The wonderful waterways of China have been a source of wealth to all and sundry, affording great employment of capital and labour ; and although now railways are being rapidly built, and will doubtless prove of inesti mable value, it is to be hoped that these great waterways will not be allowed to fall into disuse. Here one sees a junk deep in the quiet water moving along under her great sail, there a small sampan, and—sign of the times ! there again a noisy, puffing steam launch, towing her train of native boats, all laden to the water's edge with the various products of this rich land, or conveying in land some of the manufactures of 'Western countries.
We pass through many bridges built of finely dressed stone, some with one span, and others with several, and reminding one strongly of the Venetian bridges ; and I could not help reflecting on how much, in the past, Southern Europe must have borrowed from China, and how things are now reversed, and China is bor rowing from the West. It is but the inevitable swing of the pendulum.
Soon after leaving Mutu, we began to approach a more hilly country, but with great tracts of flat land, through which the waterways ran, fertilising and enrich ing it. The rich yet tender green of springtime showed the luxuriant growth of highly cultivated land—belts of brilliant yellow, the flower of the rape—clumps of trees here and there ; the whole making a beautiful landscape.
On rising ground stands a high pagoda showing out against the. distant hills.
In the fields we could see the industrious people tilling their land, some hoeing and weeding, others carrying liquid from tanks, and spreading it on the soil, while the smell was wafted in the air towards us. Nothing is wasted in China.
This method of intense cultivation by the use of rank manure does not commend itself to the foreigner, who requires to be very careful as to what vegetables he eats, and is often obliged to avoid them altogether, especially salads and uncooked vegetables.
On the banks of the creeks are fitted quaintly formed machines for lifting the water up for irrigation. A long wooden trough is carried down into the water, with a continuous belt with pieces of wood fitting the trough ; some of these are worked by coolies and some larger ones by water buffaloes, and the creaking noise of grinding wood is heard far off in the still evening air as the coolies or animals go their monotonous round.
Here we come to a row of quaint stone structures, widows' monuments, and entrances leading to the tombs of former great ones of the district.
Passing through one village, we had great difficulty to get our boats along between the houses on the canal ; it was so narrow that at times we rubbed along touching houses on both sides, with the natives viewing us from their windows. Heated arguments arose between our coolies and others as to the best method of getting along ; and people crowded on the bridges, to watch our slow progress and criticise us and our belongings. Our
cook would take such an opportunity as this to go ashore and make purchases of chickens, eggs, &c., and join us farther on.
By-and-bye we reached a wide stretch of water near Kwangfoong, the character of which in the Tahu district is somewhat akin to our English Lake district. The hills are rather of the same character, soft and green, and rising to more ruggedness farther up. At Kwang foong is a fine pagoda ; the village is small and unim portant with various temples ; there is a fine three-span bridge crossing the water here, a view of which I give in my picture taken from a mandarin's grave on the hillside.
An attempt was made to shoot some snipe near here, on a flat and marshy island, but the season was late, and the birds not plentiful, so that our larder did not greatly benefit.
We stayed some days in this beautiful neighbour hood, making various excursions, examining temples, and sketching. Our two boats anchored in a snug corner under a hill, where we received visits from many natives, who were especially interested in us at meal-times, and would try to look in at our cabin windows when we were at the•table. But they objected to be photographed or sketched, and a sure way to make them go off was to point a camera at them, or make a pretence of draw ing them, when they would immediately hide their faces while moving away.
Our return journey was by much the same route, but it was just as interesting seeing it all again ; indeed one seemed to enjoy it even more. One object which greatly attracted me was a bridge over the Canal at a small village, Wong-Dong ; on the bridge was a quaint old joss-house. I was able to make a sketch of this, with some cormorant fishing-boats in the foreground. The method of catching fish with cormorants, as far as I could see, was as follows : Spars project over the side of the boat, and on these are perched the birds ; the fisherman has a light cane, and with this lightly touches the bird he wishes to go, and it immediately dives for a fish ; on the bird's return to the boat, the fisherman takes the fish. A ring placed round the cormorant's neck pre vents it swallowing the fish.
The Woo Men Bridge at Soochow is another and one of the finest of these beautiful buildings crossing the Grand Canal, cleanly built of face stone, and taking a graceful sweep upwards and over the great arch.
Soochow is rather like Hangchow, but not, I think, so beautiful, in spite of the Chinese proverb which I mention in my Hangchow chapters. The streets are narrow, with good shops, and the usual bustling crowds. By the way these narrow streets seem to me to give a greatly exaggerated idea of the population of Chinese cities, the people being so crowded together in the narrow lanes.
We had a look at the famous pagoda in this city. It is of great age, nine storeys in height, with an immense circumference at the base. It is built with double walls, the staircase occupying the space between.