National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

> > > >
Color New!IIIF Color HighRes Gray HighRes PDF   Japanese English
0434 Across Asia : vol.1
Across Asia : vol.1 / Page 434 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

New!Citation Information

doi: 10.20676/00000221
Citation Format: Chicago | APA | Harvard | IEEE

OCR Text

 

C. G. MANNERHEIM

This happens most frequently in July, when the crops have been gathered and the water is not distributed through the ariqs. A mile from the village there is a stone marking the boundary between Chia-yu-kuan and Suchow. 2 2/3 miles further on there are a few houses known as Ting-chia-pa, among which another dry water channel winds its way. After another 3 I /2 —4 miles we reached the limit of the Suchow oasis which in this place takes the form of a narrow strip of scattered trees coming from the north, with here and there an isolated house and its fields. The road curves round the point of the tilled area. On the right there was still a strip of the same barren plain, intersected by many branches of the river Pei-to-ho, flowing from the south. The main group of the oasis lies on the other side of it. The long brownish grey wall of Suchow was visible on its edge. We crossed 7 arms of the same river in a pronounced easterly direction in the course of i 2/3 of a mile. The main arm is 2 fathoms wide with a firm bottom of gravel and a depth of 0.25 —0.3 m. The boundary of the oasis runs in a SW—NE direction here. We rode past the ruins of a temple destroyed during the Dungan revolt. On the right a couple of miserable huts, along the road a few trees; it all looked poverty-stricken. We reached the N gate of the town I 1 /3 of a mile from the boundary of the oasis. A yamen and a small group of houses with some shops, among which an ariq or an arm of the river flowed, lie close to it. The distance covered to-day was 18-18 1 /2 miles. The Chinese estimate it at 70 li.

The whole distance from Ansi must be considered a good road. Where the ground seemed marshy, it is said not to impede traffic even in spring. The rivers, with the exception of one or two, do not present any obstacle either. In some places the road is no wider than the axle of an arbah, but for the greater part it is any width you like. Now and then the ground is rather stony and in crossing spurs of the mountains it is trying for heavily laden carts.

December 6th.

Suchow.

The town, surrounded by walls of 7-8 fathoms in height, is tremendously impressive, rising from the almost bare bank of the river Pei-ta-ho in front of it. In a N—S direction it extends for scarcely 2/3 of a mile, in a W—E direction for quite a mile and is continued by a slightly lower wall. A perfectly new three-storeyed »kulo» tower, painted yellow, green and red, under which the main streets cross, stands in the middle of the town. In the NW corner there is a group of temples. The principal one is called »Ta chung miao», taking its name from an unusually large bell. It rises in several terraces high above the level of the wall and looks very ornamental. In a smaller and less pretentious one the traditional wings on either side of the front courtyard are occupied by a number (quite a couple of hundred) of clay figures, painted in bright colours and about 1 m in height, representing scenes from the 12 hells of the Chinese. The 12 gods of hell, larger than life-size, sit along the walls in 12 larger niches, each with 2 heiduks with terrifying faces by their sides. There are white-bearded ancients, who sit watching with the mildest of expressions the horrors being perpetrated at their feet, and red-bearded giants, apparently burning to leap down from their niches, consumed with desire to torture some poor sinner to death with their own hands. Horrible scenes are depicted on the floor, everything being

428