THE EDEN OF THE FLOWERY REPUBLIC 363 



it. The French have long planned to ex- flag, for a thirty days' race to the city of 



tend their Tongking- Yunnan line north- Chung-king, and reap the joy of finishing 



west to Chung-king and Cheng-tu. The with the Stars and Stripes waving a 



Belgian syndicate has contracted for a salute to a worthy foeman less than one 



line southwest from Singan to Cheng-tu, hundred feet behind at the end of the 



which will connect the province with the five-hundred-mile journey, 

 railway systems of northeast China and 



Manchuria; and the Four-nation Hu- chung-king and beyond 



Kwang agreement, in which America has Chung-king, at which we have arrived, 



a share, calls for a line from Hankow to i s a wa lled city with 600,000 inhabitants, 



Cheng-tu. situated at the confluence of the Yangtze 



A company of American engineers has and the Kia-ling rivers, and is, through 



completed the survey of this last named the fiction of a foreign treaty, an open 



line and a start has been made on its con- seaport, notwithstanding the fact that it 



struction. When this is completed it will i s I)500 miles from the coast and 1,000 



be supper in Ichang, breakfast in Chung- f ee t above the level of the sea. It is now 



king, and tiffin in Cheng-tu. the head of steam navigation for nearly 



THE spirit OF THE orient departs when a doze u n steamers controlled by the Chi- 



THE locomotive ENTERS ?£ se ' the u seat of ma r r itime customs for the 



West, the point of distribution for all 



Time, which in the West is born with western-borne commerce and the assem- 



wings and flies, but in China stands foot- bling depot for all shipments to other 



less, content to crawl, will be saved, and parts of China and foreign lands, 



the Sze-chuan Alps will vie with those of The chief exports to America and other 



Europe as the Mecca of travelers. But countries are naint oils of the tung-tree, 



with the gain will come the loss of the medicines, bristles, feathers, and hides, 



most extraordinary journey in the world, and, of manufactured articles, silks, 

 for the spirit of the Orient departs when ' satins, and crepes of the finest grades, 



the locomotive enters. Confined between its two rivers, this 



Gone will be that growing sense of the city, like New York, is growing into the 



grandeur and majesty of God's creation, air. It has no suburban lines to relieve 



which is experienced as one moves slowly its surplus population, and real estate has 



through these gorges to their climax in accordingly increased in the past decade 



the Woosang Gorge, where thirteen peaks from 100 to 200 per cent in value, making 



rise one above another five thousand feet it profitable to erect fine foreign build- 



into the clouds. ings, in which it excels any purely native 



No longer will there be the thrill of city in China, 



danger overcome, and one will not hear The English, French, German, Japan- 



the weird antiphonal songs of the boat- ese, and Americans have had gunboats 



men as they ply the oar or swing along anchored on its rivers and are competing 



the shore, nor join in their whistled for its trade, with the English in the lead, 



prayer as they call to the spirit-winds for United States trade is represented in 



a favor in the gorges. kerosene, sewing-machines, cigarettes. 



We shall, miss the bang-bang of the patent medicines, hardware, and nails, 

 firecrackers, set off from the rear of the 



boat to loose the grip of the demons that A 30O-mile trip in a sedan-chair 



hold us fast in the rapids, and we shall From Chung-king northwestward 300 



miss the odor of the incense burned at miles to Cheng-tu we travel by sedan- 



the bow as a favor to the gods. chair, borne on the shoulders of two. 



Such passing sights as the trained three, or four bearers, as one's avoirdu- 



cormorant catching fish for his master, pois requires or his Troy weight permits ; 



the gold-washers scouring the gravel for for the rich ride in fours by choice, as 



its gold, and the daily sport of half a do the portly without option, 



hundred men struggling to be the first to In addition to the chair-bearers, the 



devour his morning rice will not be en- foreign traveler requires a coolie to bear 



countered or enjoyed. Neither can we his cot and bedding, another to cany his 



challenge another boat, bearing another food, and an attendant to cook it. A 



