University of Nanking - Linguist Yearbook (Nanking, China)

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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

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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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THE LINGUIST as I have since read that Professor King, While traveling over this same road Wbually counted between two stations 162 miles apart, 593 canals. An average, he says, of more than three to the mile. The remarkable faflt about this is that we passed not a single one along which there was not Some evidence of constant use. Along the banks wooden-chain irrigation pumps operated by human foot-power raised the water, to flood adjacent rice fields. In the absence of adequate roads, what goods were transported along the foot-paths must be carried either by wheelbarrow or 4 Photo by Mission Photo Bllfddn 'A Grist Mill by being strapped to poles slung between the shoulders of two men. The great mass of transportation, however, was carried on by means Of this intricate system of water-ways. Numerous Chinese lunks: each with two large eyes painted on their grotesquely up-curved PI'0WS 'f0r the Chinese Claim that logically a junk must be able to see where it is going-Were Pl'0pelled either by poles or by men tracking the 08111911 banks, TOPQS draw!! taut over their shoulders. These and the smaller flat-boftomed b09J'GS ladened with goods of all kinds and descriptionS, Plied Ceaselessly UP and d0Wn this net-Work of water-ways. Oceasiwlally We passed groups of