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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



MAKING A HOLIDAY OE RICE-HULLING 



The ability of the Chinese to work long hours with little food is 

 well known, but no less remarkable is their ability to smile from 

 morning to night, in spite of troubles which would worry less 

 philosophical souls. Although this Chinese worker has looked up 

 from his task to register a smile, he has not lost one revolution of 

 his rice-huller. The lower wheel is fixed and the upper, mounted 

 on a rude wooden axle, is turned by a raised rod. Two small ropes 

 suspended from a joist above the wooden "millstones" help to steady 

 the crank. 



habit of carrying heavy jars of water on 

 their heads gave to the women of the 

 Holy Land a queenly carriage. At one 

 of the roadside springs we halted, and 

 after he had looked over a score or so of 

 water-girl candidates for ■queenly honors, 

 he was the most disappointed man imag- 

 inable. Then the cry of "All aboard!'' 

 rang out and the party was about to con- 

 tinue the ride to Samaria. 



Around a curve of the road there 

 glided a young woman who fitted per- 



fectly the mental pic- 

 ture of my friend. 

 Her raven hair was 

 neatly parted on as 

 fair a forehead as 

 ever carried jet black 

 brows above soft 

 brown eyes. ITer oval 

 face was satiny olive. 

 with a flush of red in 

 the cheeks ; her teeth 

 were pearls ; her nose 

 was finely molded ; 

 but the memorable 

 feature was that she 

 really had the form 

 and carriage of an 

 uncrowned queen. 



My companion made 

 a grab for his cam 1 

 e r a, commandeered 

 my slight knowledge 

 of Arabic, and started 

 off in the direction of 

 his vision in a way 

 that would have 

 frightened a less ca- 

 pable woman. She 

 consented to let us 

 snap our cameras at 

 her, and we dashed 

 back to the carriage. 

 A mile farther on, my 

 friend gave a cry of 

 chagrin. He had for- 

 gotten to withdraw 

 the dark slide from 

 his camera. I had not 

 shared his enthusiasm 

 to such a disastrous 

 extent, with the re- 

 sult that a picture 

 of our. fair model ap- 

 peared in The Geo- 

 graphic several months ago. 



One of the vexing problems for the pho- 

 tographer is the matter of tips ("back- 

 sheesh"). My own rule is never to offer 

 or give tips to those who let me take their 

 photographs unless they are professional 

 beggars, hardened in their vice. The 

 tourist centers of the world have been 

 spoiled by those who have distributed ex- 

 travagant largesse in return for photo- 

 graphic rights. One can be given privi- 

 leges that he cannot buy. 



