7o6 



The National Geographic Magazine 



Wheelbarrow Carrying Freight and Passenger, 

 Shanghai. Photo by 6. P. Austin 



tering motion imparted to the chair by 

 the long flexible poles on which it rests 

 is anything but agreeable to the inex- 

 perienced. 



Probably more freight and more pas- 

 sengers are transported in China by the 

 wheelbarrow than by any other land 

 method. The wheelbarrow there used 

 differs from that used bv us, in the fact 



that the wheel is set in the center 

 and thus supports practically the 

 entire load, while the handles are 

 supported in part by a strap or 

 rope over the shoulders of the 

 man who operates it. As a re- 

 sult, the wheelbarrow coolie in 

 China will transport nearly a half 

 ton on his vehicle. 



Wheelbarrows are much used 

 in the country, where the, roads 

 are but little developed, and it is 

 said that passengers sometimes 

 make the entire trip from Shang- 

 hai to Pekin, a distance of 600 

 miles, by barrow. A two-pas- 

 senger barrow will make about 

 20 miles per day, and the coolie is content 

 with a pay of about 20 cents per day, or 

 an average of about one-half a cent per 

 mile for each passenger, or about one- 

 fourth of the low passenger rate recently 

 fixed for the railroads by several of the 

 States of this country. Yet, I presume, 

 most of us would prefer to pay the two- 

 cent rate in a comfortable passenger coach 



a 



Street Scene in Hongkong. Photo by O. P. Austin 



