IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Across Asia : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
C. G. MANNERHEIM
done yet to counteract opium smoking. It was only a few months ago that the decree was published, announcing that all opium smoking was to be abolished in the course of to years. Accessories are sold openly and there are dens for enthusiasts. Opium growing was reduced a few years ago without any pressure on the part of the authorities owing
to bad harvests.
June 23rd. We went on in a NE and NNE direction across the same valley, approaching the E
Yutai hsien. mountain range more and more, but especially the mountains that closed the valley in the N. After 5 li we passed Hsinsiang tsung with 200 houses. to li beyond we reached the town of Tingsiang hsien, a little place full of vegetables and inquisitive people. After 25 li Wan ting tsung with 6o houses and after 35 li Chiatsung with 800. Just beyond the village the road creeps round the foot of a very large mountain, coming from the E, in which conglomerate is prevalent. North of it the road again cuts across a large valley, framed by mountain ranges. It was greyer in colour and seemed to be less inhabited than the valley we had left behind. In both there were numerous burial mounds, the majority with bulb-shaped stone cones stuck into their tops. Now and then we saw some of the large, upright blocks of stone with inscriptions that are the same throughout North China. I had not seen more of them anywhere than here in Northern Shansi. They protrude like weeds. There are very few variations. Either the block of stone with its inscription is stuck into a four-cornered stone slab or into the middle of a rather long-necked tortoise of stone, or else deeply embedded in the niche of a four-cornered brick column. As in all Chinese architecture, the roof or the separately joined upper part is most richly decorated, usually with the figure of a dragon.
At distances of 45 and 55 li we passed Fanlangdjyn with 800 houses and Hangping with 6-70o. After another to li we came to the village of Chao an with only 8o houses, but on the other hand much richer in trees than the former ones. — From this place we travelled for a short time along a sunken road between walls of earth which led us up to the level of the ground and then again downward by an equally slight descent. The rock protruded now and then in the wall of earth. — We were once more in an open plain, which we crossed. On the way we rode across a small water channel that wound in a fairly broad bed of löss. After 7o li Tungyeh cheng with t,000 houses. — Gaolyan, wheat, barley, millet, tchumiza, peas, beans and opium are grown in this neighbourhood. Average crop 3o fold (?). 5 tja own 8o mou each, 20 own 40 mou, 20 own 30-40 mou, the rest 5-10 mou; only a few own less than 5 mou. In the same order the I category owns 5-6 horses, 3-4 donkeys, a few head of cattle and 200 sheep; the II category 2-3 horses, 1-2 donkeys and 35o sheep; the III category 1-2 horses, 1-2 donkeys and to-20 sheep; the IV category 2 donkeys.
We had now reached the nearest mountains. We crossed the first ridge. After ascending gradually along a sunken road we reached the highest point of the ridge, or rather, of the road, not far from a small temple, Lao Wang miao (8o li). Barometer No. t 670.2. The same large, dark mountain ranges were still visible in the E and W that had accompanied the road since yesterday and bounded the valley we had been following. In front
684 (
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