NOTES ON KANSU 187 



to cope with the scanty rainfall an ingenious method is in 

 use by the farmers. The surface of the soil is covered with 

 4 or 5 inches of gravel, and the crops come up through this. 

 The gravel prevents desiccations of the soil, and perhaps 

 helps the earlier ripening of the grain. It has to be renewed 

 every 30 or 40 years, and the effort is so beneficial that the 

 great labour involved is cheerfully undertaken, and newly 

 gravelled land will fetch almost as high a price as irrigated 

 land. The gravel is obtained from deposits mainly, and only 

 rarely from river beds. In some cases the deposit beds are 

 very deep and the gravel is brought up in buckets as out of 

 a well, but more often it is carried on men's shoulders. This 

 peculiar method is said to have been originated some 

 hundreds of years ago by a man who noticed how well the 

 grass grew in the gravel turned up with the roots of a fallen 

 tree. I wonder if there is any other part of the world where 

 this is done? Possibly the "dry farming" in America has 

 the same principle behind it. 



Huge waterwheels are erected along the course of the 

 Yellow River to draw up water to a sufficient level to put it 

 upon the land. Some are 70 feet high, and consist of a hub 

 and spokes, at the outer of which there is a series of paddles 

 and buckets, all of which are of wood. As the wheel revolves 

 the buckets are carried up filled, and empty themselves into 

 a trough that leads into the fields. The mechanism is simple 

 but effective. Some of these erections are worth hundreds 

 of pounds. 



Another interesting thing is the coal mine, and one who 

 has climbed down the miles of steps into the part where the 

 miners are working is not likely soon to forget the experience. 

 Each step is the lower side of a hexagonal frame that 

 supports the tunnel, and the deeper the mine goes the more 

 of course the steps. At the same time the main shaft is 

 being sunk a parallel air shaft is also being sunk, and there 

 are frequent passages connecting them. Notwithstanding 

 the air at the bottom is foul and almost intolerable, and the 

 weird sight of the naked figures of the long queue of carriers, 

 each with his basket on his back, crouching in the tunnel till 

 his turn comes — men from all parts of China, many blind, 

 some runaway rogues, others poor to a degree, leaves an 

 indelible impression on the mind. 



Another peculiar plant must be referred to, for the ex- 

 planation of which any book on bacteriology may be consulted. 

 The gardeners tend their pear trees with great care. Here 

 indeed are to be found perhaps the best pears in China — and 

 each year they scrape off the bark (doubtless to remove insects 

 and grubs) and then cover the bare underbark with a layer 



