The Rains Soon Undermine The
Pavement, Especially Where It Is Laid On A Steep Incline; Sections Of It
Topple Down
The slope, leaving chasms a yard or more in depth." Where
traveling by water is impossible, sedan chairs are used
To carry
passengers, and coolies with poles and slings transport the luggage and
goods. The distances covered by the sedan chair porters are remarkable,
being sometimes as much as thirty-five miles a day, even on a journey
extending over a month. The transport animals - ponies, mules, oxen and
donkeys - are strong and hardy, and manage to drag carts along the
execrable roads. The ponies are said to be admirable, and the mules
unequaled in any other country. The distances which these animals will
cover on the very poorest of forage are surprising.
The rapid adoption of steamers along the coast and on the Yangtse has
paved the way for railways. Shallow steamers have yet to traverse the
Poyang and the Tungting Lakes, which lie near the Yangtse, and Peiho and
Canton Rivers, as well as many minor streams. It is the railway, however,
that is the supreme necessity. Mr. Colquhoun has pointed out that, except
along the Yangtse for the thousand-odd miles now covered by steamers,
there is not a single trade route of importance in China where a railway
would not pay. Especially would a line from Pekin carried through the
heart of China to the extreme south, along the existing trade routes, be
advantageous and remunerative.
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Page 679 of 704
Words from 184232 to 184481
of 191255
