University of Nanking - Linguist Yearbook (Nanking, China)

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THE LINGUIST Gl be passed by as worthless, here were put to most intensive use. 'lfhe very ground upon which the farmers' rude straw-thatched, niud houses stood, 300111011 to be begrudgingly given up. Even the spaces between and around the grave mounds were pursued by the relentless hand of necessity. But the dead reign supreme! Such is the reverence-or perhaps I should Say fear-with which this nation of ancestor worshippers regards these departed spirits that their graves lie unmolested clotting the plain, Oeeupying vast areas of valuable land, and scattered over the fields in 1 V Y P l'l10l0 'Ill .llisxiuli I'lm!o Bllrriull Human Labor, the Cheapest Commodity such a way as seriously to interfere with agricultural operations. Millions go hungry and even starve to death because the living will not use what the dead cannot. For an hour or more wc watched this swiftly Clluuging panorama Outside until we were suddenly recalled to the limfl of the living by the tea-boy asking if we would have til-fin. Yes, illdeed, we would. Which way is the dining-ear ? I asked. Oh ' - serve out here, was the reply in broken English.

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60 COUNTRY PEOPLE exclaiiming over the swiftly changing scenery without. And indeed it was strange ! For a time it seemed as if the whole country-side was one vasli sea of mounds. On every hand as far as the eye could. see, these graSS- covered hillocks dotted the plain like so many stacks of hay, often S0 close together that one might easily step from one to the next. As a rule they rose only two or three feet above the level of the plain but some l l f ' i ' V' ,. .,..,....j' f ' 'li 3 1-Y- The Land of the Dead towcred ten or twelve feet high, measuring twenty feet or more across their base and were surrounded by raised rims of earth to prevent erosion. For the rest of the journey and indeed from that time to the present I have never for more than a moment been out of sight of -these grave lands of the ancestors. China-a land into which one-fourth of the human race is crowded and yet a land where the dead far outnumber the living. l As we watched these scenes sweeping endlessly by the window, the overwhelming pity of that fact in its effect upon the present generation was borne in upon us with relentless force. Everywhere. numberless evidences of strictest economy stood out stark and bare before our eyes : fields crowded up to the very edge of the track: roads swallowedlup till nothing but the slenderest foot-path l'em21iI16d. Everywhere cultiva- tion of the most intensive kind prevailed, leaving not a square foot of available land unused. Hillsides and stony ground which at home would

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62 COUNTRY PEOPLE The table between us was soon spread, and set with silver-it might be nearer the truth to say nickel--and we were speedily introduced to a siX course English dinner served in elegant style. Before we were through our attention was arrested by a weird Chinese melody sung in a high nasal falsetto. Looking about for the source of the disturbance, we were much amused to discover a somewhat portly Chinese gentleman, wh0, having iinished his repast, was lying Hat on his back-or as nearly so as the cramped proportions of the seat would permit. There, basking in the sun, with his head resting on the window ledge and a paper propped against his knees, he was droning out the day's news, improvising the Photo by Jlisston Photo Bm-can A Flooded Rice Field music as he went along. Several Others sitting near were apparently listening-in, free of charge. Tiffin over, we again turned our attention to the strangeness of the scenery without. By this time the sense of depression at the sight of so many grave-mounds, gradually dispersed by the very monotony of the scene. Other novel features caught our attention. Perhaps the most striking of these was the vast nllnlber' of canals, water-ways, and ponds. It is difficult to estimate the number and extent of these water-ways but