no A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



Shih Hwang-ti (he who commenced building the Great Wall) 

 about 220 B.C. It extends from Chengtu in a south-westerly 

 direction to Kiung Chou, and thence to remote Lhassa. Other 

 highways connect the provincial capital with Chungking, 

 the great mart on the Yangtsze River to the south-east ; Kuan 

 Hsien in the west, and the Marches of the Mantzu beyond. 

 Roads of secondary importance link these highways with 

 other roads and connect the capital with all the principal 

 cities of the plain and regions beyond. Most of the roads were 

 originally paved with one or two slabs of stone laid lengthwise 

 down the middle, with bare earth on either side. The constant 

 wheel-barrow traffic, a feature of the entire region, has worn 

 deep grooves into these slabs. All too frequently the slabs 

 have disappeared altogether, leaving unpaved long stretches 

 of roadway. In dry weather these roads are dusty, but easy 

 to travel ; in wet weather they are from ankle to knee-deep 

 in sheer mud. Often they are practically impassable, and 

 travelling over them in ordinary rainy weather is an experience 

 beyond words to describe. They illustrate admirably the 

 contrariety of things which obtain in China generally. Here 

 in the wealthiest region of the west, if not of the whole of 

 China, the average road is of the meanest width, and in an 

 abominable state of repair. There is much talk of the need 

 of railways in China, — true, they are needed badly, but good 

 highways, roads, are an infinitely greater want. The highways 

 and byways on the Chengtu Plain are a disgrace to the entire 

 population of this fertile, wealthy region. " What is every- 

 body's business is nobody's business " is a saying that is as 

 applicable in China as in Western lands. The roads exist for 

 the good and welfare of all, but it is nobody's real business to 

 protect them ; they are, in consequence, neglected by aU — 

 jieasants, farmers, officials, and gentry alike. 



Mean as these roadways are, they are spanned by hundreds 

 of large honorary portals and memorial arches, mostly con- 

 structed of red, or more rarely grey, sandstone, or occasionally 

 of wood. In the vicinity of the more wealthy cities (Han 

 Chou, for example) these portals and arches are extraordinarily 

 abundant. Many are masterpieces of Chinese architecture. 

 All are well built and covered with sculptures in relief, re- 



