materials which for many years Manchuria must import. It is no wonder that Russia desired to pos- sess such a fertile region. It is no wonder that Japan also wished to control the ports and increase her trade with the land so near her, which in the future may become the greatest wheat producer, the largest lumber yard, and the richest gold-mining center of eastern Asia. MANCHURIA 129 Our easiest method of travel tlirough Manchuria is by train. A raih-oad follows the Liao River valley, the most densely populated and best-cultivated part of the country. We will start from Port Arthur, the Gibraltar of the East. This city and its fortress, situated at the extreme southern end of the Liaotung peninsula, is the place so long defended by the Russians and at last so bravely taken by the Japanese. Surrounded by a circle of hills and pos- sessed of a fine harbor with a narrow, well-protected mouth, Port Arthur is splendidly situated to guard the approach to Manchuria from the south. It is hard to tell, from the appearance of the city, in what country we are. Everything in the Russian quarter is just like Russia, m the Japanese portion like Japan, and in the Chmese settlement like Chma. We can ride in a man-drawn Japanese jinrikisha, a Russian drosky, or a Chinese cart. As our time is limited, we will use none of these convey- ances but w^ill start northward in a train drawn by a loco- motive made in Philadelphia. Did you ever hear of a made-to-order city? Forty miles northeast of Port Arthur is Dairen, a fine city with broad streets, great warehouses, imposing public buildings, and many modern conveniences. Yet at the beginning of this century the city of Dairen did not exist. The Russians, when searching for an ice-free port which should also be the southern terminus of the greatest railroad in the world, selected this spot in Manchuria, and a small army of Russian workmen, by command of the czar, Nicholas II, began the work of creating a city, just as Russian laborers in tlie early part of the eighteenth century, at the direction of Peter the Great, built St. Petersburg (now Petrograd). 130 ASIA I )air('ii lias a splendid liaihor \\(dl c'(|uipped with all mod- ern couvt'iiii'iici'S lor carrying on connnerco and large and ck'fp enough to at'eonnnodate ocean steamers. It has already become an important commercial port and is destined for ) ITiulerwood & Underwood Fig. 47. At tiik IJictiiXNiNf; of This Century Daikkn did not exist greater things in the future, as Newchwang, the other chief seaport of Manchuria, two liundred miles farther north, is closed by ice for four months of the year. It is the Japanese, however, who are controlling much of the commerce which Russia fondly imagined would pass through her hands. MANCHURIA 131 Our ride through southern Manchuria takes us through a country very smiilar to northern Chma. We see the fields of millet, the rows of poplar trees, and the crowded villages with narrow streets and small houses inhabited by ignorant, Fig. 48. Roati-.Makin'; i^ I nknown in Ai am riri;i a liard-working people — all very similar to the fields, vil- lages, streets, and houses of the more southern regions. When we see the roads, or the gullied, stony paths which pass as such, we are glad tliat we decided to travel by train. Road-makiiig is unknown in Maneliuria. In summer. 132 ASIA the season wlieii the country receives most of its rain, the highways are so muddy as to be impassable. Most of the tralHc is carried on in the winter, when the ground is frozen and when the chimsy, lieavily loaded teams can take a direct lint' across the liclds without injuring the crops. W'l' will stop for a little while at Newchwang, which, though icebound for three or four months of the year, is one of the chief ports of Manchuria. Down the Liao River, and on the railroad which follows its valley, pours the wealth of Manchurian farms. A forest of junks lies in the ri\'er, and the scenes on the banks show the bustle, confu- s'um, and noise whicli are always found where crowds of Chinese work together. Newchwang does not impress us as a very beautiful or a very interesting place. It is surrounded by dreary, flat marshes on which the making of salt from sea water is the chief occupation. See those large buildmgs dowii by the river. Those are bean factories, where bean oil and bean cake are made. The Manchurians must like "bean porridge hot, bean porridge cold, and bean porridge in the pot nine days old." Beans of all colors and sizes are raised and eaten everywhere in the country. They are dried and pickled and boiled ; they are made into flour, into a paste some- thing like macaroni, and into bean curd, a favorite dish with most of the people. Beans are also pressed for the oil which they contain, and this is used for cooking and light- ing ; the cake which is left is not wasted, but serves as a cattle food and fertilizer. If we could examme the cargoes of the junks in the river and of the steamers which lie in the harbor bound for Japan, England, and the United States, we should find some bean product on every one. MANCHURIA 133 Not all the beans raised iii Manchuria or the products obtained from them are shipped from the southern ports of Dairen and Newchwang. The output of the more northern farms is sent out of the country by rail to Vladivostok, the ter- minus of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and thence across the Japan Sea to Japan, where large quantities of beans are used. Fig. 49. liEANs, Bean C akk, and Bean Oil are shipped from Manchuria in Great Quantities Look at that line of carts piled high with dried millet stalks. This is the chief fuel of Newchwang. It is mucli cheaper than wood and does very well for the little lire which the people use for their cooking. There come some coolies, each with a jiile of small, dark skins on his l)a<'k. 'I'Ih'V have come from the dog and goat farms in the northern paits of Manclmria, where the 134 ASIA aiiiiuals are raised as sheep and cattle are, and are killed in the winter when the fur is heavy. The skins are l)r()ught in carts over the frozen lields to Mukden, Kirin, and smaller tradmg centers, where they are dressed. They are then shipped down the river to Newchwang, whence they are sent to other countries to be made into mats and coats. Pig. 50. Like the Cities of China, Mukden has its Low Houses, ITS Dirt, and its Smells Uke the walled cities of China, Mukden has its gates, its low houses, its dirt, and its smells. It is a busy city at all times, but there is more traffic in whiter than in summer. To be sure, the winters are cold (the temperature often falling more than twenty degrees below zero), but neither the fur-clad people nor the shaggy ponies which live out of doors in all kmds of weather seem to mind it. MANCHUKIA 135 Mukden is an important i'ur-diessing center, not only for the skins from the dog and goat farms but for the more valuable furs for which Manchuria and Siberia are noted. Many fur-bearing animals, such as the sable, fox, squirrel, otter, and bear, live in the deep forests, and hundreds of men hnd employment in trapping them during the long winter months. Other parts of annuals besides the skins are often usefuL The horns and hoofs of the deer are dried and then ground into a powder, which is used in China as a medicine. Some of the native Chinese druggists carry a queer stock in trade. H you were sick, you might not object to a dose of rhubarb, wliich is a favorite remedy, but how would you like to take some ground tiger-liones or powdered deerhorns ? On account of the bad condition of the roads it would not be easy to travel through Manchuria in the summer. If we did, we should meet few teams aiul few people. During the warm season the people work on their little farms and do not try to carry their produce to the large centers until the frost makes the nuuldy roads passable and turns the river hito a broad, smooth highway. In the winter we should meet around Mukden hundreds of carts loaded with grain, fur, lumber, and meat, 'i'hese goods are stored in the city until the river opens in the spring. Then fleets of junks loaded with cotton goods, keioscnc, tools, matches, silk, and tobacco come upstream and, after dis- charging their loads at the different river polls, turn south- ward, laden with the products of Manehurian farms. Here comes a sleigh which looks like a raft on luiniers. It is filled with straw covered with a heavy ox -skin rug, on wliicli the driver is sitting so wrapped in furs that all we l;JG ASIA can set' of liiiii is his eyes. See that line of heavy carts (haw n by eight shaggy little horses pulling with might and main, and tilled to the brim with beans which have come many miles across the frozen country. The carts are so rough and loosely made that we wonder wliy the beans do not shake out through the cracks in the sides and floor, until we sec that they are lined with coarse mats made of millet straw. It would be as hard for the Manchurian to do without millet as for the -Japanese to get along without band)oo. It is the staple food both of the animals and of the people. The straw is used for fuel, for fences, for coarse mats, and, plastered with mud, for the walls of houses. I'he heads of millet are tied together and used for brooms. In the spring the roots are plowed up and used for fuel. In our trip through the country we notice in every yard the stack of millet roots, just as in our own land we find the coal in the cellar or the woodpile in the shed. Do you hear that crack of a whip like a pistol shot ? What a grunting and squealing follows! It is only a boy just in from the country with a drove of hogs. The squeal- ing creatures till the street, so that we are forced to step into a doorway to give them room. Those teams waiting before that great building are filled with frozen pigs. Pork, you remember, is the favorite dish of the Chinese, and without it a feast is no more complete than our Thanksgiving dimier would be without the turkey. Many hogs are killed during the winter on the farms scattered through the country; these are brought in carts to the cities for distribution, and many more are driven in from the country in droves and slaughtered m the cities. MAXCHUEIA 137 Let us stop on our way north from Mukden for a glimpse into a JNIanchurian home and see how these farmers and drovers and carters live. The low stone or Vri-**^Sti^ (tD T'luliTwonil & Underwood Fk;. 51. Let us stop fok a Pkep into a Manchukian Home mud Vjuildings do not look attractive on the outside, and as we enter, the inside appears less so. If we wore to stay all night, we should have to sleep on that lnw l)ri(k j)lat- form. The only covering is a dirty icM quilt, whi("h is already so thickly inliabited that we should get very little 188 ASIA rest. Even in tlic coldest weatlier we should probably be warm enough, at least during the early i)art of the night, as there are little flues under the bed which are heated from the fire of millet straw. The bed is very warm when the tire is Inirning, l)ut cools off quickly as it dies down. Unless we know how to eat with chop- sticks, we shall not accept their invitation to dinner, as chop- sticks are used by the Chinese in Manchuria just as they are by tlieir relatives farther south. You may not care for the food which is offered. It is millet flour boiled in water until it forms a kind of mush, and then mixed with some vegetable or l)it of chopped meat. Tea is always served, but even if 3'ou like tea as we drink it in our country, you will not like the brick tea which is used in Manchuria. There are few men at honic in the winter. Some are away in the deep woods hunting and trapping, some are lumberuig, and some are gone with the carts of beans to the nearest river port. The women tend the animals, get the food, make the straw mats, and reel the silk from the cocoons. You are surprised, are you not, to fuid silkworms ©Keystone View Co. Fir.. 52. Chopsticks are used in Manciuuia MANCHUEIA 139 in a country so far north as Manchuria ? They are raised here in immense numbers, and silk is the most vahiable of all the animal products. The worms feed on the leaves of the oak tree, and the threads which they spin are very strong but not so round and smooth as those spun by the mulberry-fed worms. This unevenness accounts for the roughness of the pongee which is made from this so-called wild silk. Harbm, nearly six hundred miles north of Dairen, con- sists of three distinct parts : the old Chinese city remains just as it was before the invasion of the Russians, the com- mercial port is on the bank of the Sungari River, while between the two, at the junction of the main line of the Trans-Siberian Railroad and the branch running southward to Dairen, lies the newer Russian section. The city has direct railroad connection with Dairen and Xev/chwanof, the southern outlets of Manchuria, with A'ladivostok, the eastern terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and, by means of this railroad, with the great centers of Europe. Although they are frozen nearly half the year, the Amur River and the Sungari, on which Harbin is situated, furnish during the remaining montlis clieap Avater transportation for (juantities of lumber, grain, clothing, boots and shoes, furs, and ore. ^Mountains i-ise to the east and west of the city, and the valley between is covered f(tr miles with end- less fields of wheat and millet. A field of giant millet is a wonderful sight; it stands, a sea of waving green, from twelve to fifteen feet high. In September, wlien nearly i-ipc, the heads turn to a purplisli-browii color and droop slightly as if weary of carrying longer the line large golden kernels which form the chief food of the people. 140 ASIA The plains of Manchuria make ideal wheat fields, and the flour-mills of Harbin are e(juipped with modern machinery. In ilif t'liturc, flour will be one of the most important prod- uct's of jManchnria, and Harbin will be the center of the output, as Minnoa[)olis is in the United States. Down by the river, beside the flour-mills, we pass many saw-mills, where the whizzing saws are continually scream- ing for more lumber. In warm weather the river is crowded with junks loaded with grain, timber, and firewood, and many coolies are busy on the wharves. We see lines of carts, just as numerous and just as roughly made as those at Newchwang, filled with beans, wheat, hogs, and skins. That is a queer-looking team standing near the carts at tlie railroad station. It is a little wooden house with a stove and chimney, set on wheels (in winter on runners) and draAATi by four wiry Mongolian horses. That is the stage- coach which runs between Harbin and a neiohborinof town. It would be fun to ride out into the country in such a curious conveyance, but many other lands are still waiting to be explored, so we will fasten our fur coats more closely about us and go for our next visit into Siberia, the coldest and tlu> largest country of Asia. MAKCHURIA 141 TOPICS FOR STUDY 1. Position of Manchuria. 2. Growth of the Russian Empire. 3. Russia in Manchuria and Korea. 4. The Chino-Japanese War. 5. The Russo-Japanese War. 6. Resources and productions of Manchuria. 7. Cities of Manchuria. 8. Traffic and transi^ortation. 9. Life in Manchuria. II 1. Make a list of all the cities spoken of in this chapter. Opposite the name of each one write the name of a European and of an American city in about the same latitude. 2. Compare the size of each city spoken of with some city in the United States or with your home city. 3. On an outline map of Asia show Manchuria and Korea. Indi- cate the railroads spoken of and the cities at the termini. 4. Write in a brief statement your opinion of Russia ; of China ; of Japan. 5. Ship a cargo of Manchurian beans to England. Name the shij)- ping and receiving ports and the waters sailed on. Use the scale and give a rough estimate of the distance between the two places. 6. Compare the length of the voyage in question 5 with its length if made by way of the Panama Canal. 7. Fill in these elliptical sentences : a. Manchuria touches and ; its shores touch the Sea. b. Some important cities of Manchuria are , , and . and Uj - c. Some im])ortant j)r()ducts of Manchuria are (I. A branch of the Trans-Siberian liuilroud iiins from 142 ASIA each 1 chai>ti III aMc to s])fll and jiroiioiuico the followint^ names. Locate ihice and ti'll what was said of it in this and in any previous Manchuria JNIongolia Korea Siberia China .lajian IVrsia India Russia Enghiud Germany France Formosa Liaotun^' jn'iiinsuhx (iil)raUar JMinnesota California Baltic Sea Black Sea Caspian Sea Persian (liilf Yalu llivcr Sungari River Amur River Liao River Port Arthur Newcliwang Mukden Harbin I)aii"en Vladivostok Peking Copenhagen Constantino] )le Riga Pftrograd JMinncapolis Philadelphia Portsmouth CHAPTER VIII A TRIP OX THE TRAXS-SIBERIAX RAILROAD Let us take a trip on the longest railway in the world. It stretches eastward from Moscow over the Ural Moun- tains and thence entu-ely across the largest country of Asia to the Pacific Ocean. This ribbon of steel would reach from San Francisco across the United States and nearly to Liver- pool. That part of it east of the L^ral ]\Iountains, known as the Trans-Siberian Railroad, if laid on the map of North America, would reach from the Gulf of Mexico to within a short distance of the North Pole. What an immense country Siberia must be to contain such a railroad ! If on a map of Siberia you placed a map of the United States, so wide a margin would be left around it that you would have nearly room enough for all the countries of Europe except Russia. Surely a country so large and so far distant nuist be an interesting one to visit. Starting from the beautiful stone station in Moscow, the first part of our trip will take us across the Russian plains and over the I'ral Mountains. These are scarcely more than high hills, and the very highest is lower than Mt. Washington. Most of Russia is a vast plain which, tliough very useful for agriculture, is almost entirely lack- ing in mineral wealth. This the Ural Mountains possess in great quantities. A large part of the world's supply of platinum comes from the Urals, and they furnish also nmch 143 144 ASIA of the iron used in Russia. Gold and precious stones are found in abundance. There are sappliires, emeralds, to- pazes, amethysts, garnets, and many others, to say nothing of rich stores of gleammg porphyry, beautiful jasper, and great slabs of malachite in every shade and tint of green. On the summit of the pass over the Urals we see by the side of the railroad a stone monument with the word Europe on its western face and Asia on its eastern side. This Fk;. 53. Our First Stop in Asia is at Ciielyabixsk small cohimn in the heart of the mountains is the boundary stone between the two continents, and as we pass it we know that our Siberian trip has really begun. Our first stop in Asia is at Chelyabinsk. This town with the long Russian name is the gate through which the railroad enters Siberia. For a hundred years millions of Russians have passed this way on their long eastern journey, and to-day thousands stop here before going farther into the new land. Can you imagine a prison larger than the whole United States ? That is what Siberia used to be. Thieves and SIBERIA 145 murderers, people whom the Russian government feared might incite the people to rebellion, drunkards and vaga- bonds whom village councils were unwilling should remaui longer in the community, were sentenced to Siberia, some for life and some for a certain number of years. At the end of their sentences some of the exiles returned to their homes in Russia, while others, seeing how fertile the land was and how prosperous its people were likely to become, settled in Siberia. The families of the convicts often went with them into exile, and many of the present inhabitants of the country are their descendants. These prisoners and their families were taken to Chelya- binsk and from there distributed under guard to different parts of the country. Russia to-day realizes the value of the immense territory of Siberia and is anxious to people it with more desirable citizens than the descendants of criminals, so she is encouraging emigration instead. Some of her worst offenders have been sent to the island of Sa- khalin on the far eastern coast of Asia. This island is rather smaller than the state of Maine, and so few people live in it that the average is less than one to a square mile. It is a cold, bleak, foggy land with many mountains and dense forests. The native tribes live by hunting and fishing and by bartering furs. Snow falls in October and remains on the ground till May or June. Early in the winter the water separating the island from the mainland is frozen over, and tliere is no communication with tlie outside world except by a long, dangerous sledge ti'ip. Once or twice during the winter the mail is brought l)y sledge;, and a crowd, eager for home letters, await their arrival at the little post office, wiiif^h omplifisi/ps its rlistance from the homeland by a 14»; ASIA signpost which tells us th;it IV'trograd is 10,1H() versts away. A vorst is about two thirds of a uiilc, and 10,186 versts e(|ual nearly seven thousand miles. The people whom one sees to-day at Chelyabinsk are for the most part emigrants going to begin a new life iii Siberia. :-^^ -^i^ la Umlcrwood & liuki wood Fig. 54. Once ok Twice im ijinc; the Winter the Mail is bkought BY Sledge to Sakhalin In recent years hundreds of thousands of Russian peasants have settled m Siberia, and at one time the government did everything possible to encourage emigration and make it successful. The peasants were sent to the most fertile parts of the country ; they were given large areas of land on which they paid no taxes for some years ; and tliey were furnished, at very low prices and with long terms of credit, with seeds SIBEEIA 147 and tools, cattle and horses. The spring is the most favorable time for emigration, and during that season one might have seen in tlie large, bare-looking buildings near the station of Chelyabinsk hundreds of men, women, and children hud- dled together with their piles of bedding, cooking utensils, trunks, and boxes. Here they were examined, their land was Fig. 55. The People whom one sees To-day at Chelvabinsk ARE Emigrants allotted to them, and they were started on their eastern trip, which in some cases took months to complete. Some went by railroad, some by water, and some overland by the great post road which stretches entirely across Siberia. Tliose \\ho go by this slow method to the Amur valley in the eastern part of the country may be two or three years on their journey. They stop to rest their horses, to feed tlieir 148 ASIA cattle, to earn money by working on the railroad or on some farm, or perhaps to camp in some place long enough to raise a crop of wheat or barley ui order that they may be sure of food during the winter. Leaving Chelyabinsk and tlie mountains behind us, we ride on through a Hat, treeless country. Hour after hour Fk;. 56. The Railroad stretciiks in a Straight Line like a KinnoN OF Steel unrolled over the Land and day after day we see only the level, grassy fields rolling away on every side to meet the sky. As far ahead and be- hind us as we can see, the railroad stretches in a perfectly straight line over the land. At the end of every verst we pass a little yellow house close beside the track. As we ghde slowly by, a man, or sometimes a woman or a child, comes out and waves a green flag to signal that all is well for the train to continue on SIBERIA 149 its way. Every two thirds of a mile from Moscow on the Volga to Vladivostok on the Pacific a verstman will be found livmg in liis lonely home to guard this single line of steel, which furnishes the only railroad communication between Europe and eastern Asia. There are nearly ten thousand of these verstmen, manv of whom are ex-convicts. Fig. 57. At tiik, Stations thi:ki; auk Tmcntv ok Tiiin(;s to eat AM) TlMK to eat TMKM They usually till a little farm and keep a few cattle and sheep, but their lives at best must be lonely, with no neigh- bors nearer than the guards at the next verst liouse nearly a mile away. Every twenty or tliirty miles the train stops at a neat little station with a water tower and a huge woodpile near Ijy. When the train comes to a standstill, everybody rushes 150 ASIA pell-mell for the platform. Getting out of the cars is not so simple a matter as it is in the United States, as people ill Siberia carry much more baggage than is usual or neces- sary in our country. Hotel keepers in Asia will look at us in surprise if we ask for a pillow or sheets and blankets for our beds, as we are supposed to bring our own. Then too the Russian likes to drink tea at all times of the day, and for this reason people carry with them their teapots, sugar, , and usually some food. At every station there is a steam- ing hot samovar, where each one can help himself to hot water. There are also plenty of things to eat and time to eat them. The platforms are crowded with p{K)ple from the surrounding country, selling milk, eggs, and huge loaves of white and black bread, while inside the station there is a restaurant and a lunch counter. Many of the poorer emi- grants get what they need at the station, make their tea and soup on the train, and eat and drink while they travel. It seems good to walk about a little after riding so long. Nearly everybody alights whenever the train halts at a station, for it is sure to make a stop of from fifteen min- utes to half an hour. No one is ever in a hurry in Russia. "What is the use?" a Russian would say to you; "there is plenty of time. If we cannot do everything we wish to-day, to-morrow never fails to come." There is no danger of our being left behind, for the bell gives us plenty of warning. It rings once as if to say, " You must think of starting." After two or three minutes its ring again tells us, " You are going to start." A third time it sounds, and at this signal everybody gets aboard, and after the whistle blows an additional warning we are on our way again. SIBERIA 151 But, you ask, where are the towns and cities ? We have seen none as yet around the stations. That is one of the peculiar things about the Trans-Siberian Railroad. The towns lie from two or three to ten or fifteen miles from the station which bears the same name, and a ride behind a galloping Russian horse over a road worn mto deep ruts and gullied by the rains is something long to be remembered. ) Underwood & Umierwoud Fig. 58. A Straggling Row of Log Houses stretches along Either Side of a very Wide Space which serves for a Stkeet We dash up in fine style to the group of buildings which make up the village, and a feeble old man comes out to open the gate for us. JNlany Siberian towns are surrounded by a rough wooden fence to keep the cattle from straying, and some old person, an ex-convict very likely, lives in a little wooden shanty near the gate, to open and close it for any one who may wish to pass through. Villages in Siljeria look as desolate and uncared-for as tliose west of the Ural Mountains in Rnssiii. A straggling row of log houses stretches along on cither side of a very 152 ASIA wide space which serves for a street. The houses are made of logs stuffed with moss, uiipainted except for the door and window frames, and unornamented save for a few scragglv-lookint;' plants in some, of tlit; windows. Tn the largest of tlic buildings there are only two or three rooms, and in many of tliem only one. See the muddy yards in front of the houses! The buildings themselves are not mucli clfancr, foi' look I there is a pig comhig out of one of them. That yellow house, larger than the rest, with a black-and-white post in front of it, is the posthonse, where travelers can get food and fresh horses to continue theii' journey. As we step hiside one of the houses it almost seems as if we were a thousand miles or more farther west in Euro- pean Russia. There is the same huge stove, whose great uven serves for heating, for cooking, and for taking steam baths. The sacred picture, or icon, hangs in the right-hand corner of the looiu ; the bench extends around three sides of it, and the rude table and stools occupy the center of the lloor. There are better houses than this one, but in hundreds of villages all over the Russian Empire the ma- jority of the peo[)le live in homes like tlie one described. In no country of the world are the houses and villages so similar; havhig seen one, we have seen them all. These little communities are governed, as are the vil- lages in Russia, by a village council chosen by the citizens. A peasant does not own the land which he tills ; he cannot sell it, neitlier can he buy more. It belongs to the village in w hich he lives, and the council apportions to each family a certain part of the pasture, woodland, and farm land. Russian peasants are a social people and would never be SIBERIA 163 contented to live apart in lonely farmhouses such as are common here. So they gather in the villages and some- times go several miles to then- daily work. During the summer, when the men, and often the women and children, are away ui the fields, the villages seem quite deserted. ^^^^^K|3I^N^^^H ^Ifr 1'^ W'^^S 1^ pwiiuiWilH ^^ ^' I'JQV ,^<^-^«2aBUUl|B ^^^^^^^p iifcBvi"" -S ^ ^'^-:^-. AH M^.'x^^"^^^ Fi<;. ">0. There aue Finer Hoisks than Triis in Siiuckia, hit the Majority of the People live in Homes that are no Hkttek Tlie abundance of fertile land in Siberia has led to \\'asteful methods of farming. A peasant generally does not bother with scientific methods, with fertifizers, or with rotation of crops. When one piece of land sliows signs of exhaustion, he leaves it and plants another. There is plenty of land; why should he spend time and money on one piece when another will do equally well ? As Siberia becomes 154 ASIA more thickly settled, these wasteful methods must give way to more economical ones, but at present there is land enough and to spare. TIk' wide street which extends the length of the villasre is ankle deep with dust during the summer, and in the spring and fall a field of mud. We wonder when the Sibe- rian farmer ever travels or carries his farm products to market. Cold as it is in winter, the peasants like that sea- son the best, for the only really good roads in Siberia are the hard-beaten snow tracks. Can you imagine a sledge- ride through the country when the snow lies deep and white for miles around? You snaggle down among the warm fur robes, the horses dash along at full speed, the bells tinkle merrily, and the dry, cold air acts like a tonic. Vou can ride for miles through tlie open country and see no trees, no houses, nothing but the broad stretch of level snow as far as the eye can reach. You may meet a few teams on the way — a farmer carrying his milk to the dairy or his butter to the nearest railway station, or a fur-clad driver with his sled piled high with frozen fish for the village store, with grain to be sent away by rail, with logs from the nearest forest, or Avith goatskins and sheep- skins which later may find their way into some great shoe manufactory in the United States. Siberia has a long, very cold winter and a short, very hot summer. It is the coldest country in the world and, what seems queer, it is also one of the hottest. In the winter the mercury falls many de- grees l)elow zero, and in the summer it rises to more than a hundred degrees above. The coldest place in the world is in northeastern Siberia, where the thermometer has been knoAAm to register more than ninety degrees below zero 156 ASIA in winter and as far alxn-e in summer. The spring and sunnner are very short, and early in the autunm tlie winter storms begin. The rivers of Siberia are frozen during the cold season, some of them to their very beds. The land in the northern part of the country is frozen hundreds of feet deep, and in sunmier it thaws only a few inches below the surface. You notice that many of the large rivers flow to the north. The ice breaks up first in the southern parts of tlieir courses, but because they are still frozen near their mouths, the water cannot escape through their channels, and instead overflows the land. As the water cannot sink into the frozen ground, great floods occur, and immense marshes, called tundras, are formed which cover much of northern Siberia. Buried in the tundras there have been found in great numbers the remains of animals unlike any which live on the earth to-day. These animals are called mammoths. The ice in which they are embedded has pre- served their bodies perfectly, so that we know that these mannnoths Avere huge creatures, larger than elephants, with long ivory tusks and heavy, coarse hair and with an inner coat of thick, matted wool. During the spring floods tlie rivers wash and gully out large areas of land, thus free- ing the embedded skeletons, and hundreds of the natives find employment in gathering the tusks and selling them to European merchants. On the second day after crossing the Ural Mountains we begin to see horsemen on the plains, some of whom try tlie speed of their shaggy little steeds by racing with the train. Farther out on the plain is a rider w^atching some cattle as they feed. So still he sits and so motionless is the horse that they seem like a statue carved out of stone. SIBERIA 157 These horsemen are Ku-ghiz, wandering people of the plams. They have large flocks and herds, which in the summer they drive from place to place for pasturage. Here are some of them getting onto our ti'ain as it stops at a lonely station. How queer they look in their long sheepskin coats, which, though the train is very hot, they do not remove. Perhaps they think that wliat will keep out cold will keep out lieat also. They wear high red Ijoots and small caps edged with fur, and their faces are tanned and wrinkled from their out-of-door life. Out on the plains we see from time to time their herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats, and catch glimpses of some of their encampments made up of round, dark tents. We wonder of what these people are thinking as they see the long trains glide along, loaded with emigrants. Do they realize that, as more and more settlers come to occupy the land, they will have to cease their wanderings, fence tlieir tields, build towns and cities, and give up their old free life and limitless pastures ? Every day since leaving IVIoscow we have met trains westward bound. Some were carrying government offlcials, soldiers, merchants, tourists, and dissatisfied emigrants ; others were loaded with hides and skins, wheat, rye, or barley. Grain is the chief product of Siberia, and the time may not be far distant when she will rival the United States and Canada in her production. We have also met trains made up of from thirty-five to fifty cars, all painted white, which have excited our curiosity. What are they carrying? Wliat can the farmers of Siberia furnish the pcfiple of Europe in such great quantities that these long trains and so many (jf them are required ? You will be 158 ASIA a.st()iiislied when I tell you that they carry nothing but butter. Western Siberia eontains some of the finest pasture huul iu the world, and in that part of the country dairying is more important than any other industry. Hundreds of Ions of excellent butter are exported to Europe every week. Tliis is carried in refrigerator cars to the Baltic sea- ports Petrograd, Kiga, and Keval, and from these cities it Fic. 61. People kidk \ i: im . i>\i i m; i \ m ^ i\ Sir, i,i;i\ i\ I III. Basketlike Wagon called a Tarantas is si lipped hi refrigerator boats to London. Danish butter has for many years been considered better than that made in any other country, but to-day it is said that much of the Sil)erian butter is just as good. 'J'here are in the country several thousand butter factories, and the Russian gov- ernment has tried in different ways to encourage the in- dustry. It has established hundreds of dairying schools, where people are taught the best way to feed their stock, to care for their milk, and to make and pack butter. In thi'ee months an intelligent peasant can learn enough to SIBERIA 159 run a dairy for a few farmers or perhaps for the entire village where he lives. Thus new dairies are constantly- being started, and the industry is rapidly spreading. The farmers are sure of a steady sale for their milk, or for their butter if they make it at home. Every farmer owns horses and thinks nothing of carrying his butter, or that manu- factured in the village dairy, many miles to some city or town. From this center, caravans of sledges, loaded with the butter which has been brought in from the surrounding country, travel to the nearest railway station, perhaps sev- eral hundred miles away. The trip is such a long one that the men have to rest on the way, and one driver takes charge of four or five sledges while the others curl up in their furs for a good sleep. They in their turn will care for several horses so that other drivers may rest. From the fenced fields, the trees, and the scattered vil- lages which begin to appear on the plain we realize that we are approaching a city. Soon we catch sight of spires and domes, of glistening white churches with green roofs, and across a wide, swift river we can see rows of dark, un- painted houses lining broad streets. The train rumbles over a splendid bridge and finally comes to a stop at the well- built, electric-lighted station at Omsk. We shall find in the course of our journey that many of the names of Siberian cities end in sk. In the Russian language this ending means that the city is on a river of the same name. Tobolsk is on the Tobol River, Irkutsk on the Irkut, and Omsk is located just where the Om River enters the Irtysh, a branch of the great 01). As we notice the situation of Omsk we begin to under- stand the reason for its importance. It is located just 160 ASIA where the Trans-Siberian Raihoad, the great highway which opens up the country from east to west, crosses the river highways leatUng north and south. So numerous are the waterways connectmg with the raikoad and with the Ob River tliat goods can be brought to Omsk from the Ural Mountains on the west, from the Arctic regions on the north, from the Lena valley on the east, and from China on the south. Resides these transportation routes, ^^■lli(•h make the situation of the city so favorable, Omsk is located in the center of two thousand square miles of tine farming and pasture land ; rich coal deposits have been discovered not far off to the south, and gold and copper are mined in the vicinity. Siberian cities have a new, unfinished look. In Omsk there are line business blocks and splendid churches side by side with unpainted log houses bordering dirty, un- paved streets. The store windows interest us. Here is one showing different kinds of farming machinery, and nearly every piece bears the name of a United States firm. We send many mowing machines, harvesters, reapers, and small farming tools to Siberia. Some are sold to the Rus- sian government, which establishes stores in different cities and sells to the emigrants at low prices and with long terms of credit. Some are sold to butter merchants, who in turn sell them to the farmers and take their pay in butter. Sometimes the more expensive machinery is sold to a town or to a group of farmers or perhaps to a wealthy Russian who rents it to his })oorer neighbors. We can learn a great deal about the country and the people l)y watching the scenes in the streets. See that sunburned Kirghiz on horseback, bound for his village of SIBERIA 161 black tents out on the open plain. Here come some butter sledges bringing in the product from the scattered villages. Close behind them are several loads of wheat, which was harvested months ago, but which, on account of the poor roads, was not carried to market. There goes the sledge of k^ 29 vB^BiP^H '"^ ' ^ '^ ^j^^BH jtfflHi9i^V^jD^^iBBi^^^3^^^B ^^^^E^P^ ''-'r/^pM \ ^^M If M W.— r^^ ■■_i^ ll^ "l'^" - ■ Fig. 62. Tiikuk is thk Si.EiKiE of a Wkai.tiiv Mekciiant some wealthy merchant. He is so wrapped in furs that we can hardly get a glimpse of his face, but his splendid horses go dashing along as if they loved the keen, frosty air and tlie music of the bells. See those tall camels walking silently on their great padded feet and almost liiding the low shnlges to uliidi they are haniessed. The sledges are lilk-d with tea, which 162 ASIA has come overland from far-away China. All of the tea sen"t from China to Rnssia formerly went by this long, slow route ; to-day much of it goes by the ocean route to Odessa, and more by the Trans-Siberian Railroad, though large quan- tities are still carried overland by coolies and camels. Add one letter to Omsk and you have the name of the city where we shall make our next stop. Tomsk is more than tiftv miles from the main line of the raili'oad, and pas- senuers uoingr there have to change to a branch line. On arriving at the pretty white railroad station nestled in the grove of birch trees we find that the city itself, like other Siberian cities and towns, is still several miles away and nuist be reached by a long drive through a field of mud. As we approacli Tomsk it looks like a wonderfully fine place. On a steep, rugged cliff by the river the residences of the ortieials and rich merchants appear in the distance like beautiful mansions. A nearer view, however, shows us that the buildings which we thought were stone and marble are only wdiitewashed brick, the gardens are dusty ami unattractive, and the streets dirty and uncared-for. In the lower town are the offices, warehouses, workshops, and stores, a curious jumble of brick and stone buildings, some modern blocks with electric lights, and some little one-story wooden structures. The stores have no attractive windows, but inside they offer a variety of wares. What will you have, some tea from China, some apples from the Caucasus Mountains, a kodak and some new films from Germany, or a mowing machuie from the United States ? Perhaps you would like some nuts from the Siberian cedar tree, which everyone seems to be eating. Thousands of tons of these nuts are gathered every year and sold in all parts SIBERIA 163 of Siberia ; little heaps of shells strew the floors of the cars, the stations, and the stores. Tomsk contains some beautiful churches, a fine library, and other public buildmgs, but we are most interested in its splendid university. The city is the educational center of Siberia and ranks next to Moscow and Petrograd in its schools. There are more than two thousand students in the university, and many more have flocked to the tech- nical schools and other institutions. On the whole, you see, Tomsk is more noted as an educational center than as a commercial city. Its trade is hampered by the fact that the city is situated on a branch rather than on the main line of the railroad, and on the Tom River, a small stream, mstead of on the mighty Ob itself. Still it is an important shipping place for butter and for furs and skhis. Perhaps some of tlie sheepskins and goatskms from Tomsk are made up into the very shoes that you have on your feet. As day after day passes in our eastward journey we notice how the railroad crosses one after another the great rivers of the country. The railroad stretching east and west an-d the waterways crossing north and south open up the various parts of Siberia and aid in the transportation of goods. No country in the world is better provided with large rivers than Siberia. The total length of its navigable waterways is greater than the circumference of the earth at the equator, but unfortunately navigation is hindered during much of the year by ice. Even when frozen the rivers are far from useless, as the smooth, clear ice makes splendid highways, on which there is a great amount of sledge traffic. By means of the rivers immense quantities of products are brought by boat in summer and by sledge 1(;4 ASIA in \\ inter from both tlie northern and the .southern parts of Sil)eria to stations on the railroad. Tlie rivers not only oiifU routes to the nortli and to tlu^ south, l»ut one ean go by boat on the main streams, the smaHer brandies, and a few canals entirely across Sil)ei'ia from the foot of the Urals on the wi'st to Yakutsk or to the mouth of the Anmr on the east. It is a zigzag route and of course a sli»\\ one, and only possible when the rivers are open. Many of the emigrants to the Amur region have followed this route, and we wish that we miglit journey with tliem ai-ross the country or at least take a river trip (hnvn the Ob or Yeuesei or Lena. These three rivers and the eastward -flowing Amur are among the longest rivers in the world. Some of their branches, whose names are not printed in the ordinary school geography, are hundreds of miles long and are of innnense importance to the people living in their valleys. A trip on some of these great rivers would give us an excellent idea of the three belts into which the country is divided. To the south is the rich farming region ; north of this is the broad, deep forest belt, where the rivers flow for miles beneath stately birches, graceful larches, whisper- ing pines, and fragrant cedars ; on the northern edge the forests gradually dwindle to stunted trees and shrubs, and the rivers finally emerge on the bare, desolate arctic plain and lose themselves in the northern ocean. Thus far durmg most of our journey we have been riduig over grassy plains, \\itli few trees in sight save on the banks of the rivers and in the towns. Now, however, near Tomsk, we approach the great Siberian forest, deep and (lark, with flickering shadows and moss-covered ground. This is one of the greatest forest belts in the world. It SIBERIA 165 stretches for four or five thousand miles from east to west and from one to two thousand miles from north to south. In it we might wander for days and see no person, no house, no sign of life. There are miles of treacherous swamps and immense areas where man has never penetrated. In other places near some stream we might meet a fisherman from some of the northern tribes who, by means of hunting, fish- ing, and keeping herds of reindeer, just manage to get a living. In the winter we might meet a trader with his load of furs — wolf, bear, silvery fox, costly sable, and fine, soft squirrel : or some official, visiting one of the towns in the district of which he has charge, might pass us in his low sledge. How comfortable he looks, so covered with warm fur robes that we see but little of his face ! Perhaps in an opening in the woods we might find a little village. The log huts are clustered closer together than in the villages on the open plain, for the sighing pines and the ghostly birches make the place even more lonely than the grassy stretches. 'J hese dark forests have a strange effect on the emisTant who has lived all his life in the sunny fields of Russia. In the deep sha(h)\vs of the Siberian woods he lauglis less often, becomes silent and gloomy, and doubtless longs in his heart for the sunshine of his old Russian home. The fields which these forest villagers cultivate are often far away in other openings among the trees, and few occu- pations are carried on in tlie villao-e itself. We shall be sure to find in eacli one, however, a posthouse where we can get food aiid IVesh horses to continue our journey. The snapping of a driver's whij) or the tiidde of sledgi" lu'lls in the winter season always l)iings to llie doors and windows barking dogs, scampering children, and curious elders. 166 ASIA These deep Siberian woods shelter many fur-bearing ani- mals, such as the otter, ermine, beaver, sable, marten, fox, mink, and the larger wolf and bear. The cold climate makes a thick, warm coat necessary, and the fur is there- fore more valuable than that of animals living farther south. Many of the natives spend their time during the winter in hunting and trapping, and great quantities of furs, among them some of the most costly varieties, come from the Siberian forests. The life of a Russian trapper is a hard one. During the winter he spends much of his time alone in the deep woods, tramping on snowshoes for hours every day to visit his traps and nets. In the spring, when the days grow longer and the snow softer, he makes his way to the trading post many miles from his camp, where the pile of furs which represents his winter's work, and for some of wliicli my lady may later pay a small fortune, are sold for a sum hardly sufhcient to support him for the rest of the year. From the trading posts the pelts are sent to the nearest river port or railway station, and thence to Kiakhta, Irbit, Yakutsk, or Nizhni Novgorod, to be sold at the great fairs which are held annually in these places. From these dis- tant cities most of the skins are sent later to London, the greatest fur-distributing center in the world. Here buyers from all over the civilized world congregate at the great auction sales, at which a nod of the head of some famous fur dealer may mean a sale of several thousand dollars. Some of the skins are dressed in the city of London, and many are sent to Leipzig, Germany, an important fur-dressing city. Here they are changed from dirty, greasy skins into fine, soft furs. Some of the great SIBERIA 167 fur-dressing houses guard very carefully their methods of cleansmg and dyeing. It requires much skill to get the oil from an ermine skin without giving a yellow tinge to Fi<;. 03. It requires Much Skill to get the On. fkom an Kk.mixk Skin without giving a Yellow Tinge to the Pure White Hair the pure white hair, or to polish a sable skin so that all ])arts shall have an equal luster. You would like to watch tlie process which the manufacturer calls tubbing tlie pelts. Huge tubs stand in a row on one side of a long room, and 1G8 ASIA in each one is placed a number of skins sprinkled with hot nuiliogany sawdust. In each tub a half-naked workman treads and twists and works the skins with his feet for several iioiirs until tlicy arc thdrous^ldy softem^L After the furs are dressed, they are giaded, sorted, and iinally sent to the cutter, who cuts them into small stri[)S, which he matclies so perfectly and pieces together so care- t'iill\- thai later \(iu will tliiid<, as many peoplt; do, that your eollar or mulf is one whole skin. Siberia is the greatest fur-jirodneing cfnuitry in the world, and its output ol skins is enonnous. Millions of s(|uirrel skins and other more common varieties and thousands of the larer and more expensive kinds are sold tivery year at the great Russian fairs. Large quantities of furs are bought by people in the Uniteil States, and some of our largest firms send their agents to the; eastei'u Siberian fur district to buy direct from the trap})ers instead of waiting for the fairs and [)a\ing the higher [)ri('es which are demanded there. Many of the skins thus purchased are brought to New York, where they are dressed and manufactured. Besides the furs, think of the future wealth whicli lies liidden in this immense forest belt of Siberia. When the coiuitry becomes more thickly settled, as it surely will, when mills and factories and great business blocks spring uj) in dozens of towns and cities, as they are certahi to do, there is plenty of splendid building material in the Siberian woods to feed all the saw-mills which may be built. At present forest fires are sweeping over large areas of valuable woodland every yeai- ; tall Siberian cedars are sacrificed merely to obtain the inits, which are eaten everywhere in the country ; lumbei'ing is carried on with a great waste ; SIBERIA 169 trees are felled to clear the land for planting and are left to decay. This is just what usually happens in the early history of a country where large areas are covered by for- ests, but with the growth of settlements, the building of towns and cities, and the development of manufacturing more careful methods begin to prevail. Ever since leaving the station where the railroad branches off to Tomsk we have been riding through the great forest belt. Gradually we leave the wooded region to the north and swing southward toward Irkutsk, the next city at which we shall stop. Our route for a large part of the way across Siberia follows the old post road which, before the days of the railroad, was the main highway across the country. Every twenty or thirt}'^ miles along its entire length the Russian government has established postliouses, where travelers can get food and lodging (such as it is) and fresh horses to continue tlieir journey. As each relay of horses travels only to the next posthouse, they can make such good time that it is possible to cover long distances at a fairly fast rate of s[)eed. One can sleep ui the sledge, or tarantas, more comfortably perhaps than at the postliousc, Avhcre big iires and tightly fastened windows make the rooms hot and close, and where the Ix'ds are already fully occupied by small but annoying travelers. Over this post road, before the building of tlie railroad, th(! mails were carried to eastern Siberia; over it have trudged thousands of weary exiles, each step taking them fartlicr and farther from hoiiu! and loscd ones; over it gi-oups (;f emigi'aiits, with their Hocks and licids ;iiid their wagons filled with all tlieir household possessions, have 170 - ASIA moved toward ninv homes and new lives of prosperity in tlie empty land; over it soft-footed, tireless camels have trudged with their heavy burdens to supply the people of the western workl with their refreshing cup of tea. As railroad traffic develops and branches are built from the main line to the north and south, the old post road will lose, as it already has to some extent, much of its impor- tance. Nearly all of the long-distance trade will doubtless be carried by train, but local traffic will still make use of the post road. Perhaps no other highway in the world can tell such stories of cold and suffering, of drifted snow and hungry wolves, of weary travelers and lost hopes, of prisoners and exiles, as are familiar history in the old Trans-Siberian post road. Irkutsk, one of the most important cities of Siberia, is a three days' ride from Tomsk across fertile valleys and open plains and tln-ough groves of birch trees and deep forests of evergreens. On the way we see long caravans outlined against the blue sky and catch glimpses of little log vil- lages in the distance. The station platforms are crowded with shepherds, farmers, miners, and hunters, to whom the passing of the Trans-Siberian express is the one excite- ment of the day. Irkutsk is the transfer station for all through traffic between Europe and eastern Siberia. Here we must leave the express, to take a slower train for the rest of our journey. The big waiting room is crowded with people and piled with baggage, from which peep out the ends of pillows, the ever-present teapot, and other familiar household articles. All around are white-aproned porters, Cossack guards, excited travelers, men bundled in warm sheepskin coats, and weary women -wrapped m heavy shawls. SIBERIA 171 If we could choose the time for our visit to Irkutsk, it would be in the winter, for the drive to the city, several miles away from the station, would be much pleasanter over the hard snow than through fields of mud or in clouds of dust. ''How beautiful!" you exclaim as you catch your first sight of the city. And so it is, from a distance. The broad Angara, into which the Irkut River flows, sweeps by near at hand, the numerous churches gleam in white and gold and blue, and imposing stone and substantial brick buildings line the streets. A nearer view discloses the fact that Irkutsk, like other Siberian cities, is a curious mixture of old and new and good and bad. Beside a splendid modern stone block is a row of log houses ; before the handsome cathedral is a rickety board sidewalk ; in our large electric- lighted room in the hotel we find no soap, no sheets, and no running water ; we wade deep in mud when we cross the street to visit the handsome museum ; we spend the evening in the splendid theater enjoying a really fine per- formance, and afterwards grope our way home through the wide, dark streets. Like western cities, Irkutsk has its mil- lionaire citizens, though many of these are ex-convicts or the descendants of convicts, and tlie amount of crime is proportionally large. When we remember, however, that we are in the heart of Siberia, four thousand miles from any large European city, we wonder that the city is as safe as it is and can boast so many modern improvements as it does. Irkutsk is destined to be a city of importance. Besides being the transfer station for all traffic between the east and the west, it is a center where several post roads meet. In the streets we meet caravans loaded with fiber from the cotton fields of Turkestan, dark-skinned Mongols from 172 ASIA China with loads of tea, trappers with piles of soft skins from the Lena basin, farmers with loads of wheat for the flonr-mills in the city, drivers in warm sheepskins with their piles of frozen iisli from distant waters, and men from the mines in the north with their bags of precious gold dust. Everywhere we see something which tells us what an im- portant commercial center Irkutsk is. At one end of the broad street that runs through the center of the city is a splendid statue of Czar Alexander the Third ; at the other end is a large wooden arch which bears tlie inscription " This way to the great ocean." This sign had pointed the way eastward for travelers on the old post road for many years before the laying of the steel rails which bind together Europe and eastern Asia. As we continue our eastward journey beyond Irkutsk tlie landscape changes. The plains rise into hills and these grow into forest-clad mountains until, when we reach Lake Baikal, forty miles east of Irkutsk, Ave are surrounded by lofty, snow-clad ranges. Lake Baikal is nearly twice as large as Lake Ontario and is the largest fresh-water lake in Asia. The mountain scenery around is grand, its waters are of crystal clearness, and an aljundanee of iish live in its cold dej)tlis. At some future time, when Siberia is as thickly settled as the United States and has many large cities, manufacturing centers, and lines of railroads, this charming section may become, like many of our lake and mountain regions, a popular summer resort, for it certainly possesses all the natural features that would attract visitors. The rugged, mountainous country around the southern end of Lake Baikal made that part of the railroad more SIBERIA 173 difficult to construct than any other portion. This section was not built for some time after the rest of the line was completed, and passengers were obliged to cross the lake by boat in summer and by sledge in winter to take the train on the eastern side. Can j^ou imagine taking a forty- mile drive on the ice, with the thermometer twent}^ degrees or more below zero ? The route is marked out by hr trees frozen into the ice, and several post stations break the long drive. We almost wish that we were obliged to go on the lake instead of in the close, stuffy car, but the scenery through which we pass is interesting enough to make up for the loss of tlie invigorating sledge ride. We catch glimpses of the curious villages of the Buriats, one of the many tribes of Siberia who have permanent homes in winter and who in summer move with their flocks and herds where the best pasture land is found. Their villages are all very similar, consisthig of a cluster of rough wooden huts surrounded by stacks of hay and corrals for the horses and cattle. From time to time we pass some of their sum- mer homes — round, dark felt tents looking for all the world like a coconut cut in halves. Now and then a Russian vil- lage with its straggling log huts comes into view, and far- ther on a Chinese settlement with its carefully tilled fields, showing a marked contrast to the careless farmmg methods of the Russian settlers. We wind our way over forest-clad mountains, across narrow valleys, beside rusliing streams, and through dark tunnels. We notice that we are gradually swinging south- ward, and on the morning when we cross the boundary into Manchuria everything is bustle and excitement. Dig- nilied Chinese officials board the train to examine the 174 ASIA passports which we carry and to inspect our baggage. About three days after crossing the border of Manchuria we reach the city of Harbin, where, you remember, another raih'oad swinsrs off southward to Port Artliur and Dairen, while the mam Hue, on which we are to continue our journey, stretches on to X'hidivostok and the Pacific (Jct-an. © Underwood & Underwood Fig. (54. This i.s the Tkkmikus of the Longest Railway IN the World Vladivostok is the termhms of the longest railroad in the world. As we alight from the train our first impres- sion is that we are in a European rather than in an Asiatic country, and it is hard to realize the truth of the statement on the sign which hangs above our heads, " Vladivostok from Petrograd, 9922 versts." The Russian flag is flying everywhere. Instead of the frail little houses of Japan, the narrow, filthy streets of China, or the mud huts of Korea SIBERIA 175 there are rows of brick and stone and stucco buildings, wide streets, and electric lights. One-horse conveyances, called droshkies, and some with three horses, called troikas, go flying through the streets in the usual breakneck Rus- sian fashion. The outside horses in the troika dance and prance and gallop, while the middle one goes at a swift, steady trot. We should know that we are near Chma by the numbers of Chinese wheelbarrows with their heavy loads. It would be easy to guess that Japan is not far distant, for there are many jinrikishas, with coolies instead of horses between the shafts. Dirty, white-robed Koreans, blue-bloused Chinese, and clean httle Japanese are as numerous as the Russians, and many of the stores and busmess houses are in the hands of the yellow race. From the hill on the west of the city where some of the finest residences are situated we can get a good view of the region. The long, straight city streets lead to the water front, the reddish-bro\ATi roads wind off to the north through smiling valleys and around green wooded hills, the cathe- dral gleams at our feet, and, more attractive than the sights on shore, the beautiful blue landlocked harbor, which has made possible this Queen of the East, as the Russians have proudly named their city, stretches off to the south. The fine docks and warehouses, the vessels riding at anchor, the powerful ice breakers, the grim warships, and the scores of smaller craft all tell of Russia's hopes and ambitions in regard to this distant city. As the outlet of eastern Siberia, Vladivostok is bound to grow. It will keep pace with the future development of the country, and how great and how wonderful that will 176 ASIA bo nobody ventures to predict. People to-day realize that SibtM'ia is not a barren, desolate land fit only for exile prisons and it^norant native tribes. It is the Canada of the East, and, like our iiorthern neighbor, is rich in wheat fields, [pasture lands, great forests, priceless furs, stores of minerals, and long days of sunshine. Sometime in the future a trip across the Pacific Ocean from our Western seaports to \'ladivostok and Siberia may be as easy and as popular as a tour across the Atlantic to London and the British Isles is to-day. TOPICS FOR STUDY I 1. The Trans-Siherian Railroad. 2. Tlie lh*al jNIomitains and Chelyabinsk. 3. The island of Sakhalin. 4. Emigration to Siberia. 5. Siberian farms and villages. 6. Tlie climate of Siberia. 7. The tundras. 8. The dairy industry. 9. Traveling in Sil)eria. 10. Omsk and Tomsk. 11. Forests and furs. 12. The old post road. 13. Irkutsk, the old capital. 14. Lake Baikal and eastern Siberia. 15. Description of Vladivostok. II 1. Sketch a map of Siberia. Trace tlie Trans-Siberian Railroad and show the most important cities on it. Add Manchuria to your map and trace on it the railroad to Dairen. 2. Add to your map of Siberia the rivers and the surrounding waters and countries. SIBERIA 177 3. Name any very long railroads that you know in the United States ; in Canada. Get some folders at the railroad station which will show you their routes and their termini. Show these on an outline map. 4. Have you ever heard of the Cape-to-Cairo Railroad? Where is it? Is it completed? What are its termini? Compare its impor- tance with that of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. 5. Choose sides to discuss the question whether the ITnited States or Siberia is the better fitted for a dairying country. 6. Make a list of the ten longest rivers in the world. Locate each one. How many Siberian rivers are included? 7. Describe the route by which you would send butter fron) Siberia to London; by which you would send tea from C'liina to < )dessa. 8. How many tons of butter could be sent yeai'ly from Siberia by a weekly train of fifty cars, each car having a capacity of fifty- six thousand pounds? Ill Be able to spell and pronounce the following names. Locate each place and tell what was said of it in this and in any previous chapter. China Japan Korea Mauchuria Sakhalin Ala.ska Canada United States Denmark Germany The tundras Ural Mountains Irkut River Tom River Om River Angara River Amur River Lena River Ob River Yenesei River Tobol River Tomsk Omsk Irkutsk Tobolsk Chelyabinsk Harbin Yakutsk Dairen Vladivostok Port Arthur Irbit Kiakhta Nizhni Novgorod Moscow Petrograd Reval Riga London Odessa Leipzig Boston San Francisco Caucasus Mountains Mt. Washington Gulf of Mexico Baltic Sea Lake Baikal Lake Ontario CHAPTER IX CENTRAL ASIA AND ITS PEOPLE Our iioxt trip will be a very interesting one, as it will take us into the heart of Asia. In the southern part of that dry portion of Asia known as the steppes, there is an area nearly a fourth as large as the United States. This territory has been very largely under Russian influence and part of it under Russian control. This great region, commonly known as Central Asia, consists of several divisions. The largest of these is Turkestan, a country covering nearly three times the area of California. The Transcaspian Province stretches westward from Turkestan to the Caspian Sea, while, wedged in between these territories and Persia and Afghanistan, lie Khiva and Bokhara, of which you will read in this chapter. These are very ancient and very interesting lands. The borders of these little-known regions reach far toward the south to M-itliin five hundred miles of the warm Avaters of the Persian Gulf. Notice on the map the line which starts from the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, extends through the Trans- caspian Province near the northern border of Persia and Afghanistan, and through Bokhara and Turkestan. That Hne marks the Central Asian Railroad, on which we shall travel for some time. We shall find the trip by rail much easier than the long, slow caravan journey, which not 178 CENTRAL ASIA AND ITS PEOPLE 179 many ye&TS ago was tlie only means by which one could get into this little-known part of the continent. Remember as you look at the map of Asia that immense distances are represented there. This railroad, which looks so short, is m reality more than twelve hundred miles long. It would stretch in a straight line entirely across the United States from the Canadian border to the Gulf of ]\Iexico. It gives to Russia great advantages in Asia over any other European nation. It enables her to put her soldiers into an}' one of the Central Asian regions at short notice, and not only her soldiers but her products and manufactures as well. To-day nearly all of the (commerce of Central Asia is carried on with Russia, always exceptmg the tea trade, which is controlled by the Chmese. Many people thmk, however, that when Russia was building the Central Asian Railroad she was thinkmg not so much of her increased commerce, and of future revolutions m any part of her own territory, as of the ease and quickness with which she could transport her soldiers to the Indian l)order. Tibet is not the only coun- try on the borders of India across which England is watch- ing the movements of the slow, cautious, but powerful Russian bear. The easiest approach to India is from the northwest, through Afghanistan, and England has noted ^\■ith much anxiety the approach of Russia nearer and nearer to this boundary line. Did you ever hear of a secret railroad ? On tlie map you will find such a line which Russia has l)uilt for nearly two hundred miles from Merv southward to the border of vVfghanistan. This road runs for the entire distance through a desert region, wliere no hidustries and no towjus 180 ASIA are served by it. No forcioner lias ever traveled on it, and no freight is carried on it except arms, anmuuiition, pro- visions for soldiers, materials for barracks, and railway irons and ties. What else can snch a road mean except to enable Russia to rush her soldiers tlu-ough to India in case of trouble with England ? It seems a pity that nations should lind it necessaiy to go to such expense in order to be ready to kill j)copk'. Tliink Imw much mon; this rail- way line would serve the world if it were continued through Afghanistan and India to the great city of Calcutta, and were open to freight and passengers. •Sometime, doubtless, in a future era of international peace, this will be done, and travelers can take a railway trip from London to Cal- cutta as easily and safely as they now go from New York to San Francisco. You doubtless think that if you have packed the things you will need on your journey, and have money for your expenses, you have made all the preparations which are necessary for your trip tlirough Central Asia. Not so. If that is all you have done, you will not be able even to start on your journey, as no foreigner rides on any part of the Central Asian Railroad unless he has permission from head(juarters. We must ask the American ambassador to obtain for us at Petrograd a document that we can show to officials along the route. Every courtesy will then be shown us as long as we travel on just the route described in our passport, but we shall be allowed no side trips to any places except those specified therein. The railroad starts on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea at Krasnovodsk, which one can reach from Europe by different routes. The easiest one, perhaps, is to saii CEXTEAL ASIA AXD ITS PEOPLE 181 from Constantinople across the Black Sea to Batum at its eastern end, where we can take a train for Baku on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. The route into Asia which we shall enjoy the most, however, is by auto- mobile from southeastern Russia to Tiflis, on what is per- haps the grandest ride in the world. It takes us over the Fig. 65. A Splendid Highway winds higher and higher over THE Caucasus Mountains Dariel Pass in the Caucasus Mountains. Automobiles have taken the place of the slower wagons and caravans by which people formerly made tlic journey, and it will pi'ol)- al^ly be only a few years before people can travel over the pass in a railroad train. A splendid liighway winds 'higher and higher beside a ru.shing, dashing, foaming river; it zigzags up steep slopes with lofty, snow-capped peaks towering into the sky on one side and a narrow, dark 182 ASIA chasm five thousand feet deep on the other. As we mount, the cliffs gro^y more and more vertical and the gorge nai- rowcr and darker until, at the summit of the pass, we glide silently into the world-famed gorge of Dariel, the gate- way of Europe. From the time, ages ago, when our Aryan ancestors left their homes and hearth fires under the shadow of the Hindu Kush Mountains, to find new dwellhigs in lands farther west, many of the migrating peoples who have spread from Asia westward have come through this door in the great wall of the Caucasus. Through it also, in the opposite direction, the Russian army went to mvade the land beyond and to bring it under the czar's control. None of these people traveled by automobile, as we are doing ; neither did they have the fine highway which now winds over tlie mountains, but step by step, fighting their way through blinding snow and chillmg winds, they made their toilsome passage. In our journey over the Caucasus we meet neither mi- grating peoples nor haughty conquerors. We see, instead, immense flocks of sheep, which fill the road and block our passage and stream along the highway as far as we can see, like a white, frothing river. In the spring the panting thousands toil upward to the high pastures, where they feed for the summer ; in the autumn they come running down the zigzag road to their winter shelters in the villages on the lower plains. We- pass the Russian fort built near the entrance of the gorge, the long snow sheds that protect the post wagon which carries the European mail to Tiflis, and, a little farther on, the dark stone cross which marks the summit CENTRAL ASIA AND ITS PEOPLE 183 of the pass nearly eight thousand feet high. Then begins the dash do^\^l the steep slope into the southern valleys. On our way we pass groves of dark pines, green fields of wheat and corn, and quamt, flat-roofed villages nestlmg in sheltered spots on the mountain sides, where the land is so steep that the inhabitants are said never to step on level ground, Tiflis, where we leave our automobile and take the train, is the capital of Georgia, one of the small republics just south of the Caucasus INIountains. This city, as large as Kansas City, Missouri, is halfway between the Black and Caspian seas, at the crossroads of routes leading north and south and east and west, and is the terminus of the great military road over the mountains by wliicli we have just come. The city is a combmation of Europe and Asia, of the Occident and the Orient. The European in broad- cloth rubs shoulders with the sheepskin-clad dweller of the mountams. There are winding alleys lined with native huts and crowded bazaars, and broad streets bordered with fine houses and large shops. In Tiflis, as hi other cities which have become a part of the Russian possessions, the native quarter and the foreign section differ as much as an automobile does from the " one-hoss shay." The modern Russian city has wide, well-paved streets, electric cars and liglits, rubber-tired carriages, fine business blocks, and ex- cellent shops. A ten minutes' ride from all this brings us to a different world. In the Russian city everything was like Europe ; in the native city, centuries old, everything is Asiatic. Here are the narrow, dirty streets and the low houses with bare, closed fronts on the street side, showing nothing of the life within. Here also, as in all Asiatic 184 ASIA cities, the bazaar, or market place, is the center of interest and is crowded with people. What a noise and confusion I Have we found the Tower of IJahcl of which the Bible speaks, where everyone used a dirfcrcul langua ber is small compared with that of the men. In the center of the booths, which are so small that most of the goods are within easy reach, the merchants sit cross-legged on their mats, undisturbed by the hubbub around. Besides these small retail shops there are large establishments where goods are sold at wholesale. Let us go into one of these khans, as they are called, and see what they are like. From China, Afghanistan, and India immense quantities of goods come by caravan to Bokhara — tea, silk, furs, skins, goat's hair and camel's hair, rugs, and a Fic;. 70. I'koi'i.k have riddkx in from TiiEiH Tents on the Desert CENTRAL ASIA AND ITS PEOPLE 197 host of other things. These are stored in the khan to await purchase, after which they are sent to Moscow and other Russian markets. In one khan is stored tea; in another, silk ; in another, rugs. The business of the fatlier usually descends to his sons, and the same families have brought their goods to the same khans for many years. Here is Fig. 71. Hides and Skins are One of the Important Products of Central Asia Courtesy of Mr. B. E. Baker, Bostou one where fur is stored. It is tlie fur of a goat, l)ut it is very soft and silky. We call it astrakhan l^ecausi; it was formerly imported into Europe through the Caspian port of that name. There are also piles of a glossy, curly fur obtained from the lambs raised in Persia ; hence its name, Persian lamb. The best fur of this kind, however, comes from Afghanistan, iiiid is calltMl by tlic iialixc name kani- knl. It is In-ouglit over the desert to the liokiiaran khans. From there great bales of it are sent by the Central Asian 198 ASIA Railroad to Krasnovodsk, and thence to the famous fan: at Nizhni Novgorod and to the annnal fur fairs at Leipzig and London. Fur dealers from all over the world come to these places to buy their supply, and skillful workmen make the skms into the beautiful garments which my lady of fashion demands. Another equally attractive khan is filled with Bokharan rugs. Some of these are so finely woven, so attractive in color, and so durable that people in Europe and America are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for one of moderate size. These rugs, woven from the wool of the flocks, have been made in the tents and mud huts of the wandering tribes of Central Asia. Each tribe makes only two or three different patterns, and these are woven entirely from mem- ory. Some of the rugs are centuries old. They are handed down from father to son, and the best of them are sold only at the death of the last members of the family. The dyes which are used are chiefly from Eastern plants ; they give soft, lustrous colors which are practically fadeless. Many of the rugs for sale at the bazaar are cheaper ones, poorer in color and more coarsely woven, but there are also some so beautifully colored, so closely knotted, and so softened by the years of wear as to be almost priceless. At many of the stations and at the larger cities we have noticed in greater and greater quantities as we have come farther east the bales of cotton stacked on the platforms. The central Asiatic countries, and especially Turkestan, are among the greatest cotton-producing regions of the world, and cotton is at present the chief export from this part of Asia, Much of it is shipped over the Central Asian CENTRAL ASIA AND ITS PEOPLE 199 Railroad into Russia. Some of the Russian rulers have been greatly interested in the cotton production of Cen- tral Asia, hoping that in the future much of the supply for the great cotton mills of Moscow might be obtained from this region. All the way through Turkestan to the terminus of the railroad at Andijan on the Chinese border we are in the cotton country. The chief limit to its production is water. Wherever that can be obtained, the cotton fields stretch green and white ; wliere there is no water, there lies the vast brown desert. We feel more at home, perhaps, in these cotton fields of Turkestan than anywhere else in Central Asia, as the seed that is sown and the machmery that is used for ginning and for extracting the oil from the seed comes chiefly from the United States. Leaving Bokhara, we finally reach Turkestan, which, ex- cepting Siberia, is the largest and the most important of all the countries of Central Asia. It covers a territory nearly twice as large as Montana and contains several good-sized cities and many smaller towns, separated from one another by the great desert. Let us stop for a little while at one of the towns. "^I'hey are all very mucli alike, and seeing one will do as well as visiting half a dozen. As we approach we see, between the narrow ditches of water, green liclds of millet, wlieat, and vegetables. The walls around the town and around each house are all made of mud. All tliat a settler in Turkestan needs in order to build his liome is some of the soil around liim and some of the water from one of the ditches. Witli liis ivci lie kneads these into a smooth paste, and witli tliis and some straw he fashions rough bricks, which in the hot sun become as 200 ASIA hard as stone. In a dry country like Turkestan these last very well, but a few good rains would leave little of his house standing. On either side of the narrow, crooked alleys which serve as streets, nuid walls shut out from tiic honu's tlu! gaze of the curious, and the family life is Fig. XOTHING HUT THE MlD WaLLS IS VISIBLE ON ElTHER SiDE OF THE Street cari'ied on ui privacy in the rear of the houses. Here the children, play, the men smoke their long pipes or enjoy their daily nap, and the women perform many of their household duties. The canal which is found in every courtyard supplies the water for washing, drinking, and cooking, and also for the gardens and fountains which often make the place beautiful. CENTRAL ASIA AND ITS PEOPLE 201 Each house has two courtyards and two sets of rooms, one for the men and one for the women, and each sex keeps strictly to its own quarters. Not even a husband may enter his wife's apartments if some shoes left outside the door indicate that she has callers. The men of the family entertain their company and eat their meals in their part of the house, and the ladies m their rooms do the same. In some of the houses, especially in the cities, the Russians have introduced tallies, chairs, beds, lamps, and other modern conveniences, but most of the people live as their ancestors have lived for centuries. The houses are all low, one-story buildings, for in this earthquake region these are much safer than taller ones would be. The floors are covered with rugs, which vary, according to the wealth of the owner, from the finest oriental patterns in tlie homes of the rich to coarse reed matthigs in the huts of the poor. There is very little furniture in the houses. The folded (piilts on which the people sit in the daytime are the beds at night. In a woman's apartment a trunk which has come all the way from the fair at Nizhni Novgorod holds her clothing, her long gray outer garment, her liigh leather stockings, her silken trousei's, her heavy silver ])racelets, ;md her coral chains. Otlicr articles, if she has them, may be stuffed into her pillow oi' liung on a line stretched across the room, which serves I'oi' botli closet and pantiy. Some of the food is cooked over a pan of charcoal and some in a clay ovi^ii, which is uscmI in much tiu^ sami; way that our ancestors in New England used their old-fashioned brick ovens. The fuel is |)iit in, and the liic is hghted and k(^[)t burning until thc^ oven is very liot ; then tlie coals and ashes are removed, and tin; br(;ad, made in mnnd, Hat 202 ASIA cakes, is placed on the floor of the oven or stuck onto the sides, where it is slowly and thorougldy baked. The people of Turkestan live very simply, and the prep- aration of their meals takes but little time. A little bread and a few raisins or a piece of a melon make a satisfactory meal, especially if one is traveling. For a heartier diet a mutton stew with ve<;etables in it and rice boiled in millc Fig. 73. Tin: Diuvkr ok an .\kaha sits on the Horse, with his Feet ON THE Shafts Courtesy of Mr. B. E. Baker, Boston are common dishes. Sometimes the cookuig is done out of doors over a tire fed by cotton seed mixed with the waste left after the oil had been extra(;ted. The people of Turke- stan manufacture cottonseed oil for cooking and lighting, but they do not export any great amount, as it costs too much to transport it to the markets of the world. A man niioht live in one of these queer towns for days, or even for weeks, without meeting a woman in the streets, CEXTEAL ASIA AXD ITS PEOPLE 203 and no matter how long his stay might be or how friendly he might become with the men of the place, he would never see a woman's face. Some ladies never go beyond the mud walls which surround their homes. Those who do venture into the streets never go on foot. Ladies of the upper classes Fig. 74. Sometimes a Small Donkey carries Several Members of THE Family ox his Back, One behind the Other ride in arabas. These are rude carts witli two \\'lieels at least six feet m diameter. The driver sits on the horse, with his feet on the shafts. In going uphill he is obliged to stand up and let his whole weight rest on the sliafts iji order to keep the cart in a horizontal position. I'he jjoorer women ride on horseback, each on a pillow behind her Imsband. Sometimes a donkcv or a liorse carries several nienilu'is of the family on his back, one behind the other. 204 ASIA We need not be afraid of getting lost in a Turkestan town, for all the winding, crooked streets will take us to the bazaar. There is a fascination in looking at the queer © Underwood & Underwood Fig. 75. Heavily Loaded Camels pill the Narrow Street sights, and there is no better place in which to get an idea of the life, the customs, and the industries of the people. See that sun-burned merchant s(][uatting among his wares. On one side of him is a pile of cottonseed cakes which will CENTRAL ASIA AND ITS PEOPLE 205 be sold for camels" food, and on the other some oddly shaped bottles molded from the same material and tilled with cotton- seed oil. Look at the great piles of cotton cloth. The tiber of which this was made was brought from far across the desert on camels loaded as heavily as those which now fill the narrow street. It was sent over the ('entral Asian Kail- road to the mills of Moscow to be manufactured, and then followed the same route back to the bazaar. Let us go into the silk bazaar and see the gorgeous colors which are displayed there. We should think them almost too l)rilli;uit to wear, but these Eastern people like them, perhu[)s because in the brown desert and in their nmd-colored houses they have very little else that is bright and attractive. Next to cotton, silk is tlie most important export of Turkestan, and many mulberry trees are grown to furnish food for the silkworms. See those men in that little low nuul house, at work on their rude homemade looms. The cloth which they are weaving, though rough and coarse, is firm and strong and looks as if it would wear far longer than much of the silk that we buy. Do you wish to purchase something m the bazaar ? You will have some difhculty m making a choice among such a variety of goods, for " Here are Persian carpets, ivory and peach bloom, Tints to fill the heart of any child of man, Here are copper rose bowls, leopard skins, emeralds. Scarlet slippers curly-toed, and beads from Kordofan. "Water sellers pass with brazen saucers tinklinjr; Hajjis in the doorways tell their amber beads; Buy a lnmj) of turcjiioise, a sciiuitar, a neckerchief Worked with rose and saffron for a lovely lady's needs. 200 ASIA " Here we pass the gold-smiths, coiijier, brass, and silver-smiths, All a-claug aud jingle, all a-glint aud gleam ; Here the silkeu webs hang, shimmering, delicate, Softrhued as an afterglow and melting as a dream. " Buy a little blue god brandishing a scepter, Buy a dove with coral feet and pearly breast, Buy some ostrich feathers, silver shawls, perfume jars, Buy a stick of incense for the shrine that you love best." It seems queer to be in a place devoted to sli()[)piiig' and l)aro-aiiis and st'c no wonuMi around. No ladies of the upper class and few of any station of life ever go to a bazaar. Their husbands or other male relatives do their sliopping for them, and they drive as good bargains as the women possibly could. Tlie sun is nearly down, and we must hasten away, as the bazaar closes at sunset and tlie merchants are already beginning to put u[) tlie shutters. The little shops have neither windows nor doors. In the daytime the whole front is open, and the merchant sits cross-legged m the midst of liis goods. Perhaps you are wondering what he does in winter, for, though the summer days are intensely hot, the winter days are very cold. It would make you laugh to walk through the bazaar in cold weather. You might think that you were walking through a ward in a hospital. The merchants are sitting a little farther back in their booths than in the summer time, and each one has the lower part of his body covered with a heavy quilt. Under this, near his feet, is a pan of charcoal, and the heat of the glowing embers confined under the quilt keeps him comfortably warm. CENTRAL ASIA AND ITS PEOPLE 207 Look at that barber plying bis trade in the streets. Per- haps head-shaver would be a better name than barber, as the men never have their beards cut. They keep their heads closely shaved and covered with a loosely folded turban of thin cloth. Fashions change but seldom in the East, and these people have worn the white turban, and the long robe with its loose girdle ever since the time of Mohammed. Having seen something of one of the little towns of Turkestan, we will now go to one of its great cities. Tashkend, more than eleven hundred miles from our starting place at Krasnovodsk, is the largest city of Central Asia. As we ride from the station we notice first of all the very wide streets and the gurgling streams on either side, which, though pleasant enough in the daytime, are the homes of so many frogs that sleep is impossible until one gets used to their noise. No street could be made too wide for the crowd in an Eastern city. What queer-looking people they are ! We shall never get used to the wliite turbans crowning the dark faces, the loose robes and wide sashes, the bright- colored, close-fitting caps and big fur hats, and the shape- less gray cloaks and thick veils of the women. Look at the people on horseback. There goes a Russian otlicer on a splendid prancing horse, and here comes a donkey carry- ing a countryman with iiis two small boys behind him. A velvet-footed camel swings silently by with two black- bearded natives on its back, swaying as they ride. That little i'ougli-(<)at<'