Evening Star Newspaper, May 30, 1926, Page 44

Forbidden Places watch my shadow a8 it left the marble platform and moved again across the American Makes Old World's Romantic Spots Visited Include Summit of Gibraltar, Apex of Oldest Pyramid, and Ethereal Tomb and the Taj Mahal—The Moon's Evil Gleam on the Lion of Rock—From Mid- night to Dawn on Kheops—T'reading on Hallowed Stones—"A Miracle of Sky, Verdure, Ivory.” : |the shroud was lifted from the sky, as the moon glinted through the 'boughs upon the sleeping garden. Then, as I watched, the moon float- ed upward from the trees to commune in secret with the phanton Taj. moon-blanched park. On a marble bench I sat beside the deepest lily-pool and looked at the gréat white blos- soms drifting among the reflected stars of an Indian sky. And as I looked there seemed to come from {ts depths a call, the same that had twice drawn me powerless into the Taj: “Come to my carees, oh, mortal—bathe your body in my cool- ness—float upon my tranquil mirror —wash your mind of consclousness.” Only an insomniac owl watched me¢ remove my clothes, or heard the fain ripple as I dropped into the alabaster pool. This was a page from sthe Arablan Nights, a reversion to the fabled luxury of anclent emperors— this, at last, was romance. It was an hour before dawn. The moon had reached the peak of iis course and was shining with unearti 1y brilllance. Alone, in all this super- natural beauty, resting by the pool before the phantom Taj, I feit mysel! transported to some previous exist- ence that knew meither time nor space nor substance. 1 glanced up to find day streaking the east. There was a rush of wind, a rustle of leaves . . Suddenly I was aware of being bitterly cold. Realities began to emerge before my eyes. The gardens lay about me, stark and tangible. The Taj—had turned again—to stone. In a fever of dread and perplexity I flung on my clothes, hurried to the tower gate. As I passed underneath Bllvered, the mausoleum emerged from shadow, and hypnotic in new radiance beckoned to me once more. Heedless of consequences I crept from my green grotté—there was fio sound. On tiptoe I mounted a stalr- way to the dats;—there was no chal- lenge, for the sentries had been touch- ed by magic, too, and slept .pro- foundly. Higher gleamed the Taj, a harmonious pile of ! | ] masonry in the sunshine of the mdrn- rose the moon; fairer ing, a specter underneath the stars, now transfigured to a gleaming gos samer, an airy butble that might evaporate into ether while one looked upon it. Unaware of the passing moments, T watched the shadows move in.the deep recesses of the facade, until, un- able to resist the lure of the interior, I turned to the main portal. Stealth- fly I crept around the sleeping se: tries, softly crossed the threshold, and entering stood beslde the faint-lit tombs of the Shah-in-8hah and Arje- mand. 3 A bronze lantern hung by a chain from the obscurity of the dome above, and the light shining through its perforated sides cast fantastic shadows on the carven walls. Forgetful of sentries, I whistled a subdued note and listened to it ringing and rering- I try to slip by, or should I do thé timid, commonplace thing and wait until - tomorrow for officlal passes? ‘While I debated the subject, the moon { ured its evil gleam upoén me. “Yiear Yield “to this exquisite temptation,” it whispered. 1 plunged. There wa# no challenge. I was safe inside. With- my ‘heart pounding in my chest I raced up the winding road untfl it came to a branch path before which there was a faintly legible sign: “Positively for- bidden except on call of duty.” Surely this h led to something in- Upon his graduation = from Princeton, young Mr. Halliburton -he s now 25 years old—was of- fercd as a present by his family & de luxe trlp around the world. Rut, having traveled that way be- fore, he chose to go “on his own.” without financial protection. And s0 he went laughing, beating and fighting his way. facing dangers at which older men would have quailed. Last week, in the first of a series of five articles, Mr. Halliburton CARAVAN OF CAMELS CREPT HAVE-LAUNCHED FORTa 1N THE_AIR; A RED BUN?OSE NILE. IT WAS swarmed about the station, were no- where to be seen. Splendld! I would related his conquest of the Matter- wmore lives have been lost than on any other Furopean mountain. While climbing hand over hand up away from the cliff wall and for a few moments hung at the end of a rope over a 5,000-foot precipice, In “The Roval Road to Ro- mance” Mr. Halliburton has re counted other perilous and, at BY RICHARD HALLIBURTON. IBRALTAR was now my goal “Pillar of Hercules,” beyond which they dared not sail #:st they come to the edge the place ®here Tarlk, the first Moor- ish chieftain, landed for the invasion ot Spain, &nd the point from which Africa, 700 years later; Gibraltar, the scene of 14 dramatic sieges dating from Phoenician times to the Na- Rock, the impregnable lord of the Mediterransan. the universal symbol of indomitability: Gibraltar the ro- As I ferrted across the Bay of Alge- iras just ax twilight what should rise serenely fram behind the massive Pale and mysterious, it seemed to roll for a few moments caressingly vong Gibraltar's ridge, and then heavens. T began to wonder if here, in such iwonlight. on one of the world's most discreet adventure was not awaiting me. Prophetic instinct whispered that there was. inviting' that January night. Having located inexpensive quarters on the top floor of a hotel obscure enough to late dinner and strolied out into Main reet, leaving my hat and topcoat hehind. started climbing aimlessly along the drive that zigzags up the town side of the rock. There was an unusual Winter moon had been developing brilfance with every passing hour, and now. high above, it illuminated horn, in whose attemnpted ascent an fce-covered cable he was blown until he could be pulled to safety. times, amusing experiences. ibraitar, the ancients’ »f the werld and fall off; Gibraltar, the last of h race returned to poleonic wars; Gibraltar, the Lion of mantie. head of the Lion but a full moon. gently take flight into the fading dramatic stages, some delightfully in- The Gibraltar air seemed unusually <atisfy my dwindling funds, I ate a Not meaning to wander fair' away, I clarity of vision that night, for the the conflict between ‘lho marshaled A ie. myriads of sturs and the hick clus- ter of the colored lanterns hanging rom invisible tug and battleship that dotted the Bay of Algeciras. : This exquisite view of sea and city cuifilled every expectation, and mi me glad that for it 1 had braved the clemients. My purpose accomplished, ! #as on the point of vielding to the «old and lateness, and turning back, but on such a night there was mad- rees in the moonlight—a sudden and :tense desire to reach the sacrosanct summit of the Rock took hold of me. My suspiclon that strangers were not sllowed to wander about. the npper reaches after dark was cen- yirmed when I bumped into an ifn- pike fence 15 feet high, that said in cery eloquent terms: “Thus far, :tranger, and no farther. Below this noint there b;. only an !nl:::tlflol:&l .P‘.Lml ., =bove--the grea! Al most_significant fortress in the world.” The gate through which the road ntered_forbidden ground was lod by & sentry-box and a small hut, where @ light Shining through the window gave evidence of & guard. However, the gate was wide open, and I walked up to it. The box was empty, but T could see the British ~oldiets in the. hut through the open door, 1t was a tense moment. Should teresting! I followed it as it climbed another 500 feet, and led me, breath- less from exercise and suspense, to the very flagstaff atop Rockgun Point, the northern peak, 1,360 feet above the sparkling Mediterranean. In this soaring eagle’s nest I found a cdniouflaged 9-inch fieldpiece. I jumped upon it, stood on tiptoe at its muzgle, and reached up into the star- strewn sky, feeling that I needed only to léap out into space in order to sail away as the moon had salled at twilight from this very pinnacle. I {wanted to give &' wild intoxicated shout. * x ok ok '‘HE Wintér wind swept angrily against my hatless head. But the wind—the wind—Ilet it blow! It filled my lungs; it drove me to deride a force so contemptible. Was I not enthroned on the very symbol of in- vincibility? Was I not dominating two oceans and two continents, and consorting with the planets in the sky? For those moments of ecstasy 1 was no longer an earthly vagabond—no, no— 1 was altnighty Jove, commanding the universe from the summit of this British Mount Olympus. Unable longer to endure the cold, I hurried down the forbidden path, an arriving' at the gate found the entry not in his box but leaning comfortably against the doorpoet of the guard- house. I posted myself in a shadow and waited patiently for over an hour for him to disappear inside. At last, about 2 o'clock, the un- suspicious soldier became restless, paced {dly up and down, and presently sauntered into his hut, giving me an opportunity to escape. Once more I slipped stealthily through the wide open gate, feeling sure at last of a fact long suspected—that I was the devil's pet protege. Next day, armed with a pass, I re- tracced my steps of the evening before, was di halted at the gate, and after much ning, stamping and checking was allowed to visit the galleries with a military guide. “‘I8 a stranger ever allowed up here after the evening gun?” 1 asked my companion, still unable to fathom my experience of the previous evening. “Indeed not!” was the emphatic re- ply. “This is a fortress, you know, and the military authorities are very strict. It's a pity, too, for the view from Rockgun Point in the evening is wonderful.” “It must be,” I said non-commit- tallv, “But what would happen if one " A | i were?cllllh! on top at night without & Y m-'on he would never get by the sen- es. An opening remark in one of Prof. Rogers’ lectures at Princeton on An- ade | cient Orjental Literature was that “the land of Egypt is 5,000 years and 5,000 miles away.” I recalled this statement when the white walls of Alexan began to peep over the horizon, and I realized that t Was only 10 miles away and not 6,000. Arriving at Cairo' soon afterward and obtaining quarters at the Y. M. G. A. dormitory, I knew that some- thing stirring awaited, for two lunar months passed since Gibraltar, and now again the moon ilumtnated the city and flooded the Nile.’ A mental picture of the moonlit ‘was presented to me for consideration. At once the idea captl- vated my fancy, and I stralned my eyes beyond the rim’of the sprawling city, across the Nile, to the edge of the Libyan desert, where I knew they lay @eserted. It took but a moment to drag a blanket from my bed, seize my camera, and by the last tram-car head for Kheops, oh top of which I was deter- mined to d the night. L ley terminal showed no the and and camels, which T had always heard not be annoyed by importuhate guldes. Greatly relieved by this discovery, 1 set off in search of the ramids, which were not difficult to find, espe- cially on puch « night as this, for they rose above everything and shut out a great slice of brilliant Heaven with their acrea and black mountains of stone. In the dim light, however, T failed | to locate the well-beaten trail which 1 knew led up one corner of Kheops, even though I examined all four sides, two of which were intensely fllum- inated by the moon and two deep in shadow. But for an armed guard here and thers scarcely another per- son other than myself was to be found within the entire area of this awesome graveyard. I saw little to choose from by way | of route to the top, so started up the side facing the Nile, lifting the blanket and camera one block ahead and then climbing after them. Some five millenniums ago the surface of these gigantic tombs were smooth— triangular blocks, long since removed, having_ fitted into the angles between succeeding steps. The condition of the surface today does not differ greatly from the origi- nal condition. The decaying stone and_accumulated debris have again filled the angles, so that in another few thousand years this hewn stone monurment will be only a symmetri. cally shaped hlll*ot‘m'nd and gravel. 3 AS 1 clambered from ledge to ledge, this waste matter was frequently dislodged and sent clattering down the slope, making such a noise that I ex- pected to have the police from rush to the spot, fearful that some one was trying to steal their prize Pyra- mid. Later I found on the northeast corner the clear and stair-stepped trail used by all tourists, but I was now de- termined to blaze a virgin track since it added novelty to the adventure. Twenty minutes’ climbing and I stopped for breath, to find myself only four steps from the summit. A scram- ble and a jump and four steps were three—then two—then one—and then behold, I stood on top! Many, many pens have described the panorama seen at midday from the peak of Kheops; few have de- scribed it at midnight. The desert that lay behind had lost all distinct- ness of outline and had become a float- ing sea of sand, a stretch of indefinite softness. The line between arld waste and tropical verdure might have been cut with a knife; there was no gradual i were treading thoughtlessi: | which the Emperor last saw his be- { loved wife's memorial. {threaded our way out of the unlit S i H'[{(l"/’ “STEALTHILY I CREPT AROUND G SOFTLY CROSSED THE OLD.” shading ‘of one into the other. The grollnn vegetation along the river tolerates no fraternizing with the desert. T was exposed to the sweep of the night wind, and only by herolc use of the blanket could I keep warm. As for sleep, that was impossible. who would have cared to sleep with and antiquity hovering The droves of annoying guides had gone to bed; the droves of tourists were safe at Shepherd's; 6,000~ yearold Kheops was mine aldne. About 4 o’'clock the moon dropped behind the Second Pyramid, and, hid- den by three million cubic yards of stone, turned this mountainous pile into a black triangle with two glowing edges. An hour later this soft light disappeared onunl;. leaving the tri- angle an enarmous bulk without shape or _significance. Not long after, from a tiny village far below, a cock crew, indicating that the eastern horizon was cl ng. Once more the hamlets and palm trees began to take shape’'as the light gathered strength and color; the vast patch-work of tilled land lay hidden under a purple earth-clinging mist the two needle-like minarets of the Mo- hammed All Mosque dt Cairo plerced the sky-line. A rainbow would have departed in shame ¢ould it have seen the sunrise colors on city and rviver and garden and desert. A long caravan of 50 camels, stealing a march on the early dawn, crept noiselessly inland from a distant oasis; a hawk launched forth into the air from his perch not far be- low me: the shouts of the donkey drivers broke the stillness; a red sun rose over the Nile, It was day. About 9 0'clock the heat of a blasing 'h myselt from sun me to thege thoughts and hastened n‘ re- pAnor- - trest from the everchanging Cairo THE Taj Mahal had been deified in ama that 1 had looked upon for nine hours. 1 desce; along the clearly marked corner trail, ascending tourists stared in amazement at the strange apparition passing them—a solitary hatless man with sleepy eyes ahd disheveled hair, dragging a blanket behind him. Had they watched this odd figure they would have seen him clump wearily down to Mother Earth, wan- der over to a grove of trees beside a ban] lagoon, spread his blan- in the shade and fall asleep be- neath the sheltering palms. L my mind’ ever since that child- hood day when I had first looked upon an oil painting of the fairy tomb and read the immortal story its creation. It had always been a dream castle to me, something so fab- ulous it could not have dimensions and weight and locati so lovely it could not exist outside of picture books. Poring for hours at a time over something these very books I had como to revere this building above all others and had made a divinity of Arjemand, the Mogul princess who became the Km- press Muntaz Mahal, whose beauty and perfection it commemorates. Facts and legends came to me now in a jumbled mass, as I stood in the fortress tower and watched the great dome disappear into the night. The follies of the Emperor Shah Jehan, who built the Taj, were forgotten, ‘What mattered the number of his crimes—his genius as a bullder, his fame as the greatest lover in history, were more wotthy of memory. In the marble poetry of the Taj this greatest lover has inunortalized the object of his passion. Arjemand, favorite among a thousand wives, is embodied in its stones: her chastity is carved into its spotless walls; her exquisiteness reproduced in every delicate line; her majesty reflected in the aereal grace of dome and minaret that floated and faded there above the been silent for some mo- ments—Ahmed, my Punjabi compan- ion, and I—enjoying the coolness of the night that now had blotted out the distance. Ahmed was the first to speak. “You know Shah Jehan?" 'Yes,” I said, *“ I ‘know’ him.” “He die here in balcony.” “What, Ahmed! mine Tower?"” He assured me it was, and that we Is this the Jas- on stones numbered among the most hallowed in Indfa, for this was the point from We descended from the tower, corridors, found the grim entrance gate, and hurried homeward through the animated streets. Early and eagerly the next morn- ing I set forth alone. I passed be- neath the ruddy arch that commands entrance to the gardens of the Taj, and there, behold!--beyond, in the blinding Summer sunshine I saw it, a miracle of sky and verdure and ivory, beckoning to me through the framing gateway. My dream castle had come to life. I answered its call with absolute surrender, moving almost without vo- litfon down the marble pavement that very heart. I was unaware of the fountains at my feet, or of the indigo y above. I saw only my long- sought Taj awaiting me, harmonious as music, lovely as the face of the immortal woman it commemorates. The entire day I remained beald: the snowy temple, enchanted by its serenity, forgetful of time and self. I wan about its polished corri climbed upon its roof, descended into its cf s, Attracted by a myriad of colors I drifted about the gardens that enthrone the monster rl, tarried by the lily pools reflecting dome and minaret, and loitered along the ave- nue of stately cypresses. ok oxx INOON came ana afternoon, Then ‘The tropical dark blue background of all this beauty was fading into night. About me the deserted ne were hushed except for the faint splash of falling water. Twilight faded into starlight. Still I clung to my velled Taj, and no duty or could lure me away from this glimpse into paradise. The Summer moon had reached fits zonith a week before, and now, rapidly waning, rose nearer the hour of dawn than ddrkness. Yet at midnight every visitor must depart from the gardens, 8o I would have to leave without see- ing the palace melt beneath the flood of moonlight. Al s were closing the tower gates; sentries were gal before the threshold of the tomb, few belated st lers were being hur- ried to thelr ting gharries, and as 1 saw _them go the thought came. to me: “Why not try to stay?—then I could possess the Taj by myselt alone!” The romantic possibilities of such Gy T Fia In”a davkensd Erove: ly 8 grove. ‘watchmen, The , elrry‘lnc E Jamph m this Bpportunity before me | Tled straight and glittering into its side of my marble mistress. NOYES HEMP- UFFETED by cross-currents; sucked downward by whirl- BY ELIZABETH STO! pools; held nearly motlonless by the rushing waters of the powerful rapids; menaced on all sides by jagged, age-worn rocks and shifting shoals, the clumsy, top- heavy merchant ship fights its way into Szechuan—harassed by all the forces of nature, and the prejudice and hostility of man. For, hiding be- hind that gray rock, there may be bandits or soldiers with lifted gun: or concealed near that harmiess ap- pearing farmhouse, there may be a fleld gun, with its crew. And at every port unprotected by foreign gunboats, there may be some advancing or re- treating general with his troops, wives, concubines and worldly goods— unwelcome and non-paying passen- ger—who will force hfs way on board at the point of guns; thus violating the neutrality éf our country, and rendering null and void the protec- tion of the Stars and Stripes which fiy so bravely from our flagmast. For’ convenlence sake, the Yangtse River—Ilike all Gaul—is divided into three parts—from Shanghai to Han- kow, 18 the lower river; from Hankow to Ichang, the middle river; from Ichang to Chungking, the upper river. 1t is possible, at high water, to take a smaller steamship 200 or 300 miles farther on to Suifu. But most people who are traveling for scenery or ex- citement are more than willing to turn around at Chungking and let the swift current bear them back to civi. lization. Few tourists visit Hankow, although it is & prosperous and im- portant commercial center, the junc- tion of rivers énd railways; fewer yet reach Ichang, for the trip up the 1d river has small charm of its own, and the very few who have made the trip on the Upper Yangtse since it was found to be navigable by steam in 1897 should treasure the wonder- ful memory like a bit of rare jade or amber. For within the next year or 80, this journey, dangerous always, may become an impossibility. Ae’the perils of nature are being surmounted by the increasing knowledge and ini- tiative of progress, the menace of hostile and bari men {s daily be- coming complicated and more alarm- ing. The Chinese, in their blind igno- rance and_ primititve savagery, are shutting oft from mankind one of the scenic wonders of the world. The Yangtse gorges are beautiful, with that breath-taking, awe-inspiring grandeur _which holds you eilent and abashed. What mighty force, through how many countléss ages, cut lhn: t, of us, while above and beyond them, thousands of feet high, snow-capped mountains glisten, unsullied and aloof. And we fight our way slowly and painfully against the seething, muddy Haters; just barely making this rapid | their or that one, against the raging cur- rent, and turning from one side of the narrow channel to the other to avold the jagged rocks, fallen fragments from the heights on each side of us. L Tflnnr'ubqlnumnuwu leave Ichang on ybur Wi to Chungking. The Ichang gorge is 16 miles long. While it is beautiful, it cannot compare with the Wushan gorge, which is 26 iniles long. And ‘eed | this, in turn, must yvield to the Wind- box gorge, Which, though only 4 miles long, is the most marvelous of all. ‘When you have reached Wanh- sien, 175 _miles above Ichang, you are practically through the gorges. But that is only comparatively speaking, for the voyage continues to be inter- esting and exciting to the very end. The Yangtse winds fits way Chungking through two provinces— Ichang being in Hupeh, and Chung- king in Szec] e most fertile of all the provinces. The air is damp, and, constantly full of gray mist—whicl keeps the fields beauti- fully , and the soil is so rich that it looks plumcolored. It is well cultivated, every square inch seem- Ingly laid out In patches like a check- Picture for yourself this wonderful four-day trip, through miles of mag- nificenit gorges, which rise in some places, gray and nr?a ke wwering walls of the Yosemite Val feys Furthier on’ they .will Took en- Avarice, the | drunkenness erty, famine with! ing in slowly dying echoes far up in the blackness of the vault. £ The fourth hour came, and found me standing pensive beside the Em- press’ grave. A pilgrim to her shrine, she had blessed me with protection. With sudden shame I realized I had brought no offering. Neither gold nor silver did I have, not even a flower; but in a recess of my wallet, kept for memory’s sake, there withered a twig of myrtle, plucked six months past from some courtyard in the Alhambra of the Moors, amid whose storied battlements T had sought romance on such a night as this. one Moslem monument in Spein it had come to another in India, directed perhaps by the hand of Allah. Reverently I placed these fragile leaves upon her tomb. The wind brushed gently through the vaulted corridors, and slowly swung the hang- ing lantern to and fro; and I was filled with happiness, raptured by the dim beauty of this|diction. an hour, and an hour more, |dreamland and by its hovering mys- walting for the moon, I lingered pa- P Bl it i Peril in Grand Gorges of the Yangtse . From Gunshots, Rapids and Rocks Scenic Wonders, Rivaling Norway’s Fiords and Cliffs, Viewed From Armored Bridgé Deck—Free Transport Under Duress of Chinese Soldiers. tery. Then with the tolling of tirely different—more griciously formed, more gorgeously hued. Then, after ' passing over some s, while men on shore wait with ropes to heave you across if you fail to make it (the ship hits the rushing ‘waters, pauses, almost stops, then with a final, painful effort crawls up and over, “full steam ahead”); after successtully clearing a rock which you head directly for, and skirting two other rocks which are hidden un- der the muddy water, you pass through more opeén country, where the river banks are lined with little farme. And all the while, up and down the river, the junks by; fascinating, mysterious and nearly obeolete with the successful introduc- tion of ste ips. ‘There are moments when you think of the Yosemite, others when you mention the Grand Canyon, or some- times the Inland Sea, or Geneva, with the sparkling_ sails and snowcapped mountains. Then, when you see a beautiful little white témple, nestling against a hjll, or perched pre- carfously on the tip-top of the high- est rock, looking as if it were about to fly away, with its delicate roof curved outward and upward like the wings of a bird, you are held spell- bound by the charm that is China. But, oh, the cities—the filthy plague holes—where disease and want wal- low in the narrow, fetid streets on which the sun never shines. and horribly ‘with scarce dogs de |1y any hair on their backs wander about at will; but they cannot com- in loathesomeness with the self-inflicted) def poor wretches live and die on the wet, winding streets, t:: 80 near are they in lite to death t it is sometimes several days before the bodies are re- moved by the soclety organized for thit purpose. It is no uncommon sight to see an execution tak place on the main Spen basket over the sity wate. OF 0 3 here and thete ities. ‘These best _efforts of the middle ages. Yet this is the country ‘which 1s shrieking wildly Yor her “sovereign rights,” and wants all foreigners here placed under her anti- quated laws and -corrul o | iy man has she offered you cans r otfluhyln'l{? made of not help “Where And on.lv':n?n i -k WB 1ike to think of the Chinese as belng all that Contucius exhorted them to be. But alas! they are farther away from their great teacher than the average 18 from Christ. lust, gratt, pride; s POV- de- fiberat itony of the military 2 | propaganda;. the temples are " No one was awake to see me creep or to forth into the balmy night, WRECK OF THE ROBERT DOLLAR, ABOUT 40 MILES BELOW CHUNGKING. w0 remain through the night by the|tiently beneath my willow grove, en-| gpirit had sent ,hfi“figug‘;',‘;fi the vaulted tower, I looked bacl through the arch-framed opening to find the sky in ambler hues, the park dew-pearled, waking to the matin song of lark and oriole. I saw the Taj, reflecting the rose- and-gold, still tenderly beautiful, stil! beckoning, and as I turned to her fox one last, farewell glimpse, the first beam of sunrise struck the dome Then the heavy weary gates closed behind me, and the Lady of m: Dreams passed from view. {Copyright, 192¢ Smalle‘r Engines Coming. 'MALLER engines, normally strong' enough to run a motor car only on a level, but reinforced by a super- charger powerful enough to take it up the steepest hill, will scon be used generally on automobiles, according to G. R. Short of General Motors. Such engines, he says in Popular Science Monthly, have been used successfully on alrplanes and racing automobiles, and should be practicable in reducing the production cost of trucks and pleasure care. and the incessant atrocities of bandits, have #0 poisoned and sorely scarred this great country that it is a ques- tion whether or not she can ever re- cover without being totally destroyved and truly “born agai: Perhaps, like their own beautiful phoenix, the soul of China may emerge, pure and un- scathed, from the ashes of the cor- rupt and degenerate China of today. ‘The Chinese mind, which, in all our preconcelved ideas, was like the calm, philosophic mountain peaks, proved to be more like the muddy, turbulent river with its {llogical whirls and ed- dies; its mad, senseless rush, dashing Jagged roc) its con- g, with the inevitable destruction of life and property. For there are terror and discontent up and down the Yangtse Valley. Every lit- tle town has its own eral, with his own private brand of tyranny. He sucks the place m;/ then moves on to the next town. The general in the next town moves on to the next—so on, ad Infinitum. There is some actual fighting and bloodshed (but we saw only peaceful occupation) and in all cases it is the people who pay, and pay, and pay. They have almost come to accept this program as the natural courss of events and continue to labor day and night for harve ng to the forelgner. It is impossible to exaggerate the mism of foreigners up _the ‘angtee River. Those who have lived here a lifetime—whose homes, whose hearts, whose hopes have taken root and flouvished in the fertile sofl of Cathay-are predicting freely that within 10 years there will be no for- eigners left in China. If extraterti- toriality is abolished, they cannot live here longer. And when they go, progress, law, truth and sclence wiil £0 with them. For the Chinese are utterly ineapable of “carrying on,” even after they have been taught and v:n th: ::ol. with wmit:“ mhwork. great steam engines ught out from the United States go to rack and ruin in their hands; the steam- boats fall to pleces. The newspapers are rumor mongers, and exist only as {ong as they please the party in power; the law courts are open scan- dals. The schools are institutes for barracks for soldlers. On the ‘other hand, most of the or- ganizations under foreign supervision thrive and prosper. ‘The Chinese‘are togn ‘vorkers whzn.d we!ll directed. en we reacl chang (about February 12) we were advised not to continue our trip up the river, as our ships were being fired on, and some- times y commandeered varipus generals changing their 8 dence, voluntarily. or under duress. After taking a long and compara- tively uninteresting journey to see the gorges, wo could not bear the without ac- ur object. So we salled the next day. Each night night. These were anxious hours, as we felt that we were practically at the mercy of any one on the shore or in a passing junk. The first night we spent in a lone some spot near Wushan. We hardly slept a wink that night, so nervous had we become from all the stories we had heard, and a few disconcertinz things that happened. A Chinese shi was anchored near us, and we could hear the staccato voices and smell the oplum smoke all night. * ok k% [ next night we spent at ‘Wanhsien, where one of our gun- boats was anchored, so we slumbered well that night. There was a ship next to us which had just come down from Chunking, and had been fired on heavily. Five men had been injured. two of whom died. All of the bridge of the upriver ships are heavily armor plated. Ours had a layer of steel—two inches of wood—more steel. Thick plated windows can be lowered on a second’s notice, and most of the ships we passed the next day had che side windows down. ‘We anchored in a deserted spot the next nignt and started for Chung- king the next day. At Fengtu, near the mountain where the King of the Dead resides, one of our American ships was being held for several hours by some general in order to transport his concubines down river. The generai must have had a hard time deciding which ones to save, for the ship had been fillegally detained there since noon, and it was nearly dusk when we passed her. We did not hesitate long at that town, for fear the general might decide to. take some of his troops up river instead of_ down. ‘We reached Chungking that night and stayed one day, salling at day ‘break the next day. . Every one was apprehensive of our trip’ back, as all the soldiers were going in that direction. So a radio message was sent from the U. S. & Palos, our gunboat at Chungking, the U. 8. 8. Monocacy at Wanhsie ta come up and meet us at the place ‘where the other ship had had wouoe u. We were certainly glud to see her there, although no shots had been fired at us so far. The captain of the Monocacy told us that he had just interviewed the general | at Chungchou, and the general had promised that no soldiers would be loaded on our ships. However, one could not always rely upon Chinese &cmmlm. $0 he was going.to follow s 'k to Chungchou and anchor along- side. of us for the night. ‘When we reached Chungchou we found soldiers camped along the beach, waiting in junks and in sam- pans, all packed and ready to board our ship. The general himself on hand, with his household goods. anticipating a pleasant cruise down river under the protection of the Stars and 8t ‘We strained our eyes anxiously. watching for the little Monocacy. ‘which was some distance behind us and might arrive too late to avert un fortunate complications. A thin line of_smoke beyond a bend in the teip - we had to| 9oL