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0679 Across Asia : vol.1
アジア横断 : vol.1
Across Asia : vol.1 / 679 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000221
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RECORDS OF THE JOURNEY

said not to exceed 3o per cent, which is lower than in Shensi and Kan Su. — Trains are se.rched by specially appointed men and suspicion is enough to lead to a personal search, in which both opium and smoking accessories are confiscated. Parcels suspected of containing opium are also examined at the post offices.

The budget of the province is said to be as follows:

Revenue.   Expenditure.

Land tax     3,100,000 taels Civil and military mandarins   300,000 taels

Opium tax     600,000 »   Maintenance of troops     3-400,000 »

Likin on various goods   1,200,000 »   Schools     1,200,000 »

Subsidies to the province of

Sinkiang     4-500,00o »

War contribution     5-600,00o »

Embankments against floods     4-500,00o »

Sundries for maintenance and education of the poor, medi-

cine against opium etc.    200,000 »

To Peiping     2,000,000 »

Total 4,700,000 taels

In the company of my new friends at Kai-feng, the railway manager Zephyr Paris, June 5th. a young Belgian, and an energetic Norwegian of the same age, Mr Blix, who recently Chantufu. undertook the management of the provincial posts, I shook the dust of Kai-feng-fu from my feet this morning. The monotonous journey to Chen-chow was made shorter by the unceasing flow of talk of the controller of the train, a retired French marine. — After waiting for two hours in the scorching sun at Chen-chow station I was at last able to board the train from Hankow to Peiping, heartily introduced by my late protectors to their colleagues on this train. — The heat in the carriage was insufferable. The open window admitted clouds of dust that could have competed successfully with the dust on the railways of Transcaspia.

The most remarkable part of the journey is the bridge across the Yellow River. It is 3 km long. The line runs for a short distance along the S bank of the river and then turns almost at right angles and reaches the bridge after passing through a short tunnel. The bed of the river is approximately of the same width. The water was low at present and flowed in three arms, the N one being the largest and navigable. A small flotilla of barge-like smacks was moored to the bank. The level of the water is said to be extremely variable and at times half-an-hour is said to be sufficient to make an all-devouring sea of this calm river. Several junks are said to get crushed against the stone pillars of the bridge every year. I was told that there were men whose occupation consisted of lying in wait and plundering each boat at the moment, when it was abandoned by its crew. The latter are said to be completely passive and never to appeal to the law for help. — At a short distance from the bank we passed an embankment of considerable dimensions that acts as a protection for the plain, when the river rises. Half-ruined clay huts, intended for watchmen, are visible at

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