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 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 FROM THE 
 
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 1891 
 
Cornell University Library 
 
 DS 9.H94 
 
 Asia :a geography reader /by Ellsworth H 
 
 III 
 
 3 1924 023 061 777 
 
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A cedar forest near Beirut 
 
 Copyright by Undonrood & Underwood 
 
ASIA 
 
 A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 By Ellsworth Huntington, Assistant 
 Professor of Geography in Yale University, 
 ■with an introduction to the series by Richard 
 Ellwood Dodge, Professor of Geography, 
 Teachers College, Columbia University 
 
 RAND McNALLY & COMPANY 
 Chicago New York 
 
3 4M 
 
 Copyright, IQI2, 
 By Ellsworth Huntington 
 
 C/? It ago 
 
. PREFACE 
 
 The purpose of this volume is to describe some of 
 the ways in which the climate, topography, and other 
 characteristics of Asia have influenced the distribution 
 of man over that vast continent, and have caused the 
 inhabitants of different regions to acquire highly varied 
 habits and customs. To include, however, only those 
 aspects of life in which the influence of physical envi- 
 ronment is clearly apparent would be to present onlv 
 a part of the story and to omit many interesting and 
 important details which children ought to know about 
 the people of Asia. Since the volume, in its character 
 of a supplement to an ordinary textbook of general 
 geography, is intended primarily to give children a 
 picture of the life of the inhabitants of Asia, the author 
 has deliberately included many details in which the 
 causal relation between life and its geographic surround- 
 ings cannot easily be shown. The chief emphasis, 
 however, has been given to habits and customs which 
 show the causal relation, for the purpose of the book 
 is to instruct as well as interest. It is hoped that the 
 nature of the subject may stimulate many pupils to a 
 further and more complete study of certain areas, at 
 least, and that the scientific presentation of the matter 
 may help them to realize that an understanding of 
 certain of the fundamental geographic relationships 
 enables one to organize mere scattered items of inter- 
 esting information into systematic, usable knowledge. 
 
 The emphasis given to different regions of Asia is 
 not always in proportion to the political or commercial 
 importance of these regions to the rest of the world; 
 
 (v) 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 for the author's purpose has been not merely to describe 
 certain areas, but rather to go into details in reference 
 to a few regions so as to show clearly the causal relations 
 between life and its surroundings which may there be 
 illustrated. Each of these areas permits the study of 
 certain large geographic principles and is a basis for 
 comparison with similar or dissimilar areas in other 
 parts of the world. Hence certain regions, such as 
 Seistan in eastern Persia, have been described more 
 in detail than would be warranted if the point of view 
 were simply to show their importance to the world as 
 a whole. 
 
 Another guiding principle has been that, other 
 things being equal, emphasis should be given to the 
 geographic conditions unfamiliar to the children of 
 America, for it is unfortunate for pupils to gain the 
 impression that all that is unfamiliar is unnatural, or 
 merely curious and without meaning. For instance, 
 the nomadic life of the Arabs, from this standpoint, 
 deserves fuller description than the agricultural life 
 of the peasants of Japan, 
 
 Another principle has been to avoid repetition, except 
 to enforce a point. Thus Tibet is treated very briefly 
 because similar conditions of nomadism induced by 
 high, cold plateaus have been previously discussed in 
 reference to the Tian Shan Plateau. In a similar way 
 the treatment of Japan and India is fairly brief, because 
 many of the principles which can be applied to those 
 countries have already been developed in the preceding 
 chapters on Chosen (Korea) and Indo-China. 
 
 The most important of all the principles which have 
 played a part in determining the manner of the writing 
 of this book is the conviction that ideas are the greatest 
 of all human products. Therefore, the historic lands 
 
PREFACE vii 
 
 of the Turkish Empire have been treated quite fully. 
 The origin of Christianity and Judaism in Palestine 
 and of Mohammedanism in the Turkish portion of 
 Arabia, the rise of culture on the Ionic seaboard, the 
 spread of letters from Phoenicia, and the existence of 
 the earliest of the world's great kingdoms in Meso- 
 potamia are facts of such import that every child ought 
 to know the geography of these famous regions. 
 
 It has sometimes been said that geography is the 
 handmaid of commerce. This is doubtless true, but 
 the statement often creates a false impression. Geog- 
 raphy is the handmaid of economics, history, politics, 
 and other sciences as well as commerce. In this volume, 
 accordingly, no attempt is made to follow the pre- 
 vailing tendency and to lay special emphasis upon 
 commercial geography. The attempt has been rather 
 to proceed from a basis of physical geography and 
 climatology and to build a well-balanced whole which 
 centers around human activities. It includes some- 
 thing from each of the great branches — economic, 
 commercial, political, and historical geography — but 
 specializes in none of them. Doubtless the balance 
 is imperfect, for no matter how nicely the scales may 
 be adjusted the personal equation adds its weight, 
 and the resultant presentation seems ill-balanced to all 
 save the author. Fortunately, even though a book 
 is not balanced to the entire satisfaction of all the world, 
 it may still be useful. If this volume shall interest 
 and stimulate the scholars who read it and broaden the 
 vision of the teachers who teach it, its mission will 
 be accomplished. 
 
 More than half the illustrations of the book are taken 
 from the author's own photographs. Most of the others 
 were furnished by the Secretaries of the American Board 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in Boston, to 
 whom most cordial thanks are due. A few were fur- 
 nished by the Oriental Society of America, to whom 
 also hearty thanks are tendered. 
 
 Ellsworth Huntington. 
 Yale University, 
 New Haven, Connecticut 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Many attempts have been made in the past to prepare 
 supplementary geography readers that would enable 
 teachers to increase the emphasis that can be given to 
 the picturesque side of geography— that is, to add good 
 strong side lights to the necessarily brief and sometimes 
 formal presentation of the more comprehensive text- 
 books. Such reading matter obviously ought to be 
 as accurate, authoritative, and systematic as the mate- 
 rial of a textbook, and must be presented in an appealing 
 and readable form. Children of the age to get profit 
 from such supplementary work are attracted by a 
 volume that tells a story in an absorbing and enlight- 
 ening way, just as they are by a story full of action. 
 In either case, the book that causes the child to curl 
 up in a comer and lose himself in his reading is the 
 valuable book, provided its contents are sound, inspir- 
 ing, and educative in the best sense. Children want 
 to have faith in the realness and the value of what 
 they read and to be able to relate the newly acquired 
 material to the more familiar matter gained in formal 
 study. 
 
 The editor and publishers have attempted to meet 
 these demands in the series of supplementary volumes 
 of which this is the first to appear. Each author who 
 is contributing to this series is a geographer of high 
 repute, an authority on the country described, whose 
 accounts are accepted as standard by the scientific 
 world. Each one writes from a fullness of knowledge 
 of the facts depicted and with a keen appreciation of 
 the way the people in each country reflect the influence 
 
 (ix) 
 
X INTRODUCTION 
 
 of the geographic surroundings in their habits and 
 customs. The editor has secured the services of the 
 several authors, has planned the larger features of 
 treatment, and has edited the manuscripts from a 
 common viewpoint so as to secure a certain uniformity 
 of plan of presentation, but he has in no way sacrificed 
 the individuality of the authors' work. 
 
 Thus the series will be a collection of expert treatises, 
 written for a special purpose and from a common 
 viewpoint. It will not be compilation of the work of 
 others or a series of travelers' notes especially prepared 
 to amuse. It will be a standard treatment of the world 
 by regions, from the modern standpoint that geography 
 is a study of the earth in its relation to man and life 
 and that the most interesting topics in geography deal 
 with the lives of peoples and the reasons for their 
 habits, customs, industries, and distribution. 
 
 Richard Elwood Dodge. 
 Teachers College, 
 
 Columbia University, 
 New York City. 
 
THE CONTENTS 
 
 The Preface . 
 
 The Introduction 
 
 A List of the Maps . . , 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. The Country and its People . 
 
 II. The Four Great Divisions of Asia 
 
 III. The Religion of Southwestern Asia 
 
 IV. Arabia: The Land of Plunderers . 
 V. Palestine 
 
 VI. Syria and Mesopotamia 
 
 VII. Anatolia: The Land of the Sunrise 
 
 VIII. The Armenian Plateau 
 
 IX. The Oil Fields of Caucasia 
 
 X. The Waterless Land of Persia 
 
 XI. Afghanistan: The "Buffer State" 
 
 XII. Transcaspia and Russian Turkistan 
 
 XIII. Siberia: The Most American Country 
 
 XIV. The Plateaus of Inner Asia 
 XV. A Sea of Sand and Salt . 
 
 XVI. Manchuria: The Land of Beans . . 
 XVII. Chosen (Korea) : The Land of the Morning 
 
 Calm 
 
 XVIII. Japan: The Land of the Rising Sun 
 XIX. China: The Oldest of Nations . 
 XX. Peking and the Hwang-ho . 
 XXI. Shantung and the Provinces of the Yangtse- 
 
 kiang 
 
 XXII. Southern China 
 
 XXIII. Indo-China and the Malay Peninsula 
 
 XXIV. India 
 
 The Index 
 
 IN Asia 
 
 FAGB 
 
 V 
 
 ix 
 xii 
 
 25 
 38 
 44 
 53 
 67 
 
 73 
 84 
 90 
 
 97 
 112 
 121 
 135 
 152 
 163 
 171 
 
 182 
 192 
 221 
 235 
 
 253 
 269 
 284 
 304 
 
 XV 
 
 (xi) 
 
A LIST OF THE MAPS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Mean annual rainfall facing 8 
 
 Asia between 8 and 9 
 
 Seasonal distribution of rainfall facing 9 
 
 Mean temperature for January facing 26 
 
 Asia (physical) between 26 and 27 
 
 Mean temperature for July facing 27 
 
 Southwestern Asia facing 38 
 
 Religions facing 39 
 
 Syria and Palestine facing 58 
 
 Principal plants facing 59 
 
 Mean annual range of temperature facing 134 
 
 Areas of natural vegetation between 134 and 135 
 
 Northern Asia facing 135 
 
 Eastern Asia facing 1 52 
 
 Density of population facing 153 
 
 Races of man facing 308 
 
 Southern Asia facing 309 
 
 (xii) 
 
Ocipjtlght by Underwood & Underwood 
 
 Schoolboys and their icacher near the Irdivadi River, Burma 
 
ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 
 
 At a Khan in Asia Minor. As the first pink light of 
 morning appeared in the east, the courtyard of the great 
 inn at Eregli in central Asia Minor began to be filled 
 with bustle and stir. On one side, under the veranda 
 which ran around the entire square on a level with the 
 second story, a wagoner in brown trousers, skin-tight 
 below and baggy around the hips, was grooming his 
 horses. Close beside him a small door was pushed 
 open by another wagoner, leading two gray horses whose 
 hoofs clattered loudly as they crossed the rough pave- 
 ment to the well in the center of the courtyard. A 
 third man was greasing the wheels of a rough freight 
 wagon and singing in the high falsetto voice which the 
 Turks seem to enjoy. The wagon was a springless 
 vehicle, shaped like the old immigrant wagons of Amer- 
 ica. Its long, round top was made of white canvas 
 gayly decorated with strips of red cloth sewed on the 
 outside in patterns of flowers and leaves. Soon the 
 "khanjee," that is, the keeper of the khan or inn, came 
 down the stone stairs from the flagged veranda. Like 
 most of his guests, he had been sleeping out of doors 
 on the floor, with a thick quilt under him and a thin- 
 ner one on top. It had taken him only a minute to 
 dress, for he had not really undressed at all. He merely 
 straightened the red fez or cap which he had worn all 
 night, wound a pale blue handkerchief around it in the 
 
ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 form of a turban, put on his outer gown of dark brown 
 cotton material reaching below the knees, and bound a 
 
 ^,--*T4Ni2^" 
 
 A Turkish araba or wagon 
 yellow girdle around his waist. Then he was ready for 
 the first work of the day, which was to collect the 
 money due from his guests. 
 
 The khanjee removed a large wooden bar and swung 
 open the great doors leading to the street. Eight 
 wagons were ready to start. The first was a passenger 
 wagon, shaped like the freight wagons but fitted with 
 springs and having a shiny black top. The curtains 
 on the sides were tightly drawn, and the tones of the 
 stifled voices proved that this was because some of the 
 passengers were Mohammedan women, whose faces 
 must not be seen by strange men. One by one the 
 wagoners stopped to pay their bills, and then drove 
 away in one direction or another. When the fifth 
 wagon came up a quarrel broke out. The khanjee 
 
THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 3 
 
 wanted eighty cents; the wagoner claimed that the 
 straw given him for his horses to eat was poor, and he 
 owed only seventy cents. Both men began to shout 
 in loud voices and seemed angry enough to murder each 
 other. Finally the wagoner threw down his seventy 
 cents and whipped his horses in an attempt to drive 
 away, but the khanjee was too quick for him. Running 
 to the door, the khanjee slammed it shut and locked it. 
 The wagoner swore, but the innkeeper merely went 
 off up stairs. The people in the other wagons pro- 
 tested, some trying to persuade the innkeeper that he 
 had charged too much, and others telling the wagoner 
 that he had made a mistake. After about fifteen 
 minutes the two men allowed themselves to be per- 
 suaded. The wagoner paid five cents more, the khanjee 
 opened the door, and the wagons began to drive out 
 again. The odd thing about it was that, in spite of their 
 swearing and cursing, the two who had quarreled said 
 good-by to each other as if they were old friends. 
 
 Within half an hour after sunrise all but two or three 
 wagons had departed. Every traveler wants to start 
 early in Asia Minor, because in summer the days are 
 extremely hot and sunny, while in winter they are too 
 short to allow any time to be wasted. Some of the 
 wagoners expected to drive steadil}^ day after day for 
 two weeks before reaching their destination. In Turkey 
 railroads are still scarce, and in many parts of the 
 country freight and passengers have to be carried in 
 wagons. 
 
 A few hours later, in the middle of the morning, the 
 dusty courtyard lay silent and deserted in the scorching 
 heat of an unclouded July sun. The only people in 
 sight were four men in the shade beneath the veranda. 
 They were not sitting or standing, as we would do, but 
 
4 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 were squatting on their heels in a posture suggesting 
 frogs. A hubble-bubble pipe was being passed from 
 mouth to mouth, so that each man in turn might draw 
 two or three whiffs. It was like a large vase with two 
 tubes projecting from it. On the top of one tube was 
 a little hollow wherein to bum the tobacco. The other 
 tube curved outward and served as a mouthpiece. 
 In a hubble-bubble the smoke goes down through the 
 water with which the vase is filled, and thus loses some 
 of its nicotine poison before it reaches the smoker. 
 
 One of the squatting men took five or six short, quick 
 puffs at the pipe, and then walked slowly across the 
 courtyard toward a small door. His shoes were like slip- 
 pers with the back turned down as one turns the back 
 of a rubber in putting it on. As he walked they flapped 
 so much that it seemed as if he must lose them. The 
 man stopped at the door to fix his girdle of figured 
 red cloth, extending from his waist nearly to his arm- 
 pits. As he took it off, an American traveler, who was 
 watching from the veranda, wondered how any man 
 could wind such a piece of cloth around himself so 
 smoothly, for it was more than ten feet long. The Turk, 
 however, was not troubled. He was dressed in the com- 
 mon style of wagoners, and he knew how to put on his 
 girdle. He simply fastened one end to the latch of 
 the door, stood off far enough to extend the girdle to 
 its full length, and then turned round and round. 
 He wound himself into the girdle, instead of winding 
 it around himself. 
 
 Meanwhile the "odabashi," or "chief of the rooms," 
 emerged from the steamy atmosphere of the coffee- 
 seller's shop beside the wide street door, and climbed 
 the stone stairway to the flagged porch above. On his 
 uplifted hand he bore a chiseled brass tray laden with 
 
THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 5 
 
 dishes. Stopping before a carved wooden door, he 
 carefully pushed off his low shoes and left them standing 
 neatly side by side, while in stockinged feet he stepped 
 upon the rugs of the room. He did not think of knock- 
 ing or of taking of? his fez. These things are not con- 
 sidered necessary in the remoter parts of Turkey. But 
 he would have thought it most rude to wear his shoes in 
 the house. 
 
 Within the room a portly man in a long gown of pale 
 blue broadcloth sat cross-legged on a divan, or couch, 
 covered with rich rugs. The fez on his head was almost 
 concealed by an enormous white turban. He held a 
 crumpled paper upon which he was busily writing with 
 a scratching pen. As the odabashi entered, he stopped 
 writing and took from his green girdle a little brass case 
 about eight inches long, opened one end, and selected 
 one of several pieces of reed stems. This he carefully 
 sharpened with a penknife. Then he tested it on his 
 finger nail, and finally dipped it into a little inkwell. 
 It was a pen of the kind commonly used in Turkey. 
 The man wrote busily for two or three minutes, not using 
 a table or moving the pen from left to right as we 
 do, but holding the paper in his hand and writing in 
 graceful strokes from right to left, just opposite to our 
 method. He was a mullah, or Turkish priest, and was 
 considered very learned because he could write so well. 
 
 While he wrote, the odabashi spread an embroidered 
 cloth on the rugs in the middle of the floor, and set 
 upon it a round table about three feet in diameter and 
 eight inches high. Then he placed upon the table some 
 "sheets of bread about the thickness and shape of griddle 
 cakes, but two or three times as large and somewhat 
 stiffer. On these he laid some strong-smelling garlic, 
 like green onions with thick stems. Next he set on one 
 
6 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 side a blue bowl full of curdled sour milk, and on the 
 other a plate of white, insipid mulberries, while he 
 reserved the middle for a covered pewter dish full of 
 "pilaf," which is merely rice cooked with bits of mutton 
 in such a way that each grain of rice is distinct and yet 
 soft. When all was ready the odabashi took a pewter 
 basin in his left hand and a pitcher of the same material 
 in his right, and stood before the mullah. The learned 
 man stuffed his paper and pen into his girdle, pushed 
 back his sleeves, and held out his hands. He did not 
 wash his hands in the basin, for to him that would 
 not have seemed clean. He merely let the odabashi 
 pour the water over his hands so that only clean water 
 might touch them and all the dirty water might be 
 caught in the basin underneath. The odabashi had 
 forgotten to bring a towel, so he offered the mullah the 
 end of his girdle, which served quite as well. 
 
 When his hands were dry. the mullah sat down cross- 
 legged on the floor, dreW over his knees the part of the 
 tablecloth that was not under the table, and began 
 eating. He had no knife or fork or spoon. The people 
 of Turkey have such things, but this man was old- 
 fashioned. He had a habit of saying, "Our great prophet, 
 Mohammed, ate with his fingers, and that way is good 
 enough for me." So he carefully picked up some rice, 
 rolled it deftly into a ball, and snapped it into his 
 mouth. It was astonishing to see how very neatly he 
 did it, without spilling or without soiling more than the 
 ends of his fingers. When he wanted to eat the sour 
 milk, he merely broke off a piece of the thin bread, 
 bent it into a scoop, and used it instead of a spoon. 
 
 A Land Too Dry in Summer. The American traveler 
 had been watching the mullah through the open door, 
 but now the wagoner called to him that all was ready 
 
THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 
 
 for the day's journey, so he went down and took his 
 place in a spring wagon. As he did so an old gray- 
 
 ,4 ^lUag^ 0/ ni.iJ and stone in Asta Minor 
 bearded soldier left the group with the hubble-bubble, 
 picked up his gun from against the wall, and mounted 
 a fine black horse. He had been sent by the government 
 to escort the traveler as he drove out into the remote 
 parts of the country. 
 
 Leaving the smiling host, the wagon and the horse- 
 man passed out through the great door and entered 
 the bazaar, or the street where the shops are located. 
 There peasants in dirty white drawers were haggling 
 for half an hour over a difference of two or three cents 
 in the price of tea or soap. Merchants in baggy blue 
 trousers sat contentedly in little shops, selhng cloth, 
 raisins, peas, rice, and strange brown, spicy substances 
 with lingering, indescribable odors. Turks, Greeks, 
 Armenians, and other races mingled in the crowcj, but 
 among them all no one seemed in a hurry or to care 
 whether he accomplished anything or not. 
 
 At first the wagon rattled over the rough limestpne 
 pavement of the city, between monotonous rows of 
 
8 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 houses with mud walls broken by scarcely a window. 
 Then the "gardens," as the Turks call them, began, but 
 the dust rose from the unpaved roadway in such clouds 
 that it was almost impossible to see them. Each side 
 of the street was bordered by high mud walls which 
 held in the dust. 
 
 As the wagon approached one of the many little doors 
 in the walls, the soldier called out, "Let's stop here 
 and have some fruit. This is my son's garden." Jump- 
 ing from his horse, he pulled out a huge key about six 
 inches long and opened the door. The air seemed cool 
 and fresh inside, for there was plenty of shade and 
 little streams of water ran in ditches beside long 
 straight paths bordered with 'rows of stiff poplars. 
 
 The soldier and his son led the way past an orchard of 
 peach, apple, apricot, and plum trees to a pretty arbor 
 covered with grape vines. In front of it a square pool 
 furnished water, which the host sprinkled on the ground 
 so that the evaporation might cool the air. A small boy 
 ran off to an open field to search for an early melon. 
 He came back with two. One was a yellow muskmelon 
 and the other a watermelon with the green rind of the 
 common kind, but with yellow flesh and brown seeds. • 
 The garden was full of vegetables and fruits, and the 
 traveler was so pleased that he said if all Turkey were 
 like this he should like to live there always. 
 
 When he rose to leave there was a great scurrying 
 back of the arbor. The women of the household, with 
 white sheets enveloping them from head to foot, had 
 been peeking through the leaves to see the strange 
 sight of a real foreigner in a hat and European clothes. 
 Now they ran away for fear that he might see them, 
 which would be quite improper, since this was a 
 Mohammedan family. 
 
Political 
 
 mni 
 
^Siui;^l"^"^ 
 
 Cojiiftight, 1912, hy Rand McNallij <t Company 
 
 ip of Asia 
 
VMo.y opniii^j "o/ 
 
 i^ ft? fij "^ 
 
THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 9 
 
 Leaving the pleasant garden, the traveler and the 
 soldier rode on through other gardens and rich wheat 
 fields for a while. After a few miles a great change 
 occurred. They were riding away from the mountains 
 in which the brooks have their source, and now they 
 came to a place where the water of the brooks was all 
 used up. Where so much water is used for irrigation 
 the streams cannot flow far from their sources. So by 
 and by the' beds of the brooks are dry, there is no water 
 for irrigation, and the land is left to depend entirely on 
 rainfall. Unfortunately, no rain falls from May to 
 September or October, and all the land becomes parched. 
 This is one of the chief reasons why Turkey is so poor. 
 For mile after mile the two men rode across a dreary 
 plain, so dry and brown that most of it was uninhabited. 
 
 As they crossed the plain the soldier began to grumble 
 about his wrongs. "What is the use of this constitu- 
 tional government that we have now? I see no good 
 in it. They tell us the country is growing better now 
 that we have freedom. Perhaps it is for some people, 
 but I don't like it at all. Yes, I get my pay a little more 
 regularly than I used to, but I don't get anymore, and 
 besides that, the government wants everybody to know 
 how to read and write and I can't see any use in that. 
 Why should a young boy only eighteen years old get a 
 good place just because he can read and has been to 
 school? Such a boy does not know the roads and the 
 people the way I do. And I don't see why they don't 
 let us get our living in the old way. When I was 
 younger we soldiers did not get our pay half the time, 
 but when that happened we just went out to the villages 
 to collect taxes, and we made the villagers give us more 
 than our pay. Now they try to prevent us from doing 
 that, and they say it is for the good of the country, but 
 
10 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 I say that the old way was best, because then a soldier 
 led an interesting life." 
 
 For three hours the traveler and the soldier talked 
 about the old days of misgovernment in Turkey and 
 the new days with the rulers trying to rule more 
 justly, but continually hindered by those who want to 
 return to the old ways. Mile by mile the plain grew 
 drier and more barren, until the traveler wondered how 
 any one could get a living from so poor a land. At last, 
 about three o'clock, they came to some fields where 
 the villagers were reaping wheat by bending over and 
 grasping the stalks with the left hand while the right 
 hand wielded the sickle. The weary harvesters kept 
 standing up to straighten their backs, because the con- 
 tinual bending made them so tired. The village of 
 one-story houses with flat roofs and thick mud walls 
 lay half a mile away. Close to it, many people were 
 busy threshing the grain on patches of bare earth, cir- 
 cular in shape and about thirty feet in diameter. These 
 threshing floors had been made by picking out all the 
 stones, smoothing off the earth, moistening it, and 
 beating it hard and flat. Here the farmers spread the 
 wheat as it came from the fields in sheaves, and threshed 
 it. This was done by driving over it oxen drawing 
 sledges of thick wood, like toboggans, with pieces of flint 
 stuck into the boards on the lower side. The oxen 
 were driven round and round in a little circle by boys 
 or girls who sat in the sun on the sledges hour after 
 hour. The flints, aided by the feet of the oxen and the 
 weight of the sledges, broke up the stalks and husks of 
 the wheat and set free the grain. Many poor men had 
 no sledges. They simply drove the oxen round and 
 round until their hoofs had broken up the straw. 
 
 When the process of threshing is finished the farmers 
 
THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE ii 
 
 wait for a windy day, and then pick up the mingled chaff 
 and grain on shovels and throw it into the air. The 
 grain, being heavy, falls (luickly, but the chail is blown 
 into a heap to leeward. On the great farms of our 
 prairies the whole process of reaping, threshing, and 
 winnowing is accomplished by a single machine. Thus 
 the product of one man's labor in America is as great 
 as that of twenty in Asia. The Turks have almost no 
 machines, partly because their country is poor and 
 partly becatise the people have never learned how to 
 make inventions. 
 
 In the village itself not a soul could be seen. The 
 soldier, however, knew the location of the guest room 
 where strangers are regularly entertained, so thither 
 the two men went. As it was only three o'clock in the 
 afternoon, and as the temperature had risen to a hun- 
 dred degrees, they both lay down for the "siesta, "or after- 
 noon sleep, which people commonly take soon after noon 
 in hot countries. After about half an hour the drowsy 
 thoughts of the American were interrupted by a plain- 
 tive little voice which seemed to be addressing some 
 one who would not answer. "Won't you have some 
 coffee?" it kept saying. After it had spoken two or 
 three times, the traveler perceived a little boy about 
 four years old, a rosy, begrimed youngster who stood 
 timidly in the middle of the room, wondering how he 
 dared waken the strangers. His mother had prepared 
 coffee of the usual Turkish variety, full of grounds and 
 as thick as pea soup. She could not properly bring it 
 herself, yet the rules of hospitality made her feel uncom- 
 fortable unless it were brought. So she stood outside, 
 peeking in, while the little boy talked. He would not 
 be satisfied until he had watched the traveler drink one 
 of the little cups down to the halfway line where the 
 
12 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 beverage becomes solid grounds and had heard him 
 promise to give the cofEee to his companion as soon as he 
 awoke. He was learning the pleasant rules of Turkish 
 hospitality very young. He was also learning the lesson 
 of poverty. For the whole village was in great trouble. 
 That year the rain was so scanty that the price of grain 
 had increased threefold, and all men feared deep want 
 and possibly actual famine. 
 
 A Land Too Wet in Summer. Thousands of miles 
 away to the east, on the plains of China near the Pacific 
 coast, another traveler at this same time was seeing 
 
 Traveling on a Chinese junk 
 
 very different sights. He had come up a branch of the 
 Yangtse-kiang in a steamboat for some miles, and then 
 had sailed in a native junk worked by Chinese. Now 
 he was in the middle of a vast plain, low and monoto- 
 nous. Not a hill was in sight. He would have had to 
 travel hundreds of miles to find mountains like those 
 which are visible from almost every Turkish village. 
 Nor was the land dry and parched. On the contrary, 
 it looked as if the whole region were a shallow lake, or 
 at least a swamp. The traveler was stopping in a village 
 where the houses were made of dried mud, just as 
 in Turkey, but in other ways the aspect of the village 
 was very different. There were no stones to pave 
 the streets, nor was there any dust. That day it did 
 not happen to be raining, but clouds were gathering. 
 
THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 13 
 
 Heavy showers had fallen every day for a week, 
 and the narrow crooked streets were mere alleys of 
 sticky mud. 
 
 In the street where the shops were located the eye of 
 the newcomer was attracted at once by the numerous 
 red signs printed in elaborate Chinese letters. Many of 
 the men who passed by stopped to read a white poster 
 which had just been put up. Evidently in this land 
 the art of reading and writing is more common than in 
 Turkey. After they had read the poster the men 
 gathered in groups and began talking about politics. 
 They, too, like the people of Turkey thousands of miles 
 away at the other end of the continent, were perplexed 
 about the new kind of government which has in recent 
 years come to them. When they talked they did not 
 raise their voices in angry clamor, like the bargainers 
 in the Turkish bazaars, but conversed in low, liquid 
 voices whose soft tones often suggested singing. The 
 traveler knew a little Chinese, and as he listened he 
 said to himself again, as he had often said before : "How 
 can anyone learn this language?" Words which are 
 apparently spelled with the same letters seem to have 
 three or four different meanings, and the only way to 
 distinguish them is by the tone in which they are said. 
 It is almost as if when we said "fall," meaning autumn, 
 we had to sing it to the notes "do, re," while when we 
 said "fall," meaning to descend, we had to sing it to the 
 tones, "do, si." 
 
 While the traveler was thinking about the language, 
 an old man appeared, dressed in a blue gown descending 
 almost to his ankles. He wore large spectacles or goggles 
 with very thick lenses about an inch and a half in diam- 
 eter. On his breast was embroidered a bird in the midst 
 of some flowers and leaves, indicating that he held an 
 
14 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 On a wheelbarrow, a common way of 
 traveling in north China 
 
 official position. A gilt button in his cap showed that 
 he was an educated man of some rank. Like almost 
 
 everyone else, he 
 wore a long queue 
 hanging far down 
 his back. Seeing 
 the stranger, he 
 stopped and spoke 
 to him. "Does not 
 the illustrious 
 stranger who hon- 
 ors our humble vil- 
 lage find the mud 
 very bad today? 
 God grant that 
 no more rain will come. Last year we prayed and 
 prayed for rain all through the months of June and July, 
 but none came until the middle of August, too late 
 to raise any good crops. So now we are poor. Still 
 we could live if the crops were good this year. They 
 started finely. Just look out there and see all those 
 splendid fields of rice, there where it looks like a lake 
 full of grass." 
 
 As they looked across the green, watery plain they 
 saw a man trundling a long wheelbarrow piled with 
 goods. He was following one of the many narrow little 
 dikes, or ridges of earth, which divide the country into 
 thousands of little fields. They are built to retain the 
 water for the rice crop, which needs constant irriga- 
 tion, although too much moisture kills it. Once the 
 man slipped oiT the dike into the muddy water among 
 the bright green rice stalks. He did not get very dirty, 
 for he was barefooted and his faded blue trousers were 
 rolled to his hips, and he had taken off his outer gown. 
 
THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 
 
 15 
 
 "That is my servant," remarked the old man. "Just 
 see how fine the rice fields look. I hope no more rain 
 will come. Sometimes our river rises so suddenly that 
 all the country is flooded. Our village stands a little 
 higher than some, so that we are not afraid of being 
 drowned, but all those villages over there are so low 
 that in big floods they are under water. Ten years ago 
 nearly half the people in that farthest village were 
 drowned in a sudden flood. It is almost as bad for us, 
 though. If the water spreads over the plain it will 
 sweep across our rice fields, and perhaps cover them so 
 deeply that the plants will all be destroyed. That is 
 what we are 
 afraid of now. 
 If more rain 
 comes our 
 rice will be 
 spoiled, and 
 we shall have 
 a famine. 
 We haven't 
 any animals 
 to kill and 
 eat. Most of 
 the villagers 
 haven't 
 enough food 
 to last more 
 than a month 
 or two. Prac- 
 tically none 
 of them has 
 any money to 
 buy food if 
 
 Coolies in a treadmill pumping water 
 to irrigate rice fields 
 
1 6 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 the crops fail. We have had famines before, and 
 I fear we shall have another. Let's not talk of this, 
 however. Come into my house and see how good a. 
 son I have." 
 
 When they entered the house, the women did not 
 run away as in Turkey, but merely stayed in the 
 background. The old Chinese led the way into the 
 best room, and pointed proudly with the long claw- 
 like nail of his middle finger. He let his nails grow 
 long because he wanted to show that he was a literary 
 man of the old style, who did not work with his hands 
 and therefore could keep his nails long. "Look there," 
 he said, "could anything be finer? For years my son has 
 worked night and day, so that his mother and I might 
 be comfortable. Last New Year's Day he was able to 
 buy what he had long planned. He brought us this 
 beautiful present. Could anything be finer than those 
 two coffins? See how white they are. We have put 
 them in the best room, and we show them to ever^^body. 
 Some of our old friends are envious, because they are 
 afraid that their children will not give them so fine a 
 funeral as our son will give us. They are right, too. 
 Our son has always been a true worshiper of his ances- 
 tors, and when we die we know that he will spend every 
 cent possible in having a great funeral, with a long 
 procession, and much paper money, and a great feast. 
 Don't you think we are fortunate?" 
 
 The traveler remained to dinner with the old Chinese 
 official. The meal was not at all like that of the Turkish 
 mullah. The guest and his host sat on chairs beside 
 a table. They did not eat with their fingers, but with 
 chopsticks. At least the Chinese used chopsticks most 
 deftly, and his guest tried to imitate him. When the 
 traveler spilled his food, because he was not skillful in 
 
THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 17 
 
 Chinese ways, the thoughtful host sent for a long silver 
 fork with two tines placed about half an inch apart. 
 The meal began with a sweet pastry, most cloying to the 
 appetite. Then followed eight or ten courses, all of 
 which were sweet and full of fat. For instance, the 
 spinach was fried with sugar, and the pork, which had 
 been kept till it almost fell to pieces, was roasted in 
 such a way that it, too, was very sweet. As each new 
 dish was brought on, the host, making a sound which 
 suggested grunting to show how pleased he was, took 
 a piece in his chopsticks and placed it in the little bowl 
 of his guest. He kept doing this so often that the 
 traveler could not eat half of what was set before him, 
 and a servant had to take away the bowl and empty it. 
 He always brought back the same little bowl and not a 
 new one, for it would be considered unfortunate to use 
 several dishes at one meal. Finally the dinner ended 
 with a dish of unsweetened rice, a great relief after all 
 the preceding sugary foods. 
 
 The Chinese, with their sweet food, their presents of 
 cofhns, their reverence for their parents, and their fond- 
 ness for writing, represent one great type among the 
 people of Asia. The inhabitants of Turkey, with their 
 flopping shoes, their habit of eating with the fingers, 
 their falsetto singing, and their fondness for noisy 
 bargaining, represent another. The Chinese are continu- 
 ally kept in poverty by scanty crops and famines, and 
 so too are the Turks. Oddly enough, too much water 
 during the summer is the trouble in one case, and too 
 little at the same season in the other. Both nations are 
 also trying to develop a new kind of government modeled 
 on those of Europe and America, and both are greatly 
 hampered by the fact that many of the people do not 
 want to change. That which has been done in the past 
 
1 8 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 is good enough for them now, they say. In many ways 
 the Chinese and the people of Turkey are alike; while 
 in other ways, perhaps still more important, they are 
 different. 
 
 A Land in the Far North. The countries in the 
 northern and southern parts of the continent differ even 
 more than do China and Turkey, because the conditions 
 of life are still more diverse. Once an English explorer 
 spent a whole year on the Arctic coast of Asia in the 
 great dreary, swampy plains called the tundras. When 
 he arrived, in midsummer, he found some grass and 
 mosses covering the land but no sign of any crops. 
 Not a tree could be seen in most places, although 
 occasionally in warm, protected spots he found little 
 willow trees a few feet high and tiny birches which creep 
 along the ground. One day he began to dig a hole, but 
 when he got down a little more than a foot he struck 
 something that seemed like stone. Looking closer, he 
 saw that it was merely frozen earth. 
 
 In this far northern region the ground is everj^where 
 frozen to a depth of two or three hundred feet, and only 
 the surface foot or two ever melts. The sun, to be sure, 
 shines almost continually for many weeks, not going 
 below the horizon at all in June and only for a few 
 minutes for several weeks before and after that time. 
 It is so low in the sky, however, that it gives ver}' little 
 heat. Even in the short two months which can be 
 called summer the explorer experienced two or three 
 cold storms with snow and sleet. 
 
 So long as the weather made it possible, the explorer 
 traveled from one native encampment to another. 
 The encampments were often fifty miles apart, for the 
 tundras cannot support many people. The natives were 
 all nomads or wanderers, compelled to wander from 
 
THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 19 
 
 place to place to find food for themselves or their ani- 
 mals. Some were at the mouths of the rivers, catching 
 fish and sea birds, while others were trapping hares, 
 foxes, and other animals whose fur could be used for 
 clothing. The majorit}', however, were busy taking 
 care of reindeer. These animals thrive on the moss and 
 grasses of the tundras, although our Ijorses and cows 
 would soon die on such poor food. If it were not for the 
 reindeer there would probably be no human inhabitants 
 in this bleak region. The animals are used not only to 
 draw sledges but to furnish milk. Sometimes the flesh 
 is eaten, but in general the reindeer are too valuable 
 to be killed for food. 
 
 In September the natives began to move a little south- 
 ward to find better pasture for their herds. The ex- 
 plorer and three or four Buriats remained near the 
 coast. Alread}' snow had fallen, and they used it to bank 
 up the sides of a low hut made of reindeer skins. On 
 the twentieth of September a fierce storm raged and 
 the temperature fell to fifteen degrees below zero. That 
 was the real beginning of winter, which continued for 
 eight long, weary months. Once, indeed, the thermometer 
 registered ninety degrees below zero, and a temperature 
 of forty or fifty degrees below zero was common. Men 
 and animals became covered with frost from their own 
 breath. Birds on the wing sometimes fell to the ground 
 frozen to death, and the ice on the ponds cracked again 
 and again as it contracted from the cold. Fierce bliz- 
 zards often raged, and while they lasted man and beast 
 remained buried beneath the snow, as the only way to 
 keep from freezing. The sky was almost always covered 
 with dull clouds. The long night of a month or two, 
 when the sun was always below the horizon, was lighted 
 only at intervals by the magnificent northern lights. 
 
ASIA; A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 A Land in the Far South. When the explorer returned 
 from the Arctic tundras he spent a year in the tropical 
 
 Indian peasants and oxen 
 
 plains of northern India along the Indus River. These 
 plains and the tundras are equally flat. They have about 
 the same amount of rain, and they lie at the same 
 height above the sea. In almost every other respect, 
 however, they are different. One of the things that 
 most impressed the traveler was that, in spite of a simi- 
 lar amount of rain, the Indus Plain seemed very dry, 
 while the tundras had been very wet. It was merely 
 because the sun in India rides so high in the sky that it 
 makes the land very warm and evaporates the rain with 
 great rapidity. 
 
 The first day that the traveler went to walk the 
 thermometer stood at a hundred degrees in the shade, as 
 it had for many days before. When he put his hand on 
 
THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 21 
 
 the ground it almost burned him. Naturally he did not 
 walk far, for fear of sunstroke. The natives had no fear 
 of that, however, and were working in their fields and 
 gardens quite comfortably. They were slender, dark 
 brown people, dressed in thin, scanty garments of cotton, 
 not fitting like ours, but wound loosely around the body 
 Their appearance was quite different from that of the 
 plump, round-faced inhabitants of the tundras. Fat 
 people do not seem to thrive in the tropics, nor lean ones 
 in the Par North. When occasional cool, rainy days 
 came during the winter , the traveler noticed that, even 
 though the temperature fell only to forty-five or fifty 
 degrees above zero, the poor Indians shook and shivered 
 far more than the tundra people did when it fell equally 
 far below zero. 
 
 It seemed as if the people of the Indus Plain ought to 
 be much richer, more comfortable, and more cheerful 
 than those of the tundras, but that was not the case. 
 They appeared to be planting crops all the' time, espe- 
 cially in winter, and in many places the farmers raised 
 four or five crops from the same land each year. Yet 
 they were no more comfortable than the tundra people, 
 who can raise no crops at all. When the traveler asked 
 why the people were not richer and more cheerful, a dark- 
 skinned farmer, naked to the waist, replied: "Don't you 
 see that more than half the land is not irrigated, so we 
 cannot use it? And some years there is too little water 
 for the land that we use, and famines come." Because 
 such abundant crops can be raised in good years, the 
 people of India have not learned to work very hard, nor 
 to provide for the bad years which are sure to come. As 
 they are not obliged to wander around in search of food 
 for their animals, they are apt to stay in one region all 
 their lives. Therefore they are afraid to visit strange 
 
2 2 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 places, and are suspicious of strange j)eople from whom 
 they might learn new ways. Moreover, the heat makes 
 them lazy. So, for generation after generation, they 
 live in their little mud villages, wear their thin clothes, 
 shiver when a northerner would call the weather 
 warm, and fear each year that hard times will come. 
 If the people of India were forced to live in the tundras 
 most of them would speedily die, and the few who lived 
 would be compelled to adopt a wholly new mode of life. 
 
 Inhabitants of the high, cold plateaus of central Asia 
 
 A Land at a Great Altitude. Distance north or south 
 of the equator is not the only thing that makes a coun- 
 try hot or cold. Height above the sea has the same 
 effect. The western part of the great plateau of Tibet 
 lies from 13,000 to 15,000 feet above the sea. Here snow 
 falls from September to May; frosts occur even in 
 summer. No one can procure a living here in the winter, 
 but during the summer nomads bring their sheep and 
 
THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 23 
 
 yaks to pasture on the rich grass. The people hve in 
 low, black tents which are abominably smoky and 
 uncomfortable, because fires are necessary for warmth 
 and no way is provided for the smoke to escape. Every- 
 one dresses warmly. Men, women, and children wear 
 long gowns made either of sheepskins with wool inside 
 or of two layers of cloth with cotton between them, like 
 a quilt. Such thick winter clothes are necessary all the 
 year around except at midday in summer, when the sun 
 is high in the sky. 
 
 A Land at a Low Altitude. The valley of the Jordan 
 River in Palestine lies at the same distance from the 
 equator as does Tibet. Instead of being a cold, high 
 plateau it is a deep hollow extending to 1,300 feet below 
 sea level in the region of the Dead Sea. Therefore its 
 climate is very different from that of Tibet. In the 
 Jordan Valley no snow falls even in winter, and the air is 
 almost unendurably hot in summer. People do not 
 like to travel by day, but wait for the cool of the night. 
 The crops are planted in winter and reaped in April, 
 long before the nomads of Tibet go to their summer 
 camps in the high part of the plateau. In a hot place 
 like the Jordan Valley it is at first surprising to meet 
 Arabs with their heads bundled up in thick cloths like 
 shawls, even in midsummer. One soon finds, however, 
 that it is very sensible to wrap up one's head, for the 
 sun is so hot that it is necessary to protect the head by 
 means of a thick covering. All these interesting differ- 
 ences between Tibet and Palestine are due to the 
 difference in the elevation, and hence in the temper- 
 ature, of the two places. 
 
 Customs and Geographic Conditions. The more we 
 studv Asia the more we see how closely the habits and 
 character of the people are connected with the physical 
 
24 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 conditions which surround them. The people of one 
 part of the continent differ from those of another as 
 much as EngUshmen differ from Zulus. All alike, how- 
 ever, are obliged to do many things in particular ways 
 because of the lands which they inhabit. Other dif- 
 ferences have sprung up because certain methods were 
 adopted in special places and have never spread else- 
 where, since communication is difficult. In reading 
 about strange customs we must remember that the fact 
 that they are strange to us does not mean they are 
 not as good as our own. Some are doubtless worse than 
 ours, many are equally good, and some are better. For 
 instance, in readiness to learn from others the Japanese 
 far surpass us; while in patient economy and industry 
 the Chinese are so far our superiors that we have as much 
 to learn from them' in those respects as they have to 
 learn from us in other ways. All these things are a part 
 of the geography of Asia, and we cannot understand 
 them without a knowledge of the countries which the 
 various races inhabit. 
 
CHAPTER U 
 
 THE FOUR GREAT DIVISIONS OF ASIA 
 
 How Customs Differ. One day a new boy came to a 
 school in Maine, in the United States. When the 
 teacher asked his name and where he came from and 
 what he had studied, the other pupils laughed at his 
 replies. He said "half" instead of "half," as they did, 
 and sounded his r's very clearly, especiall}' at the ends 
 of words like "far." As he wrote his name one of the 
 girls looked over his shoulder and said to herself, 
 "My! How much rounder his writing is than ours." 
 At recess some one began to count out for tag. The new 
 boy listened a minute, and then said, "What a funny 
 way of counting out; we always do it like this," and 
 he recited a wholly different rhyme. The next day he 
 taught the others a new kind of tag and a new way of 
 playing horse. It was called "Broncho Buster." The 
 horses got down on their hands and knees. Then, when 
 somebody said, "Ready," the other boys jumped on the 
 horses' backs, and the horses tried to "buck" them off 
 by jumping up and down and kicking up their legs, or 
 throwing up their heads. The other children had never 
 seen horses act in that way. The new boy was the only 
 one who had ever ridden horseback. That seemed 
 very funny to him. "Why," he said, "out in Colorado, 
 where I lived before I came to stay with Grandma, 
 everybody could ride a horse." 
 
 After a month or two the new boy had. learned to do 
 things as the other children did, and they had learned 
 something from him. His ways were not any worse 
 than theirs, nor any better. They were merely different, 
 
 2S 
 
26 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 because he had lived all his life on a ranch in Colorado, 
 while the others had always lived in a town in Maine. 
 
 The Separation of Nations. Nations are like children. 
 If they are separated from one another and live in 
 different kinds of places, they learn to do things in dififer- 
 ent ways. They may be very unlike, as in the case of 
 the people of the tundras and of northern India, who live 
 far apart and in very different kinds of places. Or they 
 may be only a little different, like the English and 
 Americans, who have much communication with each 
 other and live in almost the same kind of country. 
 
 Nations are separated chiefly by the ocean, by moun- 
 tains, and by deserts. In Asia the mountains are so 
 high that they have been the great separators. In going 
 from India to western China a traveler was about to 
 cross a pass 17,000 feet high over the Kuenlun Moun- 
 tains. The nomadic Kirghiz he met in the high valleys 
 on the southern side of the range said to him, "Your 
 horses and mules cannot carry their loads over the pass. 
 It is too high and steep. You must use yaks, which are 
 used to such places." He took their advice. The yaks 
 zigzagged easily up the long steep mountain side, never 
 slipping among the loose rocks or becoming frightened, 
 and rarely stopping to rest. The horses and mules 
 slipped and sometimes fell; and every few minutes 
 stopped, panting, to rest. One mule became so tired 
 and had such difficulty in breathing the thin air that it 
 lay down to die. No urging could make it move. It 
 lay there for hours, and finally the man who was left 
 with it was obliged to shoot it that it might not die a 
 harder death by starvation. At the top of the pass the 
 caravan was compelled to wait while steps were cut in 
 the ice which covered the crest of the mountain. Even 
 with the aid of the steps the cr(jssing was dangerous. 
 
1000 Slutiilt Milvs lu one inci, 
 
 me^OO/i. or more cthovti .ittt It;,-^! CJo-JO In lO.w ft. aOotr .sea It-rtl 
 ^1630 to 6500 fe. " " " \Z3o to (:.;o/i. " " " 
 
 ■■ beloiv :ita leiwt 
 
 '■■V A 
 
 O C E 
 
 Lon.jHiuU Euitfioiii Giteiiiri-h 
 
 Physical , 
 

 ^V^""-^'^^^. 
 
 
 aV 
 
 L5 ^ 'iwr^ 
 
 p of A da 
 
 Copijn'rihl, J3I2, bti Eaiid MrXnl/ij d- Co,Kj>atii/ 
 
THE FOUR GREA'l' DIVISIONS OF ASIA 27 
 
 One horse slipped and was killed b}' a fall of a thousand 
 feet. 
 
 Difficulties of this sort keep the people on opposite 
 sides of mountains apart, so that they do not have 
 much trade with one another and do not learn one 
 another's habits. The barrier of the Himalaya and 
 Kuenlun ranges is one of the chief reasons why India 
 and China are so diffierent. 
 
 On a physical map of Asia we see in the center a 
 region where a great many mountain ranges come 
 together in a sort of knot. The knot is called the 
 Pamirs, or the "roof of the world." It is a great plateau 
 or barren area of rolling hills and gravelly plains about 
 12,000 feet above the sea. Above it snow-covered 
 mountains rise to altitudes of from 15,000 to 25,000 
 feet. Even in summer the plateau is so cold that no 
 one can live there except a few wandering shepherds, 
 like those of Tibet. 
 
 The main mountain ranges which join at the Pamirs 
 form a gigantic cross or flat X . Between the very 
 unequal arms of this cross there are four spaces which 
 form the four chief divisions of Asia. Their names are 
 Southwestern Asia, Northern Asia, Eastern Asia, and 
 Southern Asia. If we compare the political divisions of 
 Asia with these four natural or physical divisions of 
 the continent, it appears that each of the four physi- 
 cal divisions contains one or more countries or political 
 divisions. The boundaries of the countries are very close 
 to the great mountain ranges. 
 
 Long ago one set of people went to one division, and 
 one to another. They found different kinds of climate 
 and soil and mountains, and they also found different 
 kinds of plants and animals. So they learned to live 
 in different ways, just as the people of the tundras 
 
28 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 have learned to live in ways different from those of 
 India. If there had been no mountains it would have 
 been easier for the people to go from one division to 
 another. They would have learned from one another, 
 just as the pupils in Maine learned a new game from 
 the boy who came from Colorado. Because the moun- 
 tains were hard to cross, the people mixed only a little 
 with one another, and each division now has its own 
 special character. 
 
 Southwestern Asia. The first of the great divisions 
 includes the countries of Arabia, Turkey, Caucasia, 
 Persia, Afghanistan, and Baluchistan. It contains many 
 mountains and plateaus, and many basins, or plains 
 with a rim of mountains about them. The middle of 
 each basin is usually occupied by a salt lake or swamp. 
 In addition to the plains in the basins of Persia and 
 Asia Minor, Southwestern Asia contains the huge 
 desert plain of central Arabia and the river plain of 
 Mesopotamia. 
 
 The most unfavorable condition in Southwestern Asia 
 is the dryness of the country. In general all the rainfall 
 or snowfall comes in winter, and no rain falls from May 
 to October. Many parts of Arabia and Persia have rain 
 only three or four times in the year. In such a region 
 there cannot be many large rivers. The four largest are 
 the Euphrates, Tigris, Aras, and Kizil-Irmak. They all 
 rise in the Armenian Plateau, where the mountains are 
 high, so that the rainfall is heavier than elsewhere. 
 Many of the rivers shown on maps of Southwestern 
 Asia are dry part of the year. 
 
 Southwestern Asia is so dry that the people are forced 
 to bring water to the fields by means of irrigating canals 
 and ditches. During the rainless summer the scanty 
 grass which clothes the ground in spring dries up. The 
 
THE FOUR GREAT DIVISIONS OF ASIA 
 
 29 
 
 fields of wheat and corn and vegetables would do like- 
 wise if the inhabitants did not lead the water of the 
 
 
 — ■..,<i ma - « »r. i.v -fc-^ ■*<lf^ 
 
 Irrigating ditches in eastern Persia 
 
 rivers and brooks to them. As the traveler rides along 
 in summer over a dusty brown plain, such as that near 
 Eregli in Asia Minor, he comes upon a ditch full of 
 muddy water. A little dam of mud shoveled up out 
 of the bottom of the ditch turns the water into a field of 
 grain. There it spreads out and soaks into the dry earth, 
 until the whole 'field is turned into mud. The roots 
 of the plants suck up the water greedily, and when 
 one field has been well soaked the water is turned 
 to another. In this way all the farms around a village 
 are watered from a single brook, and the crops grow 
 as well as if rain had fallen. If the streams should 
 run dry, the crops would die and the people would 
 suffer from famine. 
 
30 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 The people of Southwestern Asia are chiefly farmers 
 and herdsmen. Many of the herdsmen are nomads who 
 hve in tents all the year, and travel from place to place 
 in the mountains or in the desert, driving their flocks 
 about to localities where grass can be found. Most of the 
 people are Mohammedans. They believe that Moham- 
 med, the founder of their religion, was the greatest of all 
 prophets. They are governed by despotic Mohammedan 
 rulers; but little by little the people are beginning to 
 desire to rule themselves, as we do in America. 
 
 Northern Asia. On the map of Asia it can be seen 
 plainly that one arm of the mountains which divide the 
 continent into four parts forms a great range running 
 westward from the Pamirs to the Caucasus. Another 
 arm consists of a series of plateaus extending northeast- 
 ward to the Sea of Okhotsk. North of these two arms 
 lies Northern Asia — the second great division of the con- 
 tinent. The plateaus of the arm running to the Sea of 
 Okhotsk are separated by lowlands through which it is 
 easy to pass. So the people on the two sides have gone 
 back and forth a good deal. This is one of the reasons 
 why Russia has had many quarrels with China and Japan. 
 
 Northern Asia consists largely of plains with some 
 plateaus and low mountains far to the northeast. It 
 contains Siberia and Russian Turkistan. All of it is 
 governed by Russia. The various parts of the great 
 plains differ from one another chiefly in'climate. Trans- 
 caspia, the southern portion of the plains, is so dry in 
 summer that the whole region is a desert. The only 
 exceptions are where streams flow down from the moun- 
 tains of Persia and irrigate oases. 
 
 Farther north, in the latitude of Lake Aral, the plains 
 are not quite so dry. They are covered with a thin 
 growth of grass but there is not water enough for good 
 
THE FOUR GREAT DIVISIONS OF ASIA 
 
 31 
 
 farms. Naturally most of the people in these steppes, 
 as the}^ are called, keep cattle and wander from place to 
 
 Nomadic Kirghiz boys. Note that one boy holds a hunting 
 
 falcon on his wrist, while the other carries a pole 
 
 with a loop for catching horses 
 
 place, according to the amount of grass. Most of them 
 go regularly to certain localities at the same time each 
 year, spending the spring in one place, the summer in 
 another ; and so on year after year. The people of the 
 steppes and of the desert are all Mohammedans and 
 belong to the Tartar or Turki race. 
 
 North of the dry steppes summer rains become abun- 
 dant, and a region is found where farming can easily be 
 carried on, although the winters are very cold. The 
 comparative abundance of rain causes trees to grow and 
 great forests to abound. Beside the Siberian Railway 
 white-barked birch cordwood, to be used for the engines, 
 is stacked in piles hundreds of yards long. There is 
 
32 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 very little coal in Siberia, and it is much cheaper to 
 burn wood than coal. The inhabitants of this part of 
 Northern Asia are Russians who have emigrated from 
 Europe, bringing with them the Christian religion. 
 They are chiefly farmers who raise a great deal of 
 wheat and other grains. 
 
 Still farther north the climate grows colder. Dense 
 forests cover the plains, and the country is almost unin- 
 habited except by hunters. Northward the forests thin 
 out and disappear, and at last the bare, cold tundras 
 are found. 
 
 The rivers of Northern Asia are of great size. Two of 
 them — the Amu and Syr-daria — flow from near the high 
 Pamirs and end in Lake Aral. If rain were more abun- 
 dant the rivers would be still larger, and would cause 
 Lake Aral to rise until a river flowed out from it to the 
 Caspian Sea. The Caspian Sea would also rise and 
 increase in size until it, too, overflowed and sent a 
 river through southern Russia to the Sea of Azov. 
 Wherever a country is very dry, bodies of salt water, 
 like Lake Aral and the Caspian Sea, are almost sure to be 
 found. Their waters are salty because no rivers flow out 
 of them. The rivers which flow into them, like all the 
 other rivers of the world, contain a minute amotmt of 
 salt. The quantity is not enough to be noticeable in 
 the streams themselves. Every smallest particle of salt, 
 however, remains in the lakes, while the water is 
 evaporated by the sun. Thus the amount of salt con- 
 tinually increases until the waters of some lakes become 
 mere brine. 
 
 The other large rivers of Northern Asia are the 
 Irtysh, Ob', Yenisei, and Lena. They receive most of 
 their water from the plateaus northeast of the Tian Shan 
 Mountains. They are of little use for trade because 
 
THE FOUR GREAT DIVISIONS OF ASIA 33 
 
 they are frozen over so long in winter, especially at 
 their mouths, and because they flow to the ice-bound 
 Arctic Ocean instead of to an open ocean like the 
 Atlantic or the Pacific. Hundreds upon hundreds of 
 small lakes lie along their northern courses. 
 
 Eastern Asia. The third division of the continent is by 
 far the most important. It is bounded on the north 
 by the plateaus which form the southeastern border of 
 Northern Asia, and on the south and southwest by the 
 Himalayas and the mountains of Burma. It includes 
 the countries of China, Manchuria, Chosen (Korea), 
 Japan, Siam, and Annam. The western part of this 
 division is sharply separated from the eastern part by 
 mountains. It consists of the dry plateau of Mongolia, 
 the desert basin of Chinese or East Turkistan, and the 
 cold barren plateau of Tibet. This whole region may prop- 
 erly be called Inner Asia. It is so dry that there are 
 few plants and animals, and therefore few inhabitants. 
 The remainder of Eastern Asia consists of mountains 
 separated by fertile plains. No part is more than one 
 thousand miles from the sea. The rainfall is every- 
 where large enough to support a variety of plants. A 
 part of the country, however, is so cold that crops 
 cannot be raised. The rivers are large and can easily 
 be navigated. There is an abundance of coal, iron, 
 and other minerals. All these things together make 
 this a country which can support a great many people. 
 The fertile part of Eastern Asia is the most thickly- 
 settled region in the world. An area smaller than that 
 of the United States, leaving out Alaska, contains 
 nearly five hundred million people. That is, there are 
 six or seven people for every one in the United States. 
 The total population comprises one-third of all the people 
 in the world. The climate and other conditions of 
 
34 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Eastern Asia are so much more favorable than those of 
 Siberia that where Siberia has one person in a given 
 
 area Eastern Asia has 
 one hundred fifty. 
 
 The people of East- 
 ern Asia are of the 
 Mongolian race. They 
 are rather short in 
 stature, and they have 
 yellowish skins, high 
 cheek bones, broad 
 faces, and straight 
 black hair. Because 
 the inhabitants are so 
 numerous, the ground 
 must be carefully 
 cultivated in order to 
 furnish food enough 
 for all. This is the 
 chief cause of the ad- 
 mirable industry and economy in which many Asiatic 
 people are so much ahead of us. The inhabitants of 
 the Far East, as Eastern Asia is called, are divided 
 into Chinese and Japanese, together with Koreans 
 and other less important races, each of which has 
 its own distinctive customs. Most of the inhabitants 
 of Eastern Asia are Buddhists, or worshipers of 
 Buddha, but there are many variations in the religion 
 of different parts of this section. By far the larger 
 part of the people are farmers, although there are a 
 good many merchants and mechanics. There are very 
 few nomads ; for such people are found almost wholly 
 in places wliere crops cannot be raised and where only 
 a small number of inhabitants can get a living. 
 
 A Chinese governor in his official 
 robes of silk 
 
THE FOUR GREAT DIVISIONS OF ASIA 3 5 
 
 Southern Asia. The fourth great division of Asia is 
 the part which hes south of the lofty Himalaya Moun- 
 tains. Southern Asia, as it is called, consists of India 
 and Burma, and the Malay Peninsula. Tlie northern 
 part of India consists chiefly of plains and the southern 
 of plateaus. The remainder of Southern Asia is moun- 
 tainous, with small plains scattered here and there. 
 The climate is warm everywhere except in the high 
 mountains. Most parts of the country have an abun- 
 dant rainfall. Unfortunately, the rain sometimes fails 
 to come at the proper season, and great famines are 
 therefore frequent. Northwestern India is the only 
 part where the rainfall is very scanty. Here, how- 
 ever, great rivers come down from the high mountains 
 and provide abundant water for irrigation. Accord- 
 ingly, plants grow in profusion in most parts of the 
 country, and the number of people is large. The size 
 of Southern Asia is about the same as that of all Europe 
 with the exception of Russia, and it has about the same 
 population — three hundred millions. Southern Asia and 
 Eastern Asia together have as many people as all the 
 other divisions of the world. 
 
 In many parts of Southern Asia it is so easy to get a 
 living that many of the people have never learned to 
 work. In the more torrid regions if a man plants a few 
 banana trees or cocoanut palms, he can get a living for 
 himself and his family without any work, except to take 
 care of the trees and pick the fruit. He does not need 
 to make provision for the winter, because there is no 
 really cold weather. Elsewhere the farmers plant rice, 
 millet, and wheat, but these crops do not demand hard 
 work for any length of time. Thus the people have 
 not, as a rule, learned to be industrious. There is 
 nothing to stir them up, and the hot climate destroys 
 
36 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 their energy. So they have easily allowed themselves 
 to be ruled by the English, although they have seven 
 
 Idols carved in stone at the famous rock-caves of Elephanta 
 Island near Bombay, India 
 
 times as many people as England, Scotland, Wales, 
 and Ireland. 
 
 Most of the people of Southern Asia are Hindus, 
 who worship hideous idols which are supposed to 
 represent cruel, wicked gods. Many kinds of animals, 
 such as the cow, monkey, and cobra, are also considered 
 holy. The hooded cobra is one of the most dangerous of 
 all snakes. In a single year it kills over 20,000 people 
 in India. It likes to raise itself in the sun and spread 
 out the broad hood on the back of its head. Accord- 
 ing to the Hindu story, one of the gods was once 
 sleeping by the roadside when the sun began to shine 
 on his head. A cobra came along and saw it. The 
 animal was sorry to see the god's sleep spoiled, and 
 so spread out its hood, and placed itself so that the 
 
THE FOUR GREAT DIVISIONS OF ASIA 37 
 
 shadow covered the god's head until he woke up. The 
 god was so grateful to the cobra that he blessed it, and 
 put on the back of its head the two marks which one sees 
 there. Because of this the Hindus think it wicked to 
 kill a cobra, although they are terribly afraid of the 
 creature. The people are delighted to have a white 
 man kill a cobra, yet, because of their intense super- 
 stition, they themselves will give a snake food instead 
 of killing it. ; 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE RELIGION OF SOUTHWESTERN ASIA 
 
 The Hadji's Story. We have seen that the continent 
 of Asia is divided by mountains into four chief divisions. 
 Each of the four has its own peculiar races, govern- 
 ment, religion, and customs, as will be shown more 
 fully later. Wherever the mountain barriers are low 
 and easy to cross, the habits, or religion, or other 
 characteristics of one division have passed over some- 
 what into another; but on the whole the divisions are 
 clearly marked. 
 
 In Southwestern Asia most of the people are Moham- 
 medans, and all their habits as to eating, marriage, 
 education, law, and many other matters are regulated 
 by religion. Wherever one goes in Mohammedan 
 countries there are men in large white turbans who 
 go by the name of "hadji," or "pilgrim." One day in 
 Persia a traveler met a crowd of forty or fifty men and 
 boys on horses and donkeys going out of a village with 
 all manner of good things to eat and drink, as if for a 
 picnic. "We're going to bring the hadjis home," they 
 said. "We'll meet them three days' journey away, and 
 bring them home. When we get them here, we'll make 
 a great feast for them. Are they not holy men? Have 
 they not made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and to the 
 sacred tomb of the prophet Mohammed at Medina in 
 Arabia?" 
 
 When the pilgrims finally reached home, all their 
 friends invited them to dinner to liear of the wonderful 
 things tliey had seen. To as many as possible the 
 hadjis gave presents brought from Mecca. In many 
 
THE RELIGION OF SOUTHWESTERN ASIA 39 
 
 cases the present was onlv three or four dates. How- 
 ever, the people who had stayed at home thought even 
 that a great thing, because it came from the cit}' which 
 they consider the most holy in the world. 
 
 One day the "traveler heard one of the pilgrims, a 
 white-haired old man with a long beard, tell the story 
 of his journey. "For twenty years I saved my money 
 to go to Mecca," he said. "All my life I had been a 
 good Mohammedan, keeping all the commands of tlie 
 prophet. I had washed myself and prayed five times 
 a day. I had given presents to all the beggars. During 
 the month of fasting I had never eaten nor drunk all 
 day from sunrise to sunset, though it was terribly hard 
 not to drink during the hot days when I was at work 
 in the harvest field. I wanted also to keep the fourth 
 commandment by going to Mecca. I knew tliat if I 
 went there I should have a high place in heaven, and all 
 mv sins would be forgiven. So I saved my money, and 
 made my wife work hard in the fields to earn more. 
 
 "At last my friend and I started. For two months 
 we traveled, sometimes over mountains and across great 
 rivers, and sometimes through desolate wastes of sand 
 and gravel where no man lived. Half of the time I 
 walked, until my shoes were worn oixt. Then I hired a 
 mule and took turns with another man in riding it. In 
 time we came to Damascus in the desert, a noble city 
 with clear water flowing through its streets, and trees 
 growing all around it. There we joined the great 
 pilgrim caravan of 7 ,000 men. My friend and I hired a 
 camel — an ugly beast with huge teeth and a flabby 
 hump. Its hair was all gone except a few stray tufts 
 hanging here and there on its great leathery sides. For 
 another month we traveled southward, sometimes on 
 foot and sometimes swaying back and forth on our 
 
40 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 slow-pacing camel, which made our backs lame. Always 
 we traveled by night and stopped by day, for it was the 
 
 An Arab traveler in an oasis, ready to join a caravan for a 
 journey in the desert 
 
 hottest season of the year. By day no one could 
 travel. The sun made the ground hot as a furnace. 
 We spread a few pieces of cloth on sticks and tried to 
 lie in their shadow, but it was too hot to sleep. Ever}^- 
 where was desert. Sometimes it was a desert of bare 
 gravel, sometimes of rough, rocky mountains, and 
 sometimes of blowing sand. Not a tree was in sight 
 for days. 
 
 "There was almost no water at many of our camps. 
 There never was enough to wash with at the time of 
 prayer, so we washed in the dry sand, as the prophet 
 allows men to do in the desert. Often we camped 
 around a dirty pool into which all the animals walked 
 when they came to drink. We had to drive them 
 
THE RELIGION OF SOUTHWESTERN ASIA 41 
 
 away when we wanted to fill our sheepskins with the 
 vile-smelling liquid in order to have something to drink 
 on the next march. One morning, when we had finished 
 a weary walk of twelve hours among rough, naked hills, 
 we found that there was no water in the pool beside 
 the ruined guardhouse of stone. We went on till nine 
 o'clock, then rested through the heat of the day, and 
 in the afternoon started on once more, half dead with 
 thirst. When we reached the water that evening many 
 of the party had been left behind because of exhaustion 
 or illness. 
 
 ' "Finally our camel became lame, and we had to walk 
 all the time. One night we went so slowly that the 
 main caravan got far ahead of us. Suddenly ten 
 Arabs on horses and with spears in their hands came 
 galloping down upon us. Before we knew what had 
 happened they seized the camel and knocked us down. 
 They were feeling in our cloth girdles to get our money 
 when some other stragglers came up, and they hurried 
 off, taking the camel and its load. We were left with- 
 out food or any supplies, and with ten days still to 
 travel to reach Medina. We were able to buy some 
 food from merchants in the caravan, but the price was 
 ten times what it was worth. We could not buy 
 anywhere else, for the whole country is desert. 
 
 "At last we came to Medina, where we bathed and 
 bought new clothes and said our prayers at the tomb 
 of Mohammed. Then we went on once more through 
 the desert to Mecca. We shouted with joy when we 
 saw the sacred city. We thought it the most lovely 
 of all cities and the center of the earth. After washing 
 ourselves many times and saying many prayers we went 
 to the great square temple in the midst of which is the 
 holy black stone sent down from heaven. 
 
42 ASIA; A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 "Yes, Mecca is terribly hot, and very dirty. There is 
 very little water and it is always lukewarm, and one 
 has to buy it for a very high price from men who carry 
 it around the street in sheepskin bags. The people, too, 
 are bad, and cheat one all the time. There are so many 
 pilgrims that there is not room for them all. Twenty 
 men hire one small room and sleep in it, lying on the 
 floor as close as they can be packed. For that they pay 
 as much in a month as a man can save in a year. The 
 walls of the houses are made of mud, and some one 
 must alwa3's stav in the room or else thieves will dig 
 through the walls and steal everything. Food costs so 
 much that most pilgrims bring with them supplies for 
 the entire trip. That is because there is so little rain in 
 the country around Mecca. If our friends had not 
 helped us after our camel was stolen, our money would 
 not have held out. 
 
 "I was so sick that I did not come home with the 
 caravan, but took the much easier route by sea through 
 the Suez Canal, to Constantinople, and so home. Now 
 they have built a railroad from Damascus to Medina, 
 and soon it will be finished to Mecca, so that pilgrims 
 will go the entire way in the train. Perhaps I shall 
 go again. The journey is hard, and Mecca is bad, but 
 if I can go and stay there until I die I shall go straight 
 to the best place in heaven. . . . God is one God, 
 and Mohammed is his prophet." 
 
 As the old pilgrim finished his story the men who 
 were listening stroked their beards in memory of 
 Mohammed, and one man remarked : "If God is willing, 
 we, too, shall some day see holy Mecca. It is time for 
 the evening prayer. Don't you liear the mullali calling 
 from the tower of the mosque?" 
 
 The crowd arose and went to a fountain near by to 
 
THE RELIGION OF SOUTHWESTERN ASIA 43 
 
 wash their hands. A few of the men went away to 
 the mosque; the others took off their long coats and 
 
 
 
 ^B 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^i^^Sm:-,:- '^ 
 
 ^^^^11^ 
 
 /;: l.:;^^ ; • ■• fi- 1ft- 
 
 Rums near the Pilgrim Road froin Damascus to Mecca 
 
 spread them in a row on the ground, in a clean place 
 beside the road. Then each man stepped out of his low 
 shoes, and in his stockinged feet stood on his coat with 
 his face turned toward Mecca. Lifting his hands, the 
 old hadji began to chant the evening prayer, and the 
 others joined in. All in unison, they stretched forward 
 their hands, clasped them on their breasts, put them at 
 their sides, or raised them to their ears. Now and then 
 they knelt down and leaned forward, again and again 
 touching their foreheads to the ground toward Mecca. 
 They did not care who saw them at their prayers. They 
 wanted to be seen, just as they want everyone to know 
 if they give a beggar even one cent. As Mohammed of 
 Mecca and Medina, their prophet and the founder of 
 their religion, did 1,300 years ago, so they do now. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 ARABIA: THE LAND OF PLUNDERERS 
 
 A Country Sacred to Mohammedans. Although 
 Arabia is a vast country, it has few people and almost 
 no trade because of its dryness. It would not be 
 important if all the Mohammedans of the world did not 
 consider it holy. One person out of every seven in the 
 world is a Mohammedan, who believes that a pilgrimage 
 to Mecca will cause all his sins to be forgiven. 
 
 The Suez Canal. The easiest way to reach Arabia 
 is by steamer to Port Said at the northern end of the 
 Suez Canal. From Port Said the great canal stretches 
 southward like a motionless river between straight, 
 earthen embankments, which separate the deep water 
 of the canal from the shallow water of a lake. Soon the 
 lake ends and the canal runs between hills of bare sand. 
 No plants can be seen except a few scraggly little weeds 
 and bushes. No crops can be raised, and it seems as if 
 no one could live there. Nevertheless, from time to time 
 little shanties are seen, belonging mostly to Arabs who 
 work on the canal. As the great ships from Europe 
 steam slowly onward, little Arab children run along the 
 bank and. stretching out their hands to the passengers 
 sitting on the shady decks, cry out, "Backsheesh, back- 
 sheesh," which means, "A present, a present-." 
 
 The Dryness of Arabia. Arabia is one of the driest 
 countries in the world. It has not a single stream of 
 water large enough to be called a river. In the whole 
 distance of i,6oo miles — from Damascus on the north 
 through the middle of the Arabian Peninsula to the 
 south coast — there is not a single stream more than a 
 
 44 
 
ARABIA :THE LAND OF PLUNDERERS 
 
 45 
 
 few feet wide. In America, if one were to go the same 
 distance in a straight Une from New York to Topeka, 
 
 A British warship lying at anchor in Back Bay Harbor at 
 port of Aden, Arabia 
 
 Kans., he would cross the Hudson, Delaware, Schuyl- 
 kill, Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, and about twenty 
 other great rivers, besides many hundred smaller 
 streams. Except in the midst of large cities, he would 
 never be in a place where he could not see trees or grass. 
 In the whole distance there would be only a few places 
 where he could go much more than a mile without 
 seeing at least one house. In Arabia, on the contrary, 
 he might often go one hundred miles without seeing a 
 single house, or even a tree. He might actually travel 
 two hundred fifty miles, or as far as from Boston to 
 New York, without meeting a single person. Indeed, 
 in the southern part of the peninsula he would find a 
 region as wide as from San Francisco to Salt Lake City 
 — six hundred miles — where no one travels at all, 
 because in the whole distance there is scarcely a single 
 place where drinking water can be found. 
 
46 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 The Mountains and Oases of Arabia. Not all of 
 
 Arabia is so bad as the regions just described. Most parts 
 of the country are dry largely because the winds come 
 from other lands without crossing the sea. In some 
 places, however, the winds come from the ocean and 
 have to rise over mountains. When they rise, the air 
 expands, and so becomes cool and gives up its moisture 
 m^ the form of rain. This is especially the case in the 
 southwestern and eastern corners of the peninsula. In 
 the southwest the sea is bordered by a low, dry, narrow 
 plain, back of which steep mountains rise to a height of 
 8,000 feet or more. At the top of the mountainous 
 ascent one finds a comparatively level country — a high 
 plateau — which slopes gentl}^ eastward for hundreds of 
 miles until it comes down almost to the sea on the eastern 
 side of the peninsula. On the top of the plateau, and on 
 the ascent to it, the monsoons — steady summer winds 
 from the southwest — give a good rainfall from June 
 to September. Therefore, this part of the country has 
 many trees and villages, and is called Arabia Felix, or 
 Fortunate Arabia. Mecca and Medina lie a little too 
 far north to have much rain. Oman, on the east side of 
 Arabia, like Arabia Felix on the southwest, has rain. 
 
 The Arabian Nomads. The largest number of people 
 in Arabia are farmers living in oases, but the most inter- 
 esting are nomads. It is not easy to live the life of a 
 nomad in Arabia, but it is impossible to live any other 
 life in most parts of the country. 
 
 Let us go with the nomads whose attack upon the pil- 
 grims was described in the last chapter. There were 
 ten of them, and they had five camels. Two men rode 
 on each animal. Four days before thev had been sitting 
 cross-legged on the ground in a low black tent, drinking 
 little cups of strong coffee. They, and many other 
 
ARABIA: THE LAND OF PLUNDERERS 
 
 47 
 
 Arabs, were encamped beside a si)ring of brackish, luke- 
 warm water at the foot of the steep, mountainous slope 
 which forms the western border of the plateau. It was 
 terribly hot, so that when a man went out into the sun 
 he wanted to put on thick clothes to keep out the heat, 
 just as is done in the deep Jordan Valley. The Arabs 
 felt the heat more because they had lately come down 
 from the cooler plateau. Up there the springs had 
 all dried up, so they had been obliged to move down to 
 
 HH 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 Arabs with tents and camels halting in the desert 
 
 the lowland, where there was not much grass but where 
 there was a spring which flowed all the time. A few 
 miles away there was another, larger spring. As one 
 looked toward it he could see the tops of palm trees and 
 the gray walls of low, mud houses with flat roofs. The 
 trees stood in large pits about ten feet deep. They had 
 been planted in that way because the only place where 
 the soil is damp is far below the surface. Near the palms 
 could be heard a squeaking sound, which was made by 
 a rope running over a pulley. At one end of the rope 
 was a patient camel, and at the other was a leather bucket 
 
ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 hanging over a deep well. A man drove the camel back 
 and forth. Hour after hour the animal went to and from 
 the well, letting down the bucket and drawing it up 
 again to be emptied into a trough. From the trough the 
 water ran off to the pits and watered the palms. 
 
 Desert Raids. As the men in the black tent looked 
 over toward the palms, one of them said to another: 
 "Ah, I wish the dates were ripe. Our bread and our 
 dates are all gone. The rains were poor last year, you 
 know, and the crops were very small. For six weeks 
 now I have not tasted a morsel of solid food. I have 
 lived on nothing but milk. How I hate it! I want 
 
 something that I can 
 chew. We had enough 
 to last us a month 
 longer, but a guest 
 came to my tent. I 
 could not send him 
 away. I must honor 
 him, for guests are 
 sent by God. So I 
 took all the rice and 
 dates that we had in 
 the tent and cooked 
 them. When the 
 neighbors passed by 
 and saw us eating, it 
 would have been a 
 sin not to invite them 
 in. They ate all our 
 food. Since then I 
 and my wife and my 
 children have been 
 
 Arab women carrying water from 
 a spring in old kerosene cans hungry." 
 
ARABIA: THE LAND OF PLUNDERERS 49 
 
 "It is just the same in my tent," said the other. 
 "You remember that two years ago all my camels were 
 stolen. My friends were good to me and gave me six 
 new ones; but one of those died, one I exchanged for 
 food for the winter, and four are left. It is so hot now 
 that they do not give much milk, so we are hungry in 
 my tent. Where can we get something to eat?" 
 
 "We cannot rob the people in the village," said the 
 first man. "They are our friends, whom we are bound 
 to protect. They cultivate the palm trees, and we 
 protect them from robbers, and so we divide the dates 
 at harvest time. Come, it is time for the pilgrimage to 
 Mecca. Can't we go and steal something from the 
 pilgrims?" 
 
 Each swore to the other not to leave him in the 
 desert. The other men who were in the tent also swore 
 to one another; for the Arab fears treachery, but will 
 never forsake the man to whom he has sworn to be 
 a "companion." Then they took a skin bag full of 
 water and a few dates which one of the other men still 
 had left. With these and their two camels they started 
 off. For three days they hung around the caravan, 
 trying to get a chance to rob some one. They ate all 
 their dates. One day they could not get any water at 
 all. Finally the Arabs fell upon the poor pilgrim and 
 carried off his camel with all its load of food. At first 
 they did not dare stop even to eat, but rode all night as 
 fast as possible to get away. In the morning they saw 
 seven Arabs -in the distance, and were much afraid that 
 they belonged to an unfriendly tribe who would try to 
 rob or kill them. Luckily the others did not see our 
 Arabs, who hurried on to get behind a hill. There was 
 not a sign of a road or path. The men knew the way 
 only by the various mountains and hills. 
 
so 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 "Over there," said one, "is the place to get a drink. 
 There was a muddy pool there four weeks ago." 
 
 When they got to the place the pool was dry. So for 
 another day they had to go without water. When they 
 got home they were almost exhausted. The next week 
 
 they sat around idle 
 all the time and did 
 not even take care of 
 their camels, leaving 
 the work to their 
 wives. 
 
 Sometimes the 
 hungry Arabs go on 
 great raids in large 
 companies, taking 
 with them theii 
 famous horses. In 
 many places there is 
 not enough green 
 fodder or water for a 
 delicate animal like 
 Arab hoys in Palestine ^j^e horse, SO with 
 
 each horse goes a camel as its foster mother. The 
 men milk the camels and give the milk to the horses to 
 drink. This is the only way in which it is possible for 
 horses to live when the people go on long, hard journeys 
 through the waterless desert. The camel is much 
 more hardy than the horse and can travel several days 
 without water. 
 
 The life of the Arabs is almost the hardest that can be 
 imagined. Many of them die from fatigue or hunger 
 after their long raids. It seems to us wicked for them 
 to rob one another and kill the people of other tribes, 
 but perhaps we should think and act as they do if our 
 
ARABIA: THE LAND OF PLUNDERERS 51 
 
 life were as hard as theirs. Arabia is such a dry, weary 
 land that only the people of Fortunate Arabia, down in 
 the southwest, and of Oman in the east, have enough 
 to live on most of the time. It is not at all strange 
 that the Arabs are plunderers, or that every man fears 
 that every one whom he meets may rob or kill him. 
 Because their land is so dr}^ and barren, the Arabs 
 have learned to endure thirst and hunger in a way 
 that would be wholly impossible for us. Unfortunately 
 when the men have an opportunity to rest they feel 
 so tired that they leave all the work to the women, 
 and thus get the habit of being very lazy. The life of 
 the Arabs is so hard that a great many of them have 
 gone out from Arabia to other countries. They are 
 found in Mesopotamia, Persia, the East Indies, Palestine, 
 and all over the northern half of Africa. In many 
 cases, when they go to other lands, they become farmers 
 or merchants. Since they are thus able to earn a living 
 in other ways, they give up their old plundering habits. 
 
52 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Copjrlght hj Undcrwoort & Underwood 
 
 The Wilderness of the Scapegoat: A viem near the Jordan River 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 PALESTINE 
 
 The Arab Inhabitants. When the dry climate of 
 Arabia has made the Arabs grow poor and suffer from 
 hunger they have gone, as we have seen, to places 
 where there is more water and, therefore, more food than 
 in the desert. As Palestine is a fairly rich country 
 lying near to Arabia, many Arabs have come into it. 
 To-day the greater part of its people are Arabs. They 
 have not come peaceably. When they were driven out 
 of the dry desert, they fought with the people who held 
 the better lands, and killed them or drove them out. 
 Even now on the eastern border of Palestine the Arabs 
 come occasionally from the desert and plunder the people 
 in the villages east of the Jordan. Sometimes they take 
 away their land and use it themselves; and they would 
 do so much oftener if the Turkish government did not 
 prevent it. Since many tribes have come to Palestine 
 from different parts of the desert, the people of the 
 country are now divided into little tribes. Each tribe 
 has its own dialect, and each lives in its own special 
 region, shut off by barriers from other regions. 
 
 The Plateau. In coming from Arabia to Palestine 
 one travels northwestward up a long, gentle slope of 
 rolling desert with some hills. At last, upon reaching 
 Moab, east of the southern end of the Dead Sea, one finds 
 himself on a rather flat, treeless plateau nearly 4,000 feet 
 above the sea. Because Moab is high and is not sepa- 
 rated from the sea by mountains higher than itself, it 
 has a fair amount of rainfall during the winter months. 
 Accordingly, the people do not have to be nomads like 
 
 S3 
 
54 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 their neighbors, but can raise crops and live in villages. 
 In this high, eastern part of Palestine, between the 
 
 Syrian women bringing water from a fountain at Nazareth 
 
 Dead Sea and the desert, the days are warm and pleasant 
 in early March, but the nights are cold, and now and 
 then there are storms when a little snow falls, just as 
 it does at the same season in large parts of America. 
 There are no trees, because there is practically no rain 
 in summer. The houses are made of mud fashioned into 
 bricks dried in the sun and then made into walls about 
 two feet thick. Sometimes thieves dig holes in such walls, 
 as they do in Mecca. The roofs, also, are made of mud and 
 are fiat, with just slope enough to shed the water during 
 the winter rains. If there were more rain the roofs would 
 probably be built with a slope like ours to shed the 
 water ; this would be possible, because if there were more 
 rain there would be more trees to use for timber. 
 
PALESTINE 55 
 
 A Village of Moab. The streets of a Moab village 
 are like narrow, dirty alleys. Often two women are 
 seen sitting on the bare ground and slowly turning a 
 large stone, round and fiat with a hole in the middle 
 of it. Through the hole they keep pouring handfuls of 
 wheat, which is caught between the stone which they 
 are turning and another stone lying below it. In this 
 way the grain is ground into flour. It takes about five 
 hours to grind enough flour for a fair-sized family for 
 one day. The women have little time for any house- 
 keeping except cooking and grinding. When the flour 
 is ready, four or five women go together to an oven of 
 clay, shaped like a beehive, which stands in the street. 
 In this, one woman makes a fire of little weeds and 
 twigs, or of cakes of dried dung mixed with straw. She 
 cannot get wood or coal. When the oven has become 
 very hot the women take flat cakes of dough and clap 
 them against the sides of the oven over the hot embers. 
 There they stick until the bread is baked, when the 
 cakes fall down into the ashes and have to be pulled 
 out. The women take turns in furnishing the fuel. 
 The one whose turn it is to furnish it has to bake her 
 bread last, so that she may be sure to keep the oven 
 hot until all have finished. 
 
 The Ghor. From the top of one of the highest houses 
 in the village one gets a wide view. Westward toward 
 Palestine a rolling plain extends for a few miles, and then 
 the plateau suddenly breaks off into a tremendous valley. 
 It is impossible to see the bottom of the valley, but the 
 .farther side is in plain sight. There another plateau 
 appears, nearly as high as the one on which we stand but 
 not so large. Villages surrounded by trees can be seen 
 easily on a clear day. They are only thirty or forty 
 miles away. These villages are in Judea, near Jerusalem 
 
56 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 and Bethlehem. In the Bible story Ruth, when she left 
 her home on the plateau of Moab to go with her mother- 
 
 RacheVs tomb at Bethlehem 
 
 in-law to Bethlehem, called these places a "far country." 
 It seemed to her very far, because her country is sepa- 
 rated from Judea by the deep valley of the Ghor, as it 
 is called, which is not at all easy to cross. Because it is 
 so hard to pass from side to side of the Ghor, the people 
 of Judea and Moab have had very little to do with one 
 another and have often been enemies. 
 
 The rocky path from the plateau down into the Ghor 
 winds between great cliffs of limestone. Within twelve 
 miles there is a descent of four thousand feet. Mile 
 after mile the air grows warmer. In the morning, when 
 one starts, it is frosty on the plateau. At noon one 
 comes to the smooth plain at the bottom of the Ghor, 
 and finds the thermometer reading between eighty and 
 ninety. No wonder it is hot, for the bottom of the Ghor 
 is more than a thousand feet below the level of the ocean. 
 
PALESTINE ' Sf 
 
 At the mouth of the narrow valley by which the road 
 descends is seen a broad plain, eight or ten miles wide. 
 Northward, where it extends seventy miles to the Sea 
 of Galilee, it is beautifully green with thick, tall grass. 
 Crops of wheat ripen here in April, and on the farther 
 side, at the foot of the cliffs of Judea, the palm trees of 
 Jericho show how warm the climate must be. 
 
 The Dead Sea. Southward the view is less pleasant. 
 Green grass is there replaced by a queer, salty plain, 
 slimy in places, and in others rough with humps of 
 salt. Thousands of years ago this part of the plain 
 was the bed of the Dead Sea, then much larger than 
 now. That strange sea, 1,300 feet below the level of 
 the Mediterranean, still forms a lake nearly fifty miles 
 long. It is so full of salt that no animals can drink the 
 water, and no fish can live in it except at the mouths 
 of the rivers. When people bathe in the sea they find 
 that the water is so heavy with salt that they cannot 
 keep their bodies wholly under. When one walks out 
 until the water reaches his armpits the water lifts him 
 so that he finds himself wiggling his toes to touch the 
 bottom. If the water gets into the eyes or into a cut 
 it stings dreadfully; and when it dries on the skin it 
 leaves a prickly, disagreeable, oily layer of salt. 
 
 The Dead Sea is fed chiefly by the Jordan River, 
 a swift, muddy stream which winds in many curves 
 between banks of sand and gravel. It is one of the few 
 rivers which have not carved their own valleys. On the 
 contrary, it flows in a trough formed by the dropping 
 down of a slice of the earth's crust. It rises on the high 
 slopes of Mount Hermon, but for most of its course its 
 bed lies lower than the ocean. Like all rivers, the Jordan 
 contains a little salt, and this has been concentrated in 
 the Dead Sea, just as the salt of other rivers has been 
 
S8 ASIA. A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 concentrated in the sea of Aral and scores of lakes in 
 the drier parts of Asia. If the lake, that is, the Dead 
 Sea, had an outlet, the salt would be carried away. 
 
 Sheep and Shepherds. In crossing the plain of the 
 Ghor one often meets shepherds living in little tents or 
 in the open air with their sheep. This is especially true 
 at the end of winter, when they come down from the 
 plateaus. There it is not yet warm and the grass has 
 not begun to grow, but the plain of the Ghor is covered 
 with a thick carpet of verdure. So the shepherds 
 migrate twenty or thirty miles, and live in the warm 
 Ghor for a month or two. A shepherd once told a 
 traveler some stories of his sheep. "We shepherds all 
 know every one of our sheep," he said. "If they are 
 lost we can recognize them even after several j^ears. 
 If a sheep wanders and joins another flock, the owner 
 can always get it back if he can describe its marks and 
 prove that it is his. The people are very honest about 
 this. Once a shepherd lost a mother-sheep. After five 
 years he saw it one day in the flock of another man. 
 When the owner proved that it was his, the other 
 man not only gave it back, but gave back its children 
 and grandchildren and their children — sixteen in all." 
 
 "Another time," said the same shepherd, "there was 
 very little rain one winter in Judea, and the grass was so 
 poor that my sheep began to suffer. I heard that more 
 rain had fallen in Moab, so I took my flock and went 
 across the Ghor. After many weeks I heard that rain 
 had fallen at home. The sheep were fat, and I went very 
 slowly, only seven or eight miles a day. At night I had 
 to watch them, and I became very tired. After four 
 days I camped in the barren country halfway out of the 
 Ghor, on the west side. I could not keep awake, and 
 while I slept some wolves attacked the flock. When 
 
Copyright, IQIS, hy Rand, McNally b' Ccvipany 
 
 Syria and Palestine 
 
 5S 
 
PALESTINE '59 
 
 I woke up every one of my forty sheep was dead. I 
 thought now that I could never get another flock, and 
 must go away to work. But the people in my village 
 were very kind. One gave one sheep, one two, and 
 another three, and now I have a good flock." 
 
 The Plateau West of the Jordan. The narrow slice of 
 the earth's crust which has dropped down to form the 
 Ghor is bounded on either side by cliffs and steep moun- 
 tain slopes, marking the line of breakage between the 
 low Jordan Valley and the plateaus on either side. At 
 the top of the slope on the west lies the western plateau. 
 This forms the central part of Palestine and includes 
 Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. Its highest part is an open, 
 rolling country, but on the edges it has been much cut 
 into by small rivers so that it is extremely rough. 
 Naturally the chief towns and roads are on the highest 
 part, where it is smoothest. That is the best place to 
 live, not only because it is the smoothest but because 
 it is high enough to cause the air coming from the Medi- 
 terranean Sea to rise and become cool, and deposit its 
 water as rain. 
 
 A Village of Judea — Olives and Figs. Most of the peo- 
 ple of the western plateau are farmers. They all live in 
 villages with the houses close together, and go out to 
 their fields every day. Around each village there are 
 large orchards of gray-leaved olive trees. Some of them 
 are huge old trees that have lived several centuries and 
 are all gnarled and twisted. The olive is one of the most 
 important crops in Palestine, for it is one of the few 
 things for which the people can get ready money with 
 which to pay their taxes to the Turkish government. In 
 many places everybody is afraid that his neighbors will 
 steal his olives, so no one is allowed to begin gathering 
 his crop before a certain day appointed by the village 
 
6o 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 officers. If olives are found in any man's house before 
 that day he is thought to have stolen them. Large 
 
 
 '"^^^ 
 
 ^y** 
 
 ^^ 
 
 WBS^^ '"*^'^^^^^^^ 
 
 ^HH^^^^^HJl^^^i^ 
 
 
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 I^^^B 
 
 
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 -*. «*-•«' T. /B ■" .^>-w^fcSft(e>f /^ - A'twii-iK^WBi^HB 
 
 v4« oW olme orchard in Palestine 
 
 cloths are spread under the trees, and then the men 
 and boys climb up and beat the branches with sticks 
 to get off the fruit. If the olives are to be pickled 
 in the form that we know them, it is best to pick them 
 green, but for olive oil they have to be ripe. The old way ■ 
 of getting out the oil was to crush the olives between 
 two great millstones. The upper stone was turned by a 
 horse or a donkey, or even a man. Now presses, some- 
 thing like cider mills, are used. 
 
 Figs are another great crop. When fresh they are con- 
 sidered most luscious by those who have learned to like 
 them — far better than the dried kind. Some villages 
 have as many as thirty varieties. Each tree bears two 
 crops, one of which ripens two or three months before 
 
PALESTINE 
 
 the other. Every one likes the early, sweet ones. 
 Oddly enough, there is a custom which allows the 
 passer-by to pick the early figs from any trees that 
 he happens to see. 
 
 Grapes and Barter. The fellahin, as the villagers are 
 called, have vineyards where fine grapes are raised. 
 They surround them with mud walls, and on the tops 
 of the walls put thorny bushes to keep people from 
 climbing over and stealing the fruit. Animals, as well as 
 men, like grapes. If the tops of the walls are not too 
 thorny, dogs, foxes, jackals, and even bears and wolves 
 sometimes climb over to have a feast. In most parts of 
 America grapes are more or less a luxury ; but in Pales- 
 tine rich and poor eat 
 them for months. 
 They are so cheap 
 that when the people 
 go to market they 
 often exchange three 
 pounds of grapes for 
 one pound of wheat. 
 With us it is just the 
 other way — a pound 
 of grapes is worth at 
 least three pounds of 
 wheat, and often 
 more. 
 
 Many of the people 
 of Palestine do not 
 reckon values in 
 money, but in wheat. 
 Except in the cities 
 
 and along the routes ^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^.^^ 
 where tourists travel of grapes 
 
 his basket 
 
62 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 money is so scarce that trade is carried on by barter or 
 exchange. A merchant seUs a knife for two bushels of 
 wheat, and a farmer buys a sheep for thirty. The fella- 
 hin are as simple in other ways as in their barter. For 
 instance, a man lent some money and took a note for it. 
 Instead of saying that the money would be paid on 
 such a day of such a month, the note said it would be 
 paid when the cucumbers were ripe again. The people 
 do not remember the day of the month, but everyone 
 knows when the different crops begin to ripen. 
 
 The Maritime Plain and the Seacoast. West of the 
 central plateau of Palestine the country slopes gradually 
 down to the sea. The seacoast is bordered by a fertile 
 strip called the Maritime Plain. This is the best part of 
 the country for raising grain. It is warm because it 
 is low, and it is near enough to the sea to have a fair 
 amount of rain. Where irrigation is possible lemons 
 and oranges are most profitable crops, especially around 
 Jaffa. 
 
 Jaffa is the chief seaport of Palestine. It is not a 
 good harbor, for it has no protection from the waves, 
 and in bad weather no ships can land. In good weather 
 large steamers come to anchor a long distance from 
 shore, and people are carried to the land in little boats. 
 Once some Americans came from Egypt in winter and 
 wanted to land at Jaffa. It was so stormy that the 
 travelers could not take a little boat to go ashore, so 
 they went on with the steamer to Beirut, in Syria, and 
 came back again. Once more it was too stormy for 
 them to land, and they had to go on to Egypt and 
 return a third time. It was almost as stormy as before, 
 but this time they were bound to reach land. They 
 hired a little boat for themselves and another for their 
 baggage. Their own boat landed safely, although every 
 
PALESTINE 
 
 63 
 
 one was drenched in the breakers ; but the other boat 
 was tipped over, and almost all of the baggage was lost. 
 
 View of the Temple inclosure and Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem 
 
 Lines of Communication. With such poor harbors it 
 is natural that Palestine should never have had much 
 trade by sea. The roads in the interior are not good, 
 either. A railroad has been built from Jaffa to Jeru- 
 salem, and another from Haifa to the south end of the 
 Sea of Galilee, and so to Damascus. There it connects 
 with the line, already mentioned, which runs east of 
 Palestine through Moab to Medina and the holy places 
 of Arabia. In ancient times the chief road in Palestine 
 led from Damascus past the Sea of Galilee, across the 
 northern end of Samaria where the western plateau is 
 very low, and so down the Maritime Plain southward to 
 Egypt. This road did not touch Jerusalem because it 
 is not easy to reach that city. Thus, when the armies 
 of the Syrians and Assyrians came against Egypt they 
 
64 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 usually did not go to Jerusalem. This is one reason 
 why Jerusalem continued so long to be the capital of 
 Judea after Samaria was destroyed. 
 
 Cisterns. One of the greatest difficulties in Palestine, 
 as in all of Southwestern Asia, is the lack of water in 
 summer. If a man is going to build a house, he often 
 goes to work first to build a cistern. This is partly in 
 order to have some water on hand while the house is 
 being built. It takes a great deal of water to mix up 
 the mud of which the walls and roof are made. A large 
 part of the villagers have no water at all in summer, 
 except what they are able to store in cisterns. These 
 cisterns are built of a sort of lime plaster and have dome- 
 shaped roofs with a round hole at the top. Toward the 
 end of the summer the water usually gets very low, and 
 often that which remains in the bottom of the cistern 
 becomes bad. Sometimes people go out at night and 
 steal water from one another. Accordingly, at this 
 season, many people sleep out of doors on top of their 
 cisterns. 
 
 The Coming of the Rain. Everyone watches most 
 eagerly for the first sign of a storm. The man who sees 
 a little cloud in the west proclaims the good news 
 that the rain is coming. If it does not come at the right 
 time the crops suffer and the poor go hungry. In the 
 fall clouds begin to gather on the western horizon, espe- 
 cially at sunset. Distant lightning plays across the sky, 
 and an occasional slight shower falls at night. After 
 a few days the clouds gather more thickly, the roll 
 of thunder is heard, and at last torrents of rain pour 
 down. The people have made all their preparations. 
 They have mended the earthen roofs of the houses and 
 rolled fresh clay into the cracks. The cisterns have 
 been cleared out, and all the channels leading to them 
 
PALESTINE 
 
 65 
 
 have been repaired. Everything is ready, too, for the 
 planting of crops. Plows have been put in order, and 
 
 ., J 
 
 f ■:1-'/ 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 f rfe^-1 
 
 
 w0WSmm 
 
 
 
 
 i^^H 
 
 ■^ ■■:-■■■/ ..j.Mi 
 
 VS^^il* ,-■ ;■ --— i. 
 
 
 A street in Jerusalem 
 
 the oxen are ready to draw them. The soil has been 
 hoed up around the fruit trees, and the waUs of the 
 mud houses have been supported with fagots so that 
 the rain may not wash them away on the exposed side. 
 
 As soon as the earth is well moistened the farmers 
 go out and sow the grain. Many sow the seed first 
 and then plow it under. Some plow both before and 
 after the seed has been sown. If the rain is very late 
 and the seed cannot be sown by the last of October 
 or during November, great loss is suffered, because the 
 crops sprout so late that they cannot mature sufficiently 
 before the "latter" rains come to an end in April. 
 
 The Holy City of Jerusalem. Although Palestine is a 
 very small region it is the most interesting of all countries 
 
66 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 from a religious point of view. It is the "Holy Land" 
 of Jews and Christians; and even to the Mohammedans 
 it is the most holy place after Mecca. Jerusalem, the 
 chief city, has only sixty or seventy thousand people — 
 less than Duluth, Minnesota — but it is great because of 
 its history. Thousands of pilgrims from various parts of 
 eastern Europe, and of tourists from western Europe and 
 America, visit it every year. The city is surrounded by 
 large monasteries and church buildings belonging 
 chiefly to the Roman Catholic and Greek churches. At 
 most of the sites of great events in Biblical history 
 churches and shrines have been built by Christians of 
 every kind. Unfortunately, the various sects of Chris- 
 tians do not always agree. Therefore the Mohammedan 
 Turks, who rule the land, station soldiers to guard the 
 holy places. Besides the many kinds of Christians and 
 Mohammedans, there are in Jerusalem numerous Jews 
 who are restoring some of the ancient Jewish sites and 
 are planting colonies. The natives of Palestine are 
 partly Christians of the so-called Greek church, and 
 partly Mohammedans. All, however, live in much the 
 same way except in the cities. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 SYRIA AND MESOPOTAMIA 
 
 Lebanon. Nearly three thousand years ago, when 
 King Solomon wanted timber for his great temple in 
 Jerusalem, he could not find the right kind in Palestine. 
 He had to send away to the north to Hiram, King of 
 Tyre, and get cedars from Lebanon. The distance from 
 Jerusalem to Lebanon is not great — only one hundred 
 sixty miles, or as far as from Omaha to Kansas City — 
 but the climate of the two places is quite different. 
 Lebanon is a high mountain range standing close to the 
 sea and reaching a height of more than nine thousand 
 feet, or twenty-five hundred feet more than Mount 
 Mitchell, the highest point of the Appalachians. Natu- 
 rally the west winds coming from the Mediterranean 
 rise suddenly and become greatly cooled, so that they 
 give up much rain. Therefore the climate is more moist 
 than that of Palestine. Hence the kingdom of Hiram 
 contained many fine trees, and even now the moun- 
 tains of Lebanon have more trees than the country 
 round about, and the region at their western base is 
 rich, because of its climate. 
 
 The Harbors of Syria and the Phoenicians. On the 
 map one can see that as they . continue northward 
 the plateaus of Palestine grow higher, forming the two 
 mountain ranges of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. The 
 Ghor also continues as a valley in which flow two rivers 
 — the Litani toward the south and the Orontes toward 
 the north. Where the Litani turns westward it cuts 
 across the range of Lebanon in a wonderful canyon. In 
 one place the canyon is so narrow that the river actually 
 
 67 
 
68 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 flows for a short distance underground, beneath a great 
 arch of limestone — a huge bridge made by Nature. 
 
 
 <' ■ 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
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 & "V*i^>^SSr'^ ***«»-^^ -**;r 
 
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 "). *<' oli'Sft:^''''*^ Jrik-yfitSi^J'^-f'' _,. 
 
 'i ^"' a^ 
 
 yl Ctna^sian oxcart in Syria 
 
 The coastal plain of Palestine dies out north of Mount 
 Carmel, and the shore line is not so smooth as farther 
 south. Ages ago the country north of Carmel was 
 lowered a little, while that to the south was raised. 
 Hence the northern shore became somewhat irregular, 
 and possesses some fairly good harbors. In the old 
 days the Phoenicians used these harbors, and by reason 
 of them became a great commercial people. They were 
 the first nation to use letters resembling those of our 
 alphabet. They traveled far to the west from their 
 good harbors and taught their way of writing to the 
 Greeks and Romans, who in turn were our teachers. 
 So to-day, in the letters which we use, we preserve a 
 reminder of the fact that the well-watered region of 
 Phoenicia or Syria, on the slopes of the Lebanon Moun- 
 tains, had harbors fitted for the trade of ancient times. 
 
■ SYRIA AND MESOPOTAMIA 69 
 
 Damascus, the Queen City of the Desert. As Syria 
 
 has much rain, it naturally has many people, compared 
 with the surrounding regions. On each side of the 
 mountains there is a great city: Beirut, the center of 
 ocean trade on the west, and Damascus, the center 
 of desert traffic on the east. The Arabs call Damascus 
 one of the four gardens of Eden. They say that there 
 is no city like it in beauty, and no city which has 
 such clear and delicious water. To them it is an earthly 
 paradise, because, although it lies on the very edge of the 
 desert, it is wholly surrounded by trees. The city itself 
 is not beautiful. Its streets, narrow and dirty, wind 
 in and out among high mud walls of houses with no 
 windows except small grated holes. The people are 
 often ragged, though some are dressed in gorgeous 
 turbans and long, gay gowns. Sometimes a rich man, 
 in a voluminous white turban and a long blue gown, 
 is seen riding on a large white donkey, his waving feet 
 close to the ground. Everyone uses donkeys or camels. 
 White donkeys, which are larger than others, are con- 
 sidered the most dignified of animals. Young men ride 
 horses, but older men ride white donkeys and pay very 
 high prices for them. In modern days, however, the 
 donkey has lost some of his work, for electric street 
 cars have been introduced into Damascus. They are 
 run by power furnished by the ancient Abana (Barada) 
 River. Their speed amazes the numerous street dogs, 
 who have not yet learned that the tracks are not a 
 good place for a nap. 
 
 Although Damascus itself is not a particularly attrac- 
 tive city, it is very beautiful when seen from a distance. 
 Bare, naked hills of hmestone rise on the west, while 
 toward the east lies the great parched desert where the 
 Arabs wander. Near the city miles and miles of most 
 
70 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 beautiful orchards abound in all sorts of luscious fruit, 
 such as apricots, figs, and grapes. It is not strange that 
 the contrast between these fair, well-watered gardens 
 and the desert makes the Arabs speak extravagantly of 
 Damascus. The fame and greatness of Damascus depend 
 upon a fact not often noticed. The streams which 
 water the city come through the mountains of Anti- 
 Lebanon from the west side, where there is much rain. 
 If the streams from the west side of the mountains did 
 not cut across to the dry east side in deep gorges, there 
 would be no great city of Damascus, because there would 
 be no water. 
 
 The Syrian Desert and Mesopotamia. From Damascus 
 caravans go northeastward through the Syrian Desert 
 to Palmyra (Tadmor), a five or six days' journey. There 
 they see the ruins of one of the most famous cities of his- 
 tory. The beautiful Arab queen, Zenobia, lived in this 
 city until the Romans took her to Rome as a captive, 
 about three hundred years after Christ. Now the only 
 inhabitants are a few poor Arabs who live in mud houses, 
 most of which are huddled together inside the walls of 
 what was once the magnificent Temple of the Sun. 
 Beyond Palmyra the caravans hasten eastward in great 
 fear of Arab plunderers. At last they come to the 
 Euphrates River, and to Mesopotamia. There, too, they 
 find enormous ruins of magnificent cities, around which 
 are pitched the black tents of poor, plundering Arabs. 
 
 At Nineveh, on the northeast side of Mesopotamia, 
 archeeologists have dug from the ground the ruins of 
 some of the greatest buildings in the world. Huge pro- 
 cessions of gigantic animals and men, carved in stone, 
 lead to ruined palaces and temples, where thousands of 
 people once passed to and fro. In other places enormous 
 mounds have been dug open, and inside of them have 
 
SYRIA AND MESOPOTAMIA 
 
 71 
 
 been found large libraries and a great variety ot articles 
 which show us how the ancient people lived. The 
 libraries did not consist of books like ours, but of bricks 
 of clay dried in the sun. On the sides of the sun-dried, 
 bricks letters were stamped in the same way that we 
 sometimes stamp figures on cookies. Such bricks, or 
 
 Ruins of a colonnaded street in Palmyra 
 
 tablets, do not seem like very good records, but they 
 last long in a dry country, and some of them are four or 
 five thousand years old. 
 
 Once Mesopotamia was the center of the strongest 
 nations in the world. Now, as a whole, it is nothing 
 but an enormous plain with no inhabitants except a 
 few Arabs and Kurds scattered here and there. It has 
 a few cities such as Bagdad, famous for its gardens. In 
 some places, such as Koeit, near the mouth of the 
 Euphrates and Tigris rivers, the water of the rivers is 
 turned on to the plain, and millions of palm trees are 
 irrigated. It is said that when the rivers are in flood 
 
72 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 the water often covers the plain for many miles. The 
 people take refuge on the small mounds where they have 
 built their houses. While the flood lasts they look 
 abroad over a great lake, above whose surface the 
 feathery tops of palm trees rise like small islands. 
 
 In spring the desert section of Mesopotamia is cov- 
 ered with millions of the brightest wild flowers, making 
 great patches of red, blue, or yellow. A few places are 
 green with fields of wheat planted by the Arabs. Oddly 
 enough, sheep are often seen eating the wheat. The 
 Arabs say that if the sheep are allowed to eat off the tops 
 of the young wheat, each root will send up two or three 
 shoots instead of only one, and they will get more grain 
 than if the animals are kept out. As soon as the spring 
 rains are past, Mesopotamia dries up. For miles and 
 miles everything is brown and bare. There is not a sign 
 of people anywhere, except close to the river — nothing 
 but blowing sand and dust. 
 
 Mesopotamia might support many million people, 
 but misgovernment and the raids of plundering Arabs 
 have prevented the inhabitants from increasing and 
 prospering. Always the Arabs are fighting with one 
 another, or with the Turks and Ktirds. The rivers 
 keep changing their courses and forming unhealthful 
 swamps. Little by little the country has been growing 
 worse, but a change is at hand. English engineers 
 have made surveys for the Turkish government, the 
 rivers will again be made to irrigate the land, and the 
 ancient prosperity will some day be restored. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 ANATOLIA: THE LAND OF THE SUNRISE 
 
 The Greek Fringe of Asia Minor. Anatolia is the 
 Greek word for "sunrise" and also the word for "east." 
 More than three thousand years ago, before the days 
 of Homer, the Greeks began to row or sail from island 
 to island in the ^gean Sea. They had very small 
 boats and did not dare go far from land, for fear they 
 would be caught on the open sea at night or in a storm. 
 Nevertheless, because there are so many islands in the 
 /Egean Sea, they were able to travel far, until at length 
 they came to the mainland of Asia Minor on the 
 east. Naturally, they called the country Anatolia, or 
 "Eastland." The name has come down to us and is now 
 used for the peninsula of Asia Minor, the western part of 
 Turkey-in-Asia. 
 
 The Greeks never went far inland in Anatolia, for the 
 mountains rise steeply close to the shore, and the people 
 among the mountains and on the plateau at the top 
 were not friendly. It was easy to go along the shore, 
 especially on the west. There the coast is cut to pieces, 
 for it is pierced by hundreds of deep bays which are 
 separated and protected by peninsulas and islands. On 
 the map it looks almost as if the western part of the coun- 
 try had been fringed like a towel. On the north and 
 south coasts the Greeks did not find it quite so safe to 
 travel as on the west, because there the harbors are poor. 
 Nevertheless, after a time, they learned to make larger 
 boats, like the one in which Jason and his companions 
 went in search of the Golden Fleece. Then they went 
 sailing along all the coasts of Asia Minor and founded 
 
 73 
 
74 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 many prosperous colonies. That was more than two 
 thousand years ago; but even now the borders of 
 
 Turkish children carrying grain from the fields in Anatolia 
 
 Anatoha are inhabited largely by Greeks, while the 
 interior of the country is occupied by Turks, Armenians, 
 and other races. 
 
 The Surface Features of Anatolia. Anatolia is a 
 plateau with mountains around the edge and a basin in 
 the center. Long ages ago it was lifted from beneath 
 the sea, and parts of it stood even higher than they do 
 now. Most of the larger streams flowed toward the west. 
 They cut deep valleys, between which great ridges of 
 the plateau jutted westward like fingers from a hand. 
 In those days, long before the coming of man, the ridges 
 extended far toward Greece. Then the western part 
 of the country sank and much of it was "drowned" 
 beneath the sea. The water entered the vallevs and 
 made them into gulfs and bays, while the ridges stood 
 
ANATOLIA: THE LAND OF THE SUNRISE 75 
 
 out as islands or peninsulas. Thus the coast became 
 highly irregular and very favorable for navigation, even 
 for a people like the Greeks, who did not yet know much 
 about the sea. 
 
 On the north and south of Anatolia mountain ranges 
 run parallel to the sea; therefore there are no good har- 
 bors. A few years ago some travelers wanted to land at 
 Samsun on the north coast. They started from Constan- 
 tinople in a large steamer and sailed up the Bosporus. 
 For twenty miles they seemed to be sailing on a broad 
 river, although the water was salty. Ages ago, before 
 the country last sank, the Bosporus was a river flowing 
 out from the Black Sea, which was then a vast lake. 
 Now the valley has been drowned. From the mouth 
 of the Bosporus the steamer sailed eastward in a 
 storm. At Samsun great waves were pounding on the 
 beach, and it seemed impossible to land. The steamer 
 had to anchor half a mile from the shore, but before her 
 anchors were out a crowd of little rowboats came bob- 
 bing over the waves and surrounded the ship. The oars- 
 men shouted and yelled at the top of their voices. The 
 passengers climbed carefully down a ladder and were 
 helped into rowboats. Near the shore it looked as if the 
 boats would be swamped in the surf. To the travelers' 
 surprise the rowers jumped out into the water up to their 
 armpits and steadied the boats. Then they motioned 
 to the passengers to sit on their shoulders, put their 
 hands around their foreheads, and thus be carried ashore 
 through the breakers. The baggage was landed in the 
 same way ; but the heavy cargo had to wait several days 
 until the storm was over. As most of the harbors on the 
 north and south coasts of Anatolia are equally bad, it is 
 not strange that the great lines of trade have always been 
 from the western coast up the valleys to the plateau. In 
 
76 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 modern times railroads have been built along the same 
 lines. Their chief difficulty is to find an easy way down 
 from the plateau on the south side in] order to reach 
 Mesopotamia and Syria. 
 
 Smyrna, on the west coast of Anatolia, has become 
 one of the important cities of the world because the 
 drowning of the mouth of a valley has given it a good 
 harbor, and because the valley gives an easy way of 
 getting up to the plateau, which forms the main portion 
 of the country. The city has some disadvantages, 
 however. The rivers from the plateau bring down a 
 great deal of mud and deposit it in the harbor. In the 
 days of Greece and Rome, Ephesus, which lies south of 
 Smyrna, was on the seashore; but now the harbor has 
 been so completely filled by the mud from the river 
 that the ruins of the old city are six miles from the 
 water. Such filled-in bogs now form smooth plains of 
 fertile soil. These narrow plains are very rich and are 
 highly cultivated. On them are raised the famous 
 Smyrna figs, oranges, and other subtropical fruits. 
 
 On the north and south coasts of Anatolia the streams 
 deposit mud and silt just as on the west; but, instead of 
 filling up drowned valleys and forming long, narrow 
 plains running back far into the mountains, they form 
 triangular deltas projecting out into the water. 
 
 The Anatolian Plateau. In order to reach the central 
 plateau of Anatolia it is necessary to climb the steep 
 mountain slopes on the north or the south side or else to 
 go up the long western valleys. Naturally the easiest 
 route is up the western valleys, and therefore the rail- 
 roads follow them. As one goes inland from Smyrna 
 the plain grows narrower and at last gives place to a 
 narrow gorge up which the railroad climbs. The 
 country grows drier, too, and the valley sides become 
 
ANATOLIA; THE LAND OF THE SUNRISE 77 
 
 naked and rocky. Except during the dry summer 
 season, there is plenty of rain along the coasts of 
 Anatolia. Winds from the Mediterranean and Black 
 seas blow over the land, and when they strike the 
 steeplj'-rising shores and are obliged to rise they give up 
 their moisture in abundance When they cross the rim of 
 the mountains which surround the plateau , and descend 
 a little to the plateau itself, they no longer contain 
 much water. Accordingly the interior of Anatolia is' 
 dry. As might be expected, a basin-shaped part of the 
 plateau is occupied by a large salt lake, called Tuz Gol. 
 
 As one approaches the top of the plateau, a change 
 takes place in the landscape. The valley walls cease 
 to be steep and inaccessible. They recede from' the 
 streams, the whole country opens out, and soon the 
 railroad train is running across the broad, rolling 
 uplands of the main plateau. Various other things have 
 changed also. Down on the coast there are trees and 
 many green places. Here one looks abroad for miles 
 and sees scarcely a single tree. Except in spring 
 or near the villages, there is nothing green in sight. 
 Down on the coast the villages consist of groups of 
 houses scattered among fruit trees. The roofs are 
 made of red tiles and have a slope to shed the rain. 
 Often they are covered with storks' nests. Some- 
 times as many as ten storks build their large nests of 
 sticks on a single roof, and one may see half a dozen 
 of the great white birds standing solemnly on a house- 
 top, each with one long leg drawn up out of sight. 
 
 The Villages of Anatolia. Up on the plateau the 
 villages are far from beautiful. They consist of groups 
 of flat-roofed mud houses huddled together as closely 
 as possible. The walls of adjoining houses touch each 
 other., and one can walk all around the village by 
 
78 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Stepping from roof to roof. The chief reason for the 
 flat roofs is that the period of summer drouth is too 
 
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 M^ 
 
 
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 wB^Sv^^^^'^wBI^^^^K^m 
 
 
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 ^ typical town in Asia Minor 
 
 long to permit the growth of many trees. Hence wood 
 is too expensive to use in building sloping roofs. More- 
 over, there is so little rain that this is unnecessary. In 
 winter, on the other hand, the country is cold because 
 it lies high above the sea, and much snow falls since 
 that is the season of storms. Since the roofs are flat 
 the snow must be shoveled off into the streets. In the 
 larger towns, where the houses are often built with two 
 stories, it is interesting to see how a man will push a big 
 shovelful of snow off the roof to the street below, and 
 then peek over the edge to see if he has hit any one. In 
 the villages the snow is sometimes heaped up so high 
 in the streets that it forms piles reaching far above the 
 roofs of the one-story houses. Great hollows have to be 
 dug in the snow to get to the doors of the houses. Once 
 
ANATOLIA: THE LAND OF THE SUNRISE 79 
 
 a man came into the city and said that his son had 
 broken an arm by falling ofE the street on to the roof of 
 the house. Of course everybody thought that he had 
 said street in place of roof, but he had not. The boy 
 had actually broken his arm by falling off one of the 
 great piles of snow on to the flat mud roof. Such a 
 thing could happen only in a country like the Anatolian 
 Plateau. 
 
 An Anatolian village is not a clean place. All sorts 
 of dirty things are thrown into the streets. A traveler, 
 approaching in the dark, can detect a village a quarter 
 of a mile away by the peculiar, disagreeable smell. He 
 is quite sure to hear dogs barking, too. Every village 
 has many thin, short-haired dogs which belong to no 
 one. They are never fed, but simply live on the refuse 
 which people throw into the streets. If it were not for 
 the dogs the people would suffer from sickness much 
 more than they do, for the dogs, together with the ugly 
 vultures that one sees ever5rwhere, eat up all the bad 
 things which would otherwise decay and cause disease. 
 
 The Nomads of Anatolia. Among the open plains and 
 rolling mountains of Anatolia much of the land is not 
 occupied, for it is too dry to be cultivated without irri- 
 gation. Naturally there are many shepherds in such a 
 land. The village people, who raise wheat and other 
 crops, are largely Turks. They do not like the name 
 Turk, but call themselves Osmanlis. The shepherds are 
 partly Turks and partly Yuruks and Turkomans. Part 
 of the year they live in villages, but in summer they go 
 out into the higher mountains and live in little, low tents 
 of dark brown goat's-hair cloth. They are very hospi- 
 table. In a village the traveler must usually spend the 
 night in the so-called guest room, which is set aside for 
 the use of anyone who happens to come along. Often 
 
8o 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 it is very dirty and is full of fleas and other extremely 
 disagreeable insects. Hence in warm weather one is 
 
 • 
 
 
 
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 «f^ ^ ****K„..,^, 
 
 '*«s. 
 
 MrrM^^M 
 
 
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 B0m 
 
 A Turk sowtug wheat tn Anatoha 
 
 always glad to do as the people do and sleep on the flat 
 roof. It is cool and pleasant there, and no rain falls in 
 summer. When the people are living in tents their 
 hospitality is much more pleasant. The traveler usually 
 sleeps on the ground, as do the people. He merely 
 spreads out a thick quilt or thin mattress, puts another 
 of the same kind over him, and his bed is made. 
 
 As soon as a guest arrives the headman of the village 
 is called. In order to make a suitable feast in honor of 
 the stranger, he often tells a boy to run and get a lamb 
 from a flock which some other boys are taking care of. 
 Each ragged boy wears at his side a little bag in which 
 he carries some bread for dinner. Besides the bag, 
 every one has a stick and a simple flute made of wood. 
 
ANATOLIA: THE LAND OF THE SUNRISE 8l 
 
 The boys know how to make the flutes themselves, 
 and they play them very well. Often, when the 
 traveler is far from any village and a mile or two from 
 tents, he hears the sound of a flute and sees a boy 
 walking along while his sheep come behind, following 
 the music. The boys are not at all afraid to go into the 
 mountains alone, although sometimes they meet wolves. 
 Such boys generally do not know anything about 
 reading or school. 
 
 A Turkish Dinner. When the boys have caught a 
 lamb, they bring it back to the tents, and it is cooked. 
 When it is ready, a little after sunset, all the men gather 
 in front of the chief's tent. The women have to stay 
 away and keep their faces covered, because they are 
 Mohammedans, and no woman is supposed to be seen by 
 any man except her husband and brothers without 
 having a veil over her face. The whole family does not 
 eat together. The mother and daughters must wait 
 till the father and sons eat, because women and girls 
 are commonly despised. The Koran says that they have 
 no souls. 
 
 The method of eating is much the same among the 
 Turks, whether they be rich, learned men like the 
 old-fashioned mullah at Eregli or simple villagers. 
 When it is time for the feast a cloth is spread on the 
 ground in front of the tent. On it some one places a 
 great many pieces of bread, forming a ring around the 
 center. The bread consists of flat, crusty sheets, the 
 shape and thickness of griddle cakfes but much larger — 
 about the size of our biggest plate. Fresh onions or 
 large peppers, either green or red, are placed here and 
 there on the bread. When all is ready the guests sit 
 down cross-legged on the ground around the cloth. 
 As they take their places a great dish full of rice cooked 
 
82 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 in fat is brought in, and with it is the meat of the 
 lamb and some bowls of sour milk. No spoons, forks, 
 knives, or plates are to be seen, and one wonders how it 
 will be possible to eat. That does not trouble the 
 natives. While the servants, or the young men, have 
 been putting the food on the cloth, a boy has gone around 
 to each person with a pitcher of water and a bowl. 
 
 ml Y . 
 
 ■ 1' ^ H 
 
 Women of Western Turkey 
 
 Each one holds out his hands over the bowl and rinses 
 them in the stream of water which the bo)' pours from 
 the pitcher. Then the men roll back their sleeves a 
 little and wait for some one to begin. The host urges 
 them to eat, and they all reach out to the dish and help 
 themselves with the'it hands. They take the meat in 
 their fingers and, tearing it apart, ofTer pieces to one 
 another before eating any themselves. Between the 
 mouthfuls of rice, which they deftly pick up with their 
 greasy fingers, they eat a little bread or take a piece 
 of it to use as a scoop with which to ladle up some 
 
ANATOLIA: THE LAND OF THE SUNRISE 83 
 
 of the sour milk, which has about the consistency of 
 custard. No one talks, for that is not considered 
 polite during meals. Occasionally spoons are used, 
 but good Mohammedans think they are not necessary. 
 Mohammed said that the hands were the proper things 
 to eat with, and his followers all over Asia eat in much 
 the same way as the Turks and Turkomans of Asia 
 Minor. After the meal the pitcher and bowl are brought 
 around again' for the guests to wash their hands. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE ARMENIAN PLATEAU 
 
 Surface Features. As the Anatolian Plateau is fol- 
 lowed eastward it becomes higher and narrower. The 
 high part extends from about the line of the western 
 bend of the Euphrates River to the Caspian Sea. It is 
 called the Armenian Plateau. It has many high ridges 
 of mountains upon it, and is by no means so regular as 
 the Anatolian Plateau. 
 
 In the distant past a great many volcanoes existed 
 in this part of the world and built up mountains of 
 lava rising high above the plateau. The most famous 
 of these is Mount Ararat, one of the highest mountains 
 of western Asia. The people who live near by are afraid 
 to climb it, because they foolishly think that it is inhab- 
 ited by evil spirits. They believe that pieces of Noah's 
 ark are to be found on its top. Another volcano is 
 Nimrud Dagh, on the edge of Lake Van. Its summit 
 has the form of a huge hollow crater, perfectly round, 
 and about five miles across. The deep, black crater is 
 occupied by a lake fed by springs which are still heated 
 by the warmth coming from the underlying rocks. 
 In winter one side of this queer lake may be covered 
 with thick ice, while the other side is warm and steaming 
 like a Turkish bath. 
 
 Another feature which diversihes the Armenian 
 Plateau is the river valleys. Naturally a great many 
 large rivers start from such a high region. At first they 
 flow on top of the plateau among the bare, rolling 
 uplands, but soon they have to cut across ridges or pass 
 through volcanic mountains or go down the side of the 
 
 8i 
 
THE ARMENIAN PLATEAU 8'S 
 
 plateau. In such places they have gradually cut tre- 
 mendous canyons. One of the finest of these is that of 
 the Euphrates. Where this river crosses the Taurus 
 Mountains, before reaching the plain of Mesopotamia, 
 it flows through a gorge a mile deep. The water thun- 
 ders over great rapids where no boat can escape being 
 upset. The gorge is so narrow and its sides so steep 
 that no one can get into it except by floating down the 
 river, which is done by means of rafts made of inflated 
 slieepskins. The natives remove the skins of the dead 
 sheep without cutting any part except the neck. Then 
 they blow into the bags which are thus formed and fill 
 them with air. The necks are next tied up so that the 
 bags are like big bladders. They are fastened under a 
 light wooden frame and form fine rafts which can go 
 safely through almost any rapids. When a journey 
 down the river has been finished the raft is simply 
 taken to pieces and the empty skins are put on the 
 backs of donkeys or horses to be carried back up the 
 river. Such rafts carry much grain and other prod- 
 uce down the lower Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and 
 are also used by fishermen. Unfortunatelv, they can be 
 used only to go downstream, for they cannot be paddled 
 up against the current. Often when the natives want 
 to cross a river they blow up a skin and support them- 
 selves upon it while they swim with their feet. 
 
 The Basin-Plains of Armenia. The Armenian Plateau 
 is made uneven not only by the volcanoes which rise 
 above the plateau and the river gorges which cut deep 
 below it but by many large blocks of country, from five 
 to one hundred miles long, which have slowly sunk 
 one or tvro thousand feet. Such sunken blocks form 
 great basins. Some of them contain lakes, like Van in 
 Turkey, Gokcha in Russia, and Urumia in Persia. 
 
86 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Others have been partly filled by sand and clay brought 
 down by streams from every side. They appear as 
 
 A village on the Armenian Plateau 
 
 smooth, fertile plains surrounded by mountains. As the 
 plains are lower than the rest of the country they are 
 comparatively warm, and as they are made of fine silt 
 their soil is rich. So they are decidedly the best part of 
 the country. Of course they are dry in summer, but 
 plenty of streams come down from the mountains, so that 
 irrigation is easy. 
 
 The large basin of Urumia, in the Persian part of the 
 Armenian Plateau, contains both a lake and a plain. 
 In the middle, looking almost like a sea, lies the great 
 blue lake of ill-smelling water, which is very shallow 
 and very salty. A broad, ugly strip of mud with a 
 white crust of salt surrounds it, while beyond this, 
 bending reeds form a green ring. Outside of the reeds 
 lies a smooth plain, dotted with villages. This plain 
 is green in the spring and brown all the rest of the 
 year. The villages consist of flat-roofed mud houses like 
 
THE ARMENIAN PLATEAU 87 
 
 those of Anatolia, and they are both dirty and bad- 
 smeUing. From a distance one does not see all this, and 
 the villages look very attractive. They appear like 
 great orchards of apricot, plum, peach, apple, and mul- 
 berry trees, with rows of tall poplars rising along the lines 
 of the canals, which bring water. Each village is sur- 
 rounded by smooth stretches of rich wheat fields, bright 
 with scarlet poppies. On every side the plain is hemmed 
 in by great mountains, the lower ones brown or only just 
 tinted with green in spring, and the higher ones white 
 with snow until far into the summer. 
 
 The Armenian Highlands. Upon the heights, on every 
 side of the basins, the rolling hills and mountains are 
 treeless. Nomads wander about in summer, living in 
 black tents and herding their fat-tailed sheep. For 
 many months in winter the country is buried in snow, 
 and the shepherds go into the valleys and spend the 
 cold season in houses made of stone or in huts half dug 
 out of the ground. A traveler in this country was once 
 told by his guide that he was approaching a Kurdish vil- 
 lage. He looked around but could see no signs of houses; 
 the only thing he noticed was a little patch on the hillside 
 below him where the ground had been trampled. He 
 began to ride across this, when suddenly a man came 
 rushing out of a hole in the ground and shouted out, 
 "Get off my roof, get off my roof! You'll break through 
 and kill my family!" The house was wholly under 
 ground, and the traveler had ridden right on to the roof. 
 
 The Diverse Races of Armenia. Two things are espe- 
 cially noticeable about the Armenian Plateau. First, it 
 is much divided into small, almost inaccessible districts 
 by the mountains and gorges; and second, there is a 
 great difference between the ease with which people can 
 make a living in the basins and in the higher regions. 
 
88 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Because it is divided into so many naturally separate 
 parts, the plateau contains many different tribes and 
 races with different customs and religions. There are 
 Armenians, Nestorians, Persians, Turks, Kurds, Kizil- 
 bashes, and Yezidis. The Yezidis are strange people 
 who are called "devil-worshipers." They are afraid to 
 say the word "satan," because they believe that if they 
 do he will harm them. In their villages it is a sin to 
 spit, and any one who does it is in danger of being 
 mobbed. Long ago they used to wear blue as the holy 
 color; now they have changed and hate blue, while they 
 think that white is the color pleasing to God. If these 
 people lived in the plains, they would probably become 
 much like their neighbors; but because they are shut 
 away among the mountains, they keep their strange 
 customs. 
 
 Where part of the people are prosperous and part 
 poor, there is naturally much robbery. This is especially 
 true where the government is weak. The Armenian 
 Plateau is divided among three governments, the Russian, 
 which is strong, and the Persian and the Turkish, which 
 are weak. Two travelers had crossed a river one day 
 and were sitting down in a village at noon to rest. The 
 polite people, partly Armenians and partly Turks, 
 brought out some quilts for the travelers to sit upon, 
 and some sour milk, flat cakes of bread, and water- 
 melons with yellow flesh and brown seeds for them to 
 eat. As they sat in the shade of the mulberry trees 
 beside the village spring a ragged shepherd, breathless 
 and frightened, came running in from the hills. He 
 hurried to a house where twenty soldiers were quartered, 
 shouting excitedly. 
 
 At once the soldiers took their guns, mounted their 
 horses, and rode rapidly off. The villagers also got out 
 
THE ARMENIAN PLATEAU 
 
 89 
 
 their long, old-fashioned flintlock guns and went off in 
 hot haste. At last some one stopped long enough to tell 
 
 
 ^^^*-J^. 
 
 
 A flock of sheep following their shepherd 
 
 the travelers what had happened. Five shepherds with 
 four hundred sheep were out on the mountain side 
 above the village. Suddenly twenty Kurds came down 
 upon them, shot two shepherds, and drove off all the 
 sheep. The other shepherds ran to the village. All the 
 villagers and the soldiers had gone out to have a fight 
 with the Kurds and get back the sheep. They did not 
 succeed, for the Kurds simply crossed over the bound- 
 ary from Turkey to Persia, and the Turkish soldiers 
 could not follow them into another country. 
 
 Where Russia rules the Armenian Plateau there is not 
 so much fighting and plundering; but even there it 
 is hard to make the mountain people peaceable. In 
 good years all is well, and the Turks, Armenians, Per- 
 sians, and Nestorians of the plains would prosper if they 
 were not too heavily taxed. In bad years, when the 
 crops are poor or the sheep cannot get good pasture, 
 the amount of robbery by the Kurds increases greatly. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE OIL FIELDS OF CAUCASIA 
 
 From Constantinople to Baku. The trade route from 
 Europe to Persia or central Asia lies through the Rus- 
 sian province of Caucasia, north of the Armenian Plateau. 
 Sailing'from Constantinople, one lands at the fortified 
 city of Batum at the eastern end of the Black Sea, 
 and there takes the train. At first the railroad goes 
 northward with the deep blue sea on the left and 
 magnificent mountains on the right. There is much 
 rain here where the west winds blow in from the 
 
 Porters or hainals in the streets of Batum 
 
 go 
 
THE OIL FIELDS OF CAUCASIA 
 
 91 
 
 Black Sea, and the mountains are covered with splendid 
 forests of pine, chestnut, maple, and other trees. At 
 
 Plowing with a wooden plow drawn by buffaloes in Caucasia, 
 near Batuin 
 
 their base a thicket of rhododendron and azalea bushes 
 fills the forest with the most wonderful pink, white, and 
 yellow blossoms in the spring. Thirty miles north of 
 Batum the railroad turns to the east , leaving the sea and 
 entering a broad, rich valley. Far away to the north 
 the snowy peaks of the Caucasus Mountains can be seen. 
 Near at hand peasants dressed in odd, tight trousers and 
 colored shirts are plowing the fertile fields with big, hair- 
 less water buffaloes. At every station the train makes a 
 long halt among the trees, as is often the case in Russian 
 territory, and boys and girls come running down the 
 platform to sell bunches of flowers or little birch-bark 
 baskets full of strawberries. 
 
 By and by, after many hours of traveling, the valley, 
 grows narrow and the railroad begins to wind. High up 
 on a crag above the river one sees on this side or on that 
 
92 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 an old castle built in the days when the Georgians ruled 
 the land. Their feudal lords built strongholds here on 
 the Rion River, just as the old German lords built castles 
 on the Rhine. At length the train enters a long tunnel 
 under a low mountain range which runs north from the 
 Armenian Plateau to the Caucasus Mountains. On the 
 eastern side of the tunnel a new kind of scenery appears. 
 There are very few trees, for much of the rain brought 
 by the westerly winds from the Black Sea is shut out by 
 the mountains. A broad, grassy valley descends gently 
 eastward between distant mountains, from which the 
 streams all run toward the Caspian Sea. Famous Tiflis, 
 the capital of Caucasia, is passed. It is disappointing 
 because, although it is well built, it is not so interesting 
 as one expects, and is much like many cities in Europe. 
 As the train approaches the Caspian Sea the hillsides 
 grow drier, villages become less frequent, and, finally, 
 the country is almost a desert. 
 
 Oil as Fuel for Railroads. All the way from Batum 
 a large pipe runs close to the railroad track. At first it 
 does not occur to the traveler to connect this pipe with 
 the facts that no cinders come from the engines and that 
 there are no firemen shoveling coal. When the train 
 stops to water the engine, one sometimes wonders why 
 there are two pipes instead of one pouring liquid into the 
 tender. The reason is that the engine burns petroleum, 
 or crude oil. The large pipe beside the track carries it 
 five hundred miles from the Caspian Sea to the Black 
 Sea, where ships take the oil and carry it all over the 
 East. Baku is the greatest oil field in the world. We 
 have much oil in America, but no single place here can 
 begin to compare with this great Russian oil center. 
 Almost a quarter of the world's oil comes from this one 
 small region. 
 
THE OIL FIELDS OF CAUCASIA 
 
 93 
 
 Baku and Its Surroundings. Baku is a dirty, disa- 
 greeable place, where there seems to be nothing but oil. 
 The people all talk about nothing but oil, and everything 
 smells of it. In many places houses are stained with 
 it ; the streets are often sticky with it ; and wherever one 
 goes the drinking water has upon its surface a little 
 scum of oil. 
 
 Baku itself lies on the shore of the Caspian Sea in 
 
 In the oil fields at Baku 
 
 order to be near a harbor. The oil fields are a mile or 
 two to the west and south. As one looks down upon 
 Bibi-Eibat, south of Baku, he sees scores or hundreds of 
 great, black pyramidal towers each of which marks an 
 oil well. They suggest enormous black gravestones in a 
 cemetery of giants. Down among them the streets are 
 oozy with oil. Here and there along the roadside, 
 women with buckets stand beside dirty pools and seem 
 to be washing clothes in the filthy water. Really, they 
 
94 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 are gathering the family supply of fuel. The pools are 
 covered with oil, which floats because it is lighter than 
 water. The women dip cloths into this surface layer, 
 and when the cloths are soaked with oil it is squeezed 
 out into the buckets. When a woman has collected a 
 pailful she goes home and cooks dinner with it in a rough 
 oil stove. , " ' 
 
 It is a poor plan to wear good clothes in the oil 
 fields, for near the towers drops of oil are spattered 
 in every direction. Greasy Persians, Turkomans, and 
 Armenians are hard at work running machines which 
 pump up the oil from deep wells, and put it into reser- 
 voirs or tanks. From these it is pumped into cars or 
 ships or into pipe lines, or is fed into a distilling appa- 
 ratus, where it is heated a little in order to separate it into 
 different parts. This is the first process in making gaso- 
 line, kerosene, vaseline, aniline dyes, and various other 
 most valuable products, all of which are derived from 
 petroleum. 
 
 The Oil Deposits. A few million years ago the coun- 
 try where Baku now stands was part of the bottom of 
 the sea. Great numbers of shellfish and seaweeds lived 
 and died in the water. Their bodies gathered on the 
 floor of the sea and were gradually covered by hundreds 
 of feet of mud, sand, and ooze. After thousands and 
 thousands of years the bottom of the sea was slowly 
 raised and became land. Meanwhile, the dead plants 
 and animals had gradually changed in chemical form 
 and had been converted into petroleum and natural gas. 
 These products, being very light in weight, gathered in 
 certain places where the rock arched upward, and leaked 
 to the surface through cracks. Thus men noticed them 
 and, having at last discovered their use, began to hunt 
 for larger supplies. They employed steam drills to bore 
 
THE OIL FIELDS OF CAUCASIA 
 
 95 
 
 round holes deep into the rock, and up through the holes 
 gas and oil came pouring with tremendous force. Some- 
 
 A watering cart at Batuni 
 
 times the rush of gas was so violent that it shot the drill 
 out like a bullet from a gun, and wrecked the machinery 
 that was being used. Then oil mixed with sand was 
 poured out in a huge fountain rising two hundred feet 
 into the air. At Baku, in 1901, some fountains like this 
 broke out and flooded whole viUages with oil. It ran 
 .through the streets like water, and filled the lower parts 
 of the houses, driving all the people away. Now and 
 then such fountains, or "gushing wells," get on fire from 
 lightning or some accident. No one can put them out, 
 and they may bum for weeks, like the flaring torches of 
 mighty giants. 
 
 The Water Supply. The vast amount of oil at Baku 
 has caused a city of more than a hundred thousand 
 
96 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 inhabitants to grow up. The region is so dry that there 
 is not enough fresh water for so many people. All the 
 little springs for many miles were first used, and then 
 the inhabitants began to drink the water from the Caspian 
 Sea. Of course the sea water is salty and undrinkable. 
 To get rid of the salt the water is boiled and distilled, 
 thus making it very pure. The only impurity is oil, which 
 floats on the surface of the sea near Baku, and is so 
 easily made into vapor that it rises with the steam of 
 the water when this is boiled to free it from the salt. 
 Baku is the only city in the world which uses distilled 
 water. It would be enormously expensive if there were 
 not so much oil close at hand to be used as cheap fuel. 
 Shipping the Oil. From Baku, oil is shipped to all parts 
 of eastern Europe and Asia. Much is carried in steam- 
 ers to the mouth of the Volga River, and there trans- 
 ferred to smaller boats to be carried up the river into the 
 interior of Russia. The Volga has deposited so much 
 silt at its mouth that the Caspian Sea is there very shal- 
 low, and large steamers must anchor several miles off 
 shore. Accordingly, the river boats come out into sea 
 to the anchorage. There, where the oil is transferred 
 from the large craft to the small, a little town has grown 
 up in the midst of the sea, almost out of sight of land. 
 Merchants have anchored rafts in the shallow water, and 
 all manner of trade goes on between the river boats and 
 the Caspian steamers. The oil of Baku, after being 
 buried under the rocks for hundreds of thousands of 
 years, has now caused men to build two strange towns — 
 a very large one which drinks sea water, and a s«nall one 
 in the midst of the sea itself. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE WATERLESS LAND OF PERSIA 
 
 The Pleasant Aspect of Persia. Books about Persia 
 give two very different impressions. Some describe the 
 country as pleasant and 
 beautiful. Others say that 
 it is one of the saddest 
 countries in the world. The 
 writers who say that it is 
 beautiful describe a city 
 such as Ispahan. They say 
 that the streets are filled 
 with busy, happy people. 
 Merchants sit cross-legged 
 in tiny little stores, which 
 are not at all like stores in 
 America but merely small 
 rooms about ten feet 
 square, with one side com- 
 pletely open to the street. 
 „, , , ■ . • . 1 Persian dervishes 
 
 The merchant sits m the 
 
 middle, where he can reach almost everything without 
 getting up. He smokes a great water pipe in which the 
 smoke passes through a vase-like jar of water, bubbling 
 merrily. The buyers stand in front of the shop and 
 examine this thing and that. 
 
 Perhaps a man wants to buy one of the beautiful rugs 
 for which Persia is famous. The merchant says the price 
 is twenty dollars; the buyer says it is worth only four. 
 They talk a long time, and say impolite things in loud 
 voices, but no one minds that in the least. At length 
 
 97 
 
98 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 the merchant says, "Well, to please you, because you 
 are one of ray dearest friends, I will sell the rug for 
 fifteen dollars, although I paid sixteen for it. I would 
 rather die than sell it any cheaper." The buyer answers, 
 "I will give you ten dollars for it, because I love you. 
 Ten dollars is all the money I have, and I could not 
 pay another cent if you were to whip me all day to 
 make me." 
 
 As they cannot agree, the buyer goes away. For an 
 hour or two he wanders among the donkeys, mules, horses, 
 and camels which fill the narrow streets of the market 
 place or bazaar. Then he comes back to the rug man. "I 
 will give you eleven dollars," he says. "Fourteen; not 
 a penny less," is the reply. They talk a little longer, and 
 at last the rug is sold for twelve dollars and a half. The 
 merchant sends his boy out to a little shop across the 
 street to get some tiny glasses full of tea. When it comes 
 he offers some to the buyer, and insists on putting lump 
 after lump of sugar into it; for the more sugar put in, 
 the more polite is the host considered. Neither man 
 seems to feel at all ashamed of the fact that he has told 
 a dozen out-and-out lies. That is the way business is done 
 in Persia and in most parts of Southwestern Asia. The 
 merchant really bought the rug for eleven dollars. He 
 has finally sold it at a fair price. The Persians are never 
 in a hurry, but like to spend time in bargaining, and 
 they seem to enjoy arguing about the price of things. 
 
 If the merchant sells one or two rugs in a dav he is 
 satisfied. He goes home early to a pleasant, white- 
 washed house where his two wives live. In front of it 
 his children are playing under some tall poplar trees be- 
 side a pool of water. "Come," he savs to them, let's go 
 and water the garden." To do it, he opens a pipe at 
 the bottom of the square pool. The water then flows out 
 
THE WATERLESS LAND OF PERSIA 99 
 
 into a little ditch and runs away past some rose bushes 
 to a garden full of onions, lettuce, melons, cucumbers, 
 beets, and all sorts of fine vegetables. Here it spreads 
 into many small channels, so that water soon stands 
 in every part of the garden. The children take off their 
 shoes, which are like slippers, and wade around in the 
 mud, turning the water first into one little ditch and 
 then into another. They do not wear any stockings. 
 Then the father takes a spade and shovels up some 
 mud, so as to turn the water into another ditch. In 
 this it flows off to a vineyard full of splendid vines, 
 and to an orchard of fruit trees — peaches, apricots, 
 plums, nectarines, mulberries, pears, and apples. It is 
 all very pleasant and delightful. 
 
 The Unpleasant Aspect of Persia. Another traveler 
 tells a different story of the very same region. "Near 
 Ispahan," he says, "I found many of the houses in the 
 villages deserted. Half the shops in the city were 
 closed. The people looked thin, sick, and hungry. 
 Many of them were too weak to walk. Children were 
 out in the fields gathering weeds and grasses which had 
 grown up in the few days since the spring rain began. 
 They brought them home, and the sick mothers cooked 
 them. That was all that many families had to eat. 
 For a year or more they had scarcely had a good meal. 
 Many had died, and many had gone away. The rest 
 were living, as best they could, in the hope that this 
 year the crops would not fail, as they had for the last few 
 years. Day after day the people prayed for rain. If 
 rain came, they might be able to live. If it did not 
 come, they would all die." 
 
 The Lack of Rain in Persia. Both travelers described 
 the country correctly. Lack of rain is the cause of 
 Persia's poverty; and it is one of the chief reasons why 
 
lOO 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 the country is not well ruled, and why its people are 
 often discontented and want to change their form of 
 
 ^t^^M'^^iaam&::j^Mi f^lkfBi^T^bM^ 
 
 A village among the mountains of Persia 
 
 government. Persia, like most of the countries which 
 we have been studying, has a very long dry season in 
 summer and a rainy season in the winter and early 
 spring. Even in good years the amount of rain is 
 small, because of the mountains which surround the 
 country. From the Armenian Plateau two mountain 
 systems branch out. One bends a little to the south 
 and forms the boundary between Southwestern Asia and 
 Northern Asia, and the other bends far to the south 
 and skirts the Indian Ocean. The two join again at 
 the Pamirs. Between them lies the great basin of Iran. 
 The western part of the basin forms the larger part of 
 Persia, and the eastern Afghanistan and Baluchistan. 
 All of it is extremely dry; and the places that have most 
 water are near the highest mountains. Wherever there is 
 
THE WATERLESS LAND OF PERSIA loi 
 
 water, cities and villages are located, but where there is 
 no water the country is a desert. When the winter rain 
 is fairly abundant the people live easilj' and are happy. 
 When the rain is scanty the crops fail and the Persians 
 starve. In the dry years it is very hard to pay taxes, 
 and the poor people begin to hate the government which 
 demands them. 
 
 The Habitable Parts of Persia. The best part of 
 Persia, and the section where most of the people live, 
 is the northwest, which includes a portion of the well- 
 watered Armenian Plateau. Another place which the 
 Persians call good, although we should call it very dry 
 and poor, is the mountainous region of Khorassan in the 
 northeast. The north slope of the Elburz Mountains, 
 near the Caspian Sea, is very fertile, as we saw in the 
 first chapter. Indeed, it has almost too much water. 
 All the rest of Persia is dry, and the center is a vast, 
 uninhabitable desert. 
 
 Modes of Travel : "Serais." In the drier regions it is 
 very hard to travel, for water can be found only at 
 intervals of from ten to thirty miles. In order to make 
 it easier for caravans, rich men often build large buildings 
 called "serais" or "caravanserais," and give them to the 
 public; just as men in America found colleges or endow 
 hospitals for the benefit of all the people. A serai is a 
 sort of public hotel,, made usually of brick, and located 
 sometimes in a desert and sometimes in a town. In the 
 middle a great open court is surrounded on two or three 
 sides by a platform divided into many sections. Behind 
 each section there is a small, dark room. The other side 
 is given up to large, windowless stables. One corner 
 is devoted to a cistern, where the water of a spring is 
 carefully conserved. When a caravan comes in at 
 night the tired men take possession of any rooms that 
 
I02 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 happen to be empt}', and put their horses, donkeys, 
 and camels in the stable, or else leave them in the court- 
 yard. They bring food with them both for themselves 
 and their animals in many cases, for there is often 
 nothing to be bought if a serai is located in the desert. 
 In the morning the caravans start early, while it is cool; 
 and often they travel b}' night to avoid the heat. No 
 one pays anything for the use of the serais, except in the 
 large cities, and every man has a right to use them. 
 
 The Deserts of Eastern Persia. The southeastern 
 corner of Persia, where it joins Baluchistan and Afghan- 
 istan, contains a well-populated district called Seistan. 
 To get there one must ride a month or two on camels or 
 horses from the north of Persia. Part of the time the 
 way is over salt plains, and part of the time among 
 mountains. The mountains have no trees and grass 
 
 A caravanserai in a village in eastern Persia 
 
THE WATERLESS LAND OF PERSIA lO^ 
 
 like those of eastern America. Their surface is bare, 
 splintered rock. If ever they had any soil it has all 
 
 Tents of nomads pitched beside a well in a desert in 
 
 eastern Persia 
 
 been washed away by occasional rains in winter. The 
 only water is found in small brooks or springs, some of 
 which are so salty that after drinking one feels more 
 thirsty than before. The streams do not flow far, for 
 at the base of the mountains the water all sinks into 
 great deposits of gravel. 
 
 If Americans were set down in such a land they would 
 say that it was impossible to live there, and would move 
 away. The people of Iran, however, have learned to 
 use even this poor country. Here and there a miserable 
 mud-walled little village is located beside a spring in 
 the midst of the desert, or nomads pitch their low, black 
 tents beside a well. In the east of Persia the nomads 
 are either fierce Baluchis or Afghans with dark skins 
 and dark hair, which the men smear with grease and 
 wear long over their ears. The young men, who want 
 to be in style, mix up a paste of charcoal and put it 
 around their eyes to make them look black and, as they 
 think, beautiful. The only work of the nomads is to 
 care for their sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys, which 
 
104 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 manage to pick up a scanty living where our sleek 
 American animals would starve. The nomads live 
 largely on the milk of their cattle. For a month or 
 two they camp at a wretched little spring, until all the 
 scattered bits of grass are eaten; then they move off 
 to another, and set up their tents again. 
 
 The Nomadic Tribes of Seistan. In May, soon after 
 the beginning of the dry season, there is almost no grass 
 left for the nomads, and many of the springs begin to 
 disappear or become very small and bitter. The nomads 
 who live in the middle of eastern Persia take their 
 flocks and tents and, leaving the mountains, cross a 
 great, sloping plain of bare gravel. This plain is like 
 an enormous beach twenty miles wide or more. As the 
 nomads descend, the air grows hotter and hotter. At 
 length they find themselves on the edge of a bluff from 
 which they look down upon the vast plain of Seistan. 
 Here, spread out before them, they see a great lake 
 as long as Lake Champlain and much wider. It is very 
 shallow, onh' about ten feet deep in the middle. Once 
 some Englishmen brought a little sailboat to the lake, 
 and were much frightened when a high wind threatened 
 to upset them. At last a sudden gust tipped every- 
 body out into the water five or six miles from shore. 
 They all began to swim, but were much surprised 
 when their feet touched the bottom, and they found 
 that the water was only three feet deep. 
 
 There is no more rain in Seistan than in the other 
 parts of eastern Persia; but a great river, the Helmand, 
 comes hundreds of miles from the snow}' Hindu Kush 
 Mountains, and here forms a lake. The lake is sur- 
 rounded by swampy tracts covered with wiry grass, 
 or with great reeds ten or fifteen feet high. The nomads 
 prefer the grassy places; for there they can find both 
 
THE WATERLESS LAND OF PERSIA 
 
 105 
 
 water and grass — the two things which make life possi- 
 ble for their animals and for themselves. It is clear 
 
 
 
 A group of Fowlers before a reed bouse. The woman ts 
 spinning 
 
 that if people are going to live at all in the mountains 
 around the lake of Seistan they must be nomads who 
 depend on their flocks and herds. 
 
 The Fowlers of Seistan. In addition to the Baluchi 
 and Afghan nomads there are two other kinds of people 
 in Seistan — the Sayids, or Fowlers, and the real Seistanis, 
 who are farmers. The Fowlers are a people who have 
 adapted themselves to living among the great reed 
 beds which border a large part of the lake. Following 
 a narrow muddy path among the tall reeds, one suddenly 
 comes to an opening where everything has been cut 
 down. In the middle stands a group of houses and 
 
io6 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Stables, made wholly of reeds. In building the stables 
 the reeds are simply tied into big bundles and set up 
 like a close fence. Then other bundles are tied to these 
 in such a way that they slope inward a little. That 
 is all. There is no roof, and it takes only a day for one 
 man to make a large stable, with no tool except his 
 clumsy knife. He does not even need any rope, for he 
 uses the leaves of the reeds instead, twisting them into 
 strings. 
 
 When a house is to be made the process is almost 
 the same, except that a few poles are set up in the 
 middle, and bundles of reeds are supported on them 
 to form a roof. Sometimes the people weave large 
 pieces of reed matting and bend this up into arches to 
 make houses. Both this and the other kind of house are 
 easy to make, and the Fowlers think nothing of leaving 
 an old house and building a new one somewhere else. 
 
 In a few places the Fowlers have small fields on the 
 edge of the swamp, but most of their living comes from 
 two kinds of animals which feed among the reeds. 
 The animals are cows and birds. The cows, which have 
 humps on their shoulders, are small and run half wild. 
 Each Fowler knows his own animals, and gathers 
 them together at certain times. The cows eat nothing 
 but reeds, which are very hard and tough after they 
 turn brown in the fall. In order to get rid of the old 
 stalks, the Fowlers burn the swamp in January and 
 February, and thus give the young green shoots a chance 
 to grow. When the government sends its officers to 
 collect taxes, the Fowlers have a habit of turning all 
 their animals out into the thickest part of the swamp. 
 They then go off themselves so that no one can find them. 
 They have headmen who govern them with almost no 
 reference to the rest of Persia. 
 
THE WATERLESS LAND OF PERSIA 107 
 
 When the birds from Siberia and the northern parts of 
 Asia go south in winter, many of the waterfowl gather at 
 
 Two Fowlers on a canoe or raft of reeds on the shallow waters 
 of lake of Seistan 
 
 Seistan, The water of the lake is covered with thousands 
 upon thousands of ducks and geese. Pelicans with 
 huge bags under their beaks and swans with long, 
 graceful necks swim in the water, while long-legged 
 snipe and other less common birds run about on the 
 water's edge. In order to catch them, the Fowlers 
 make heavy, clumsy rafts by tying bundles of reeds into 
 the form of solid canoes. The raftsmen very seldom 
 use paddles, for the water is so shallow that they can 
 pole themselves to all parts of the lake. Every day 
 during the winter most of the men of the village go out 
 to catch birds, starting usually at sunset — two sturdy- 
 limbed, blue-coated men on each yellow raft. Slowly, 
 through the purple shadows of evening, they scatter here 
 and there along the reedy borders of the lake. First 
 
io8 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 one and then another disappears among the reeds, 
 where they enter narrow channels only five or six feet 
 wide. Across these they spread nets supported on 
 sticks in such a way that, when a string is pulled, the nets 
 will fall. Then hiding themselves among the reeds, 
 the men wait until a sleepy bird comes swimming 
 along. The bird strikes the unseen net, the men pull 
 the string, the net falls, and it is caught. In this way a 
 single Fowler may get hundreds of birds every season, 
 and on these he and his family live. These people 
 believe that the lake and the reeds belong entirely 
 to them. If anyone else puts a boat or raft on the 
 lake, they go by night and destroy it. Their life is as 
 dependent upon the water and the reeds as that of 
 the nomads is upon the water and the grass. 
 
 The Farmers of Seistan. The majority of the people 
 of Seistan are farmers. Their home is the plain outside 
 the swamp. Its soil is as good as that of our prairies, 
 but the country is so dry that nothing can grow 
 without irrigation. Every fall, when the Helmand 
 River is very low, the governor of Seistan gathers hun**- 
 dreds of men from the villages and sets them at work 
 to make a dam. They cut enormous quantities of tama- 
 risks — a kind of bush ten or twelve feet high. These 
 they tie into big bundles and throw into the river, 
 weighting them down with stones. In this way they 
 build a large dam, and turn the river out of its bed into 
 a great number of canals or ditches, which run over the 
 plain in various directions. From the canals the water 
 is made to flow out over the fields and moisten them. 
 
 As the water often stands on a field for many days in 
 winter, the ground becomes soaked, and the paths which 
 serve as roads become so soft that a man on foot may 
 sink to his knees in mud. Where the paths cross canals 
 
THE WATERLESS LAND OF PERSIA 109 
 
 there are no bridges, unless the canals happen to be so 
 deep that the water comes above a man's waist. Accord- 
 ingly, the nati\'es are constantly obliged to wade, even 
 in winter, and' therefore suffer greatly from rheumatism. 
 
 Seistan is so warm that the people begin to plant the 
 crops in February and to reap them in April. During 
 the time when the crops are growing the river furnishes 
 a fair supply of water, and almost all of it is turned on to 
 the fields. In April the river begins to rise, because the 
 snow is melting at its source far away to the northeast, 
 on the high Hindu Kush Mountains. In May and June 
 the water rises much higher, until there is a flood that 
 washes away the main dam completely. The people do 
 not care, because most of the crops have already been 
 harvested. In the fall they will make another dam, just 
 as they have done for centuries. They do not know how 
 to build dams which will last from year to year. 
 
 Effects of Climate and Physiography. Seistan is not 
 a pleasant place in which to live. During the four 
 hottest months a tremendous north wind blows day 
 and night. Europeans who have lived there in tents 
 sav that the flapping and snapping of the cloth and 
 ropes make such a noise that one person cannot hear 
 another talk. Out of doors it is almost impossible 
 to see, because one's eyes are so completely filled with 
 dust. Yet the people do not want the wind to stop, for 
 when it dies down the air becomes full of mosquitoes, 
 flies, and gnats from the swamps; and life then is almost 
 unendurable. The wind is so strong that trees cannot 
 grow unless they are protected by enormous mud walls. 
 So there are no orchards, although the people need fruit 
 very much in hot weather. They have no kind of fruit 
 except watermelons, which, of course, grow on the 
 ground. Since trees cannot grow, the houses are built 
 
no ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 wholly of mud, even the roofs being constructed of mud 
 bricks built into domes. The only houses not made 
 wholly of mud are found in the tamarisk swamps near 
 the river. There an arch of tamarisk poles is daubed 
 with mud, making a very simple sort of house. 
 
 Animals suffer greatly in Seistan during the summer. 
 The swamps breed a species of fly whose bite is fatal to 
 horses. Dogs are attacked b}' a common disease which 
 either kills them or leaves them blind. The jackals 
 which infest the tamarisk jungle in large numbers 
 sometimes go mad in the heat of summer, and bite not 
 onlv one another, but dogs, horses, and even men. 
 Camels are the best kind of beast of burden in Seistan, 
 but they have terrible diseases. A few years ago a 
 British official party went to Seistan to settle the bound- 
 ary between Persia and Afghanistan. They had 
 twelve hundred camels. Half of the animals died in 
 about a year from a disease resembling influenza. 
 Sometimes thirty or forty died in a day. The Seistanis 
 are so poor that they quarreled eagerly with one another 
 to get even the wretched meat of these animals that had 
 died of a contagious disease. 
 
 In Seistan, more than in most places, it is evident 
 that the people live in certain ways because of their 
 peculiar relations to climate, mountains, rivers, lakes, and 
 plains. In the first place, there is no rain in summer 
 and very little in winter. In the second place, there 
 are high mountains far away in Afghanistan which sup- 
 ply water for a large river. In the third place, the river 
 comes to an end in a very shallow lake surrounded by a 
 flat plain outside of wliich there are low, dry mountains. 
 Close to the lake there are reedy marshes. Therefore, 
 we have three kinds of people: The nomads, who live 
 in the dry mountains as long as they can but must 
 
THE WATERLESS LAND OF PERSIA m 
 
 come to the lake in the hot summer; the Fowlers, who 
 live in the marshes and get their living from the lake; 
 and the true Seistanis, who live on the plain and make 
 a living by using the water of the Ilelmand River to 
 water their crops. The three kinds of people live 
 close to one another ; but they are very different because 
 each kind has adapted its way of life to a certain kind 
 of surroundings. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 AFGHANISTAN: THE "BUFFER STATE" 
 
 On the Frontier. Some British officers were at breakfast 
 one spring morning at the military club at Peshawar, in 
 the northwest corner of India. "Have you heard the 
 news'" said a captain, who had just come in. "The 
 Afghan tribesmen have crossed the border again. They 
 burned a village last night and drove off two hundred 
 horses. I hear they are making raids in other places, too, 
 and I fear it means another war in those awful moun- 
 tains. That is the worst place on earth in which to 
 attack an enemy, who does nothing but run up into the 
 tops of the hills and shoot down on the people below 
 in the valley." 
 
 At the same time some Russian officers were talking 
 in Merv, six hundred miles away to the northwest, in 
 the Russian province of Transcaspia. A major was 
 speaking: "They say the Afghans have built a new 
 dam across the Heri-Rud, near Herat. They have 
 turned off most of the water of the river, and the people 
 at Tejeii cannot get enough to keep their crops alive. 
 I fear we shall have to teach those Afghans another 
 lesson. They are bad people to fight with, but we 
 can't have them cut off our water supply." 
 
 We generally think of Afghanistan as a little country. 
 It looks small on the map, but it is larger than either 
 France or Germany. The number of inhabitants, how- 
 ever, is small — only four or five million, or less than a 
 tenth as many as Germany has. The Afghans are not 
 rich; they have not much trade, and their country is not 
 particularly desirable. Yet, as the conversation of the 
 
AFGHANISTAN: THE "BUFFER STATE" 
 
 "3 
 
 English and Russian officers shows, England and Russia 
 both dread the possibility of quarreling with them, and 
 
 A Baluchi minstrel and his boys beside a hut of reed matting 
 on the border of Afghanistan 
 
 have tried in every way to keep on good terms with 
 Afghanistan. 
 
 The Boundaries of Afghanistan. The boundaries of 
 Afghanistan make much trouble. The Sulaiman Moun- 
 tains, the eastern boundary, rise steeply on the Indian 
 side, where they are uninhabitable and hard to traverse. 
 At their base lie the rich villages of the plains of India. 
 On the Afghan side the mountains assume the form of 
 a plateau which is quite easy to traverse and is inhab- 
 ited by a scanty population of warlike nomads, who 
 like to make raids. If the mountains were high enough 
 or were cold enough to be uninhabitable, they would 
 form a good boundary. As it is, England cannot protect 
 the people of India unless she rules the mountains 
 and keeps the Afghan tribes in order. But she does 
 
114 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 not v/ant to do this. She wants to keep Afghanistan as 
 an independent country, or "buffer state," as it is 
 called, between herself and Russia. England has even 
 promised not to interfere with the Afghans, but their 
 mountainous country makes them so warlike that she 
 cannot help herself. Either she must let them plunder 
 all they choose, or keep them in order by force. 
 
 On the north the boundary of Afghanistan is also 
 a source of, trouble. There is not much raiding and 
 plundering there, but difficulties arise because the 
 boundary cuts right across the rivers after they leave 
 the mountains. In these dry regions a river is the most 
 valuable of all possessions to a country. Without it life 
 is impossible. The oases of Tejen, Merv, and Khiva, 
 ruled by Russia, get their water from rivers which rise 
 in Afghanistan and flow north. In dry years the 
 Afghans are wont to take more than their share of 
 water, and leave the oases to suffer. Of course, that 
 makes the people hate Afghanistan. Russia has to 
 protect her subjects, and to try to make the Afghans 
 leave the water alone. 
 
 The western boundary of Afghanistan suffers from a 
 similar difficulty. The oasis of vSeistan is divided 
 between the Afghans and the Persians. The boundary 
 is supposed to be the course of the main stream of the 
 Helmand River. The Helmand, however, like all 
 rivers flowing through deltas, has a habit of changing its 
 course near its mouth. When this happens the Persians 
 and the Afghans both claim the land between the old 
 channel and the new. They also quarrel because each 
 side accuses the other of taking more than its share of 
 water for irrigation. On the whole, the boundaries of 
 Afghanistan are such that Afghanistan is in constant 
 danger of quarreling with England, Russia, and Persia. 
 
AFGHANISTAN: THE "BUFFER STATE' 
 
 IIS 
 
 The Afghan Plateaus. The larger part of Afghanistan 
 consists of the great plateaus and lofty mountains which 
 
 Afghan women making bread. They heat stones in the fire, spread 
 
 the dough upon thein, then replace them in the hot ashes 
 
 until the bread is baked 
 
 occupy the north-central and eastern part of the country. 
 Here the whole of a great district, five hundred miles 
 long from east to west and two hundred miles wide, lies 
 at an elevation of nearly a mile above the sea. In 
 many places large areas lie at heights of eight thou- 
 sand or ten thousand feet, while the higher peaks rise to 
 fifteen thousand or even twenty thousand feet. In such 
 a region there is naturally much rain and snow, and it 
 is very cold in winter. Even in summer it is so cool 
 that crops can be raised profitably only in the more 
 favored valleys. There is much good grass, however, 
 and therefore the people have a great many flocks and 
 live largely on milk. Most of them have low houses of 
 stone and mud for use in winter; but in the summer 
 they leave these and live in tents, wandering from place 
 
ii6 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 to place with the flocks. The mountains are so high 
 that it is not easy to cross the main ranges. Therefore, 
 the people of one valley, or small plateau, do not have 
 much to do with those of another. So the Afghans are 
 divided into clans or tribes, as were the inhabitants of 
 Scotland a few centuries ago; and the people of the 
 various tribes are not very friendly with one another. 
 
 The Afghan Fanning Country. The best part of 
 Afghanistan is on the edges of the central plateau region. 
 There the mountains descend gradually to broad plains 
 of gravel. Deep valleys have been cut into them by 
 rivers, such as the Helmand and Heri-Rud; and in these 
 valleys at a height of from two to five thousand feet 
 or more above the sea, lie many prosperous villages. 
 Among the low mountains, fair valleys are filled with 
 orchards and gardens; while out on the edge of the 
 surrounding plain, patches of green fields surround 
 the mud villages of prosperous farmers. No rain falls in 
 summer except a few showers on the higher mountains, 
 and the hillsides are parched and bare. But in many 
 places this does no special harm, for the rivers, coming 
 from the snowy highlands, supply abundant water for 
 irrigation. 
 
 In some places, however, where there are no rivers, 
 it is not so easy to get water. In Afghanistan, as 
 in Persia, the villagers often dig tunnels for miles 
 through the gravel at the foot of the mountains. The 
 tunnels slope a little so that water runs down them, 
 but they do not slope so steeply as the surface of the 
 ground. Thus, as a tunnel is followed upward, it gets 
 deeper and deeper under ground, even though it rises 
 a little. In this way it penetrates deep layers of gravel 
 which are full of water. In digging the tunnels it is 
 necessary to sink wells every fifty or a hundred feet, in 
 
AFGHANISTAN: THE "BUFFER STATE" 
 
 117 
 
 order to have some way of lifting the earth out from 
 the tunnel to the surface. Where there are many 
 "kanats," as the tunnels are called, the whole plain 
 around a village is dotted with piles of earth arranged 
 in long lines around the mouths of the wells. Every 
 year or two the tunnels have to be cleaned out. To do 
 this, windlasses are set up over the wells and men are 
 let down with bags, into which they shovel the earth 
 
 Villagers digging a well in a gravelly plain on the border of 
 
 Afghanistan 
 
 that has fallen in. Often they find hundreds of harm- 
 less water snakes curled up in the little brooks at the 
 bottom of the tunnels. 
 
 Afghan Raids. Poor people frequently envy those 
 who are richer than themselves. Accordingly, the 
 Afghans of the mountains envy their neighbors in the 
 prosperous lower villages. As the mountaineers have 
 never learned to work, and as they are in the habit of 
 moving easily from place to place, it seems to them quite 
 natural and right to plunder the lowlanders. They 
 regard a raid as part of the work of making a living. 
 
Il8 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 In this way they have become very warlike ; and as 
 the villagers on the edges of the mountains have to pro- 
 tect themselves, they, too, are good fighters. When 
 the Afghans carry their raids across the border into 
 India, it makes great trouble for the English govern- 
 ment, as we learned from the conversation of the offi- 
 cers at Peshawar. 
 
 The Wild Siah-Posh Tribes. The far northeast corner 
 of Afghanistan is inhabited by people called Siah-Posh, 
 who carry the warlike character of mountaineers to its 
 extreme development. They are pagans, who have been 
 driven by Mohammedan conquerors into the most 
 remote and barren parts of the mountains. Naturally, 
 they hate their conquerors. Living where none but 
 the hardiest can survive, they glory in enduring cold 
 and hunger, and count it creditable to go around with 
 one arm naked in bitter winter weather. All men 
 except those of their own immediate valleys are enemies 
 to them. No young man can take a wife until he has 
 killed at least three or four of the hated Mohammedans. 
 
 The Route from Europe to India. Aside from its poor 
 boundaries and warlike people, there is another thing 
 which compels England and Russia to pay a great deal 
 of attention to Afghanistan. From the Black Sea on the 
 west almost to the Pacific Ocean — five thousand miles 
 away on the east — the continent of Asia, as we have seen, 
 is divided into sections by very high mountains. No 
 railroads have yet been built across the mountains, and it 
 is probable that only a few ever will be built. The 
 slopes are too steep, and the expense of building roads 
 and of running trains would be too great. On the 
 western border of Afghanistan, however, there is a low 
 place where a railroad could cross the mountains very 
 easily, without climbing to an elevation of more than two 
 
AFGHANISTAN: THE "BUFFER STATE" iiQ 
 
 or three thousand feet. Hundreds of thousands or, per- 
 haps, a milHon years ago, a great break took place in 
 the earth's crust along the line which is now followed 
 by the boundary between Afghanistan and Persia. 
 Little by little the country on the Afghan side sank. 
 Each time that the earth sank a few inches or a foot, a 
 great earthquake doubtless occurred. Then a period of 
 quiet ensued, to be followed after some years by another 
 movement and earthquake. Thus the Afghan side of 
 the break, or fault as it is called, fell slowly for hundreds 
 of thousands of years, until now it is several thousand 
 feet lower than the Persian side. The Heri-Rud flows 
 in the northern part of the low place on the Afghan side 
 of the fault, and the lake of Seistan lies in the southern 
 part. Along this line it is easy to travel. Some day a 
 railroad will be built here, and then this will be much the 
 quickest way from Europe to India. 
 
 The trade of India is extremely large and valuable, and 
 England would be very sorry to have it turned from her 
 to some other country. Therefore, she is eager that such 
 a railroad should be under her control. Many English- 
 men do not want it, because if it were built a great amount 
 of trade would go to Russia. Already, however, the 
 English have completed a railroad across the Sulaiman 
 Mountains in India to the eastern border of Afghan- 
 istan, near Kandahar, and the Russians have built one 
 to the other border, near Herat. Some day the two 
 will join. 
 
 The Route from Russia to the Sea. To Russia the low 
 place in the mountains on the west side of Afghanistan is 
 very important also. Her population is growing fast, 
 and manufacturing is developing rapidly. Her leaders 
 desire to develop trade. For this, harbors are needed. 
 All her harbors are either on the cold northern seas, 
 
I20 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 where ice prevents shipping for six months or more, 
 or else they are on inclosed seas like the Baltic and the 
 Black, where other nations hold the outlet and can block 
 her if they choose. There are just three places where 
 Russia can easily reach an outlet to a warm ocean. 
 One is at the western end of Asia. There she has 
 tried to get possession of Constantinople and the Bos- 
 porus, but England has prevented her. Another is in 
 Manchuria, where she took Port Arthur, which she had 
 to give up after the war with Japan. The third is across 
 Afghanistan. If Russia could build a railroad straight 
 across that country to a port on the Indian Ocean, it 
 would help her wonderfully. It is not strange that both 
 England and Russia consider Afghanistan of so much 
 political importance. 
 
 Baluchistan. South of Afghanistan lies the little 
 country of Baluchistan. It is part of the basin region of 
 Iran, but is governed by the English in India. It is a 
 dry, desolate land, like the desert portions of Afghan- 
 istan and Persia. Part" of its inhabitants live in small 
 oases among the barren mountains. The remainder are 
 nomads who wander far and wide with their flocks. For- 
 merly the Baluchis were great plunderers. Their raids 
 were so bad that the Indian government was obliged to 
 put a stop to them. Thus it came to pass that Balu- 
 chistan passed under the rule of England. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 TRANSCASPIA AND RUSSIAN TURKISTAN 
 
 The Plains of Northern Asia. Having finished our 
 study of Southwestern Asia, we are now ready to begin 
 Northern Asia — the la,nd of plains. Russian Turkistan 
 and Transcaspia form tlie southern portion of Northern 
 Asia. This part is not very different from northern Persia 
 and the other countries which we have studied south of 
 the mountains. Like them it is extremely dry. Except 
 in the far northeast the rain or snow all comes in spring 
 or winter, and the long summer is rainless. Therefore, 
 the manner of life of the people resembles that of the 
 other lands which we have studied. Water here is 
 the most important of all things to farmers, nomads, 
 and every sort of people. The^^ talk about it even more 
 earnestly than we talk about the weather. If there is 
 plenty of water, they prosper; if there is little, they 
 starve. All the people are Mohammedans, with the excep- 
 tion of a few Russians who have lately come in. It is an 
 interesting fact that Mohammedanism is strong only 
 in countries that are dry. The Mohammedans of moist 
 countries, like some parts of India and China, are n(jt 
 greatly devoted to their own religion. On the contrary, 
 they carry on many of the practices of the other religions 
 around them. 
 
 The Caspian Sea. One way in which to reach Russian 
 Turkistan is to sail down the great Volga River in 
 Russia, and then take a steamer around the Caspian Sea 
 to Krasnovodsk on the east side. First, the great plains of 
 Russia are traversed, flat and uninteresting, and a little 
 
122 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 too dry to be rich like the prairies of the Central West. 
 Then the snowy Caucasus Mountains are passed, and the 
 ship comes to oily Baku. Here the country is drier than 
 to the north, but farther south a change soon appears. 
 Winds blowing from the north and northwest across 
 the Caspian bring much moisture and deposit it, as we 
 have seen, upon the high slopes of the Elburz. So the 
 Persian provinces of Ghilan and Mazanderan on the south 
 side of the sea are thickly covered with splendid 
 forests, and the scenery is as fine as any in the world. 
 Along the shore long sand bars inclose still, shallow 
 lagoons. Behind them lie the green forested lower 
 slopes of the mountains, which, in the far background, 
 merge gradually into the dim blue range of the Elburz, 
 the snowy tops of which rise two or three miles above 
 the sea. Farther around, on the east coast in Russian 
 territory, the land again becomes low and very dry, 
 drier than any other part of the shore. 
 
 The Transcaspian Railway. At Krasnovodsk the 
 steamer goes in behind a long yellow sand spit, and ties up 
 at a dock in front of a bare little town made up of low 
 white houses. There is not enough water for trees, and 
 only the governor and one or two rich people can have 
 gardens. Here, as at Baku, most of the vegetables and 
 fruit are brought by steamer from the moist southern 
 shore. At the railroad station a broad train is waiting. It 
 has four kinds of cars, first, second, third, and fourth class. 
 First and second-class cars are very comfortable. They 
 are used by foreigners, by the richer Russians, and by a 
 very few natives. The third-class cars are very crowded, 
 and the people who use them are mostly poor Russians 
 and ordinary natives. The fourth-class cars look like 
 freight cars. They are marked on the outside, "Eight 
 horses or forty men." Crowds of Mohammedans, with 
 
TRANSCASPIA AND RUSSIAN TURKISTAN 123 
 
 big white turbans and long gowns of red, blue, yellow, 
 brown, or purple cotton, squeeze into them, with now 
 and then a woman bundled up in dark blue or gray cloth. 
 Her face is wholly covered, and she can see only through 
 a piece of very thick, hot veiling over her eyes. The 
 fourth-class cars are divided into two stories, made by 
 a floor put through the middle of the low car. Of course 
 no one can stand upright. There are no seats. The 
 people merely crowd in and sit on either the upper or the 
 lower floor on cushions or mattresses which they bring 
 with them. In summer it is fearfully hot, and there are 
 no windows; but the passengers do not seem to object 
 
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 Turkoman soldiers saluting 
 
 even when the cars are very crowded. The fare is the 
 lowest in the world, scarcely half a cent a mile. 
 
 By and by a soldier in uniform rings a bell once. The 
 newcomer from America hurries to his seat, thinking that 
 the train is going to start. The natives, however, do not 
 move, except to go off for another cup of tea. After a 
 few minutes the soldier rings the bell twice, and people 
 take their seats. Then he rings it three times, but 
 
124 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 the train does not start. A few late comers enter the 
 cars, but no one hurries. Next, the conductor blows 
 
 A halt at a station on the Transcaspian Railway. The 
 
 man tn the foreground is filling his teapot with 
 
 hot water from a samovar 
 
 a little whistle, the engineer blows the big whistle of the 
 engine, then the conductor blows the little one again, 
 and at last the train begins to move. For a while it runs 
 along with the smooth Caspian Sea on the right side and 
 high, barren hills on the left. Then, after some hours, 
 it comes out upon a dry, bare plain of sand and gravel. 
 Now and then the train stops at a little station. There 
 is nothing to be seen except a few mulberry and apricot 
 trees, a tank for water, another tank for the oil which the 
 engine burns, and the small houses where live some Rus- 
 sian soldiers and their wives. Half a dozen native Tur- 
 komans stand around dressed in long gowns made of red 
 silk in narrow stripes. On their feet are low shoes like 
 slippers, and on their heads huge grenadier caps of sheep- 
 skin, white, black, or brown. Two or three tall, thin 
 horses are tied to the station fence; while a few gaunt, 
 hairless camels lie on the ground, chewing their cud, and 
 
TRANSCASPIA AND RUSSIAN TURKISTAN 125 
 
 turning their great heads on every side to see what is 
 going on. Often one or two round-cheeked Russian 
 women or children stand behind samovars — great 
 copper urns of water kept boiling by charcoal burning 
 in a pipe in the middle. At the sight of the steaming 
 samovars scores of passengers take the teapots, which 
 everyone carries, and hurry out to fill them. They pay 
 half a cent or a cent for the hot water, and then come 
 back to the train and make tea. The natives drink 
 their tea from bowls, and the Russians from glasses. 
 Children as well as grown people drink enormous quanti- 
 ties. At some of the larger stations there are little 
 houses with signs on them saying, "Boiling water." 
 The passengers almost fight to get a chance to put 
 their teapots under ^the hot-water faucet. 
 
 Transcaspla: Floods and Sand Dunes. On the second 
 day from Ivrasnovodsk the slow-moving train runs near 
 the foot of the mountains of northern Persia. In the dis- 
 tance the mountains can be seen several miles away to the 
 south, rising in gray or brown slopes to an even crest- 
 line. Between them and the railroad lies a sloping plain 
 of gravelly deposits brought down by the streams. 
 Along the line of the railroad occasional oases are strung 
 like beads on a string. On the north side, away from 
 the mountains, lies a great sandy desert, the beginning 
 of the vast plain which stretches away two thousand 
 miles to the Arctic Ocean. 
 
 On the gently sloping plain at the base of the moun- 
 tains one notices everywhere low embankments, like 
 enormous Y's which have been laid flat upon the ground. 
 The stem of each Y points away from the railroad, and 
 each branch is half a mile or more in length. Between 
 every pair of Y's, there is a bridge. When the streams 
 come down from the mountains they carry a very 
 
126 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 heavy load of sand, gravel, and cobblestones. At the 
 foot of the mountains they begin to flow less steeply, 
 and so cannot carry so great a load. Therefore, they 
 deposit the cobbles and gravel, and block their own 
 channels, thus turning the streams into new courses 
 across the gently sloping plain. No one can tell when 
 the streams will turn, nor in what direction they will go 
 in the next flood. They may leave their old channels 
 and flow against the railroad, and if there is no bridge 
 the track may be washed away. Hence the Russians 
 have built the Y's. When a flood comes it must hit 
 some part of a Y, no matter where it goes. It is then 
 turned aside and follows an embankment to a space 
 between two Y's, where there is a bridge. 
 
 The larger rivers cannot be controlled in this way. 
 One year in May some Americans wanted to go to 
 Samarkand. They reached Ashkabad,. and were told 
 they would have to wait three weeks till the flood of the 
 Heri-Rud or Tejen River was over and the railroad 
 rebuilt. When they finally came near the river, the 
 train ran for four or five miles along a low embank- 
 ment, with water stretching away on every side as far" 
 as they could see. The flood was not nearly so high as 
 it had been, but the country was still like a great lake. 
 At length the track came to an end, and they got out on 
 a low, flimsy wooden bridge which had just been made. 
 It was only wide enough for a plank walk. Beside it 
 lay an engine turned over on its side and half buried in 
 mud and water. It had gone too far on the track, which 
 was undermined by the flood, and had tumbled into the 
 water. All the passengers were obliged to walk for half 
 a mile across the main part of the river on the bridge of 
 plank. At the same time their baggage was carried 
 over on the backs of Turkomans and Persians. It is 
 
TRANSCASPIA AND RUSSIAN TURKISTAN 127 
 
 odd that in so dry a land floods should make the greatest 
 of all difficulties for railroads. 
 
 Not many miles beyond the river the railroad meets 
 quite another difficulty. Between the oases of Tejen 
 and Merv it goes through the driest sort of desert, where 
 large piles of dry sand, called dunes, are blown about 
 by the wind. Sometimes a strong wind blows the sand 
 in thick drifts right over the railroad track, and no 
 
 
 ■^y^ "v^'^ 
 
 Tents of nomadic Turkomans patched in the wind-swept desert 
 
 trains can run until it has been shoveled off. It seems 
 as if it would be easy to prevent this, but it is not. The 
 only thing that seems to do any good is to cultivate 
 certain desert bushes along the sides of the road. It is 
 very hard, however, to get them started; and even if 
 this can be done they grow very slowly, because they 
 can get so little water. 
 
 The Turkomans of the Desert. In the early spring 
 the sandy desert is beautiful. A little rain falls during 
 the last part of the winter, and in April a great deal of 
 
128 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 grass springs up. Then the Turkomans rejoice. They 
 go out with their camels, sheep, and horses far into the 
 
 Turkomans m the desert drawing water from a well 
 for thetr flocks 
 
 sand and camp for a month or two beside deep wells. 
 Day by day the flocks are driven out to feed on the rich 
 grass, and every night are brought back to the wells to 
 be watered. For hours a nomad boy or girl stands by 
 each well, letting down a sheepskin bag by means of a 
 long rope running on a little wooden pulley. All over 
 the desert at intervals of from five to twenty miles there 
 are wells. Often the Turkomans dig eight or ten wells 
 close together. The first one is dug to a depth of per- 
 haps a hundred feet, and when water is found it may 
 prove too salty for drinking purposes. However, the 
 Turkomans do not give up. They dig first one well and 
 then another, and at last get one which has water that 
 can be drunk. 
 
 During the thirty years or more since the coming 
 of the Russians and the building of the railroad the 
 
TRANSCASPIA AND RUSSIAN TURKISTAN 129 
 
 Turkomans have wholly changed their way of living. In 
 the old days most of them were nomads. Now a large 
 part of them have settled down in the fertile oases, 
 because new ways of irrigation have made it possible 
 for many more people to live there, and because the 
 coming of the railroad has made new opportunities for 
 them to work and earn a living. 
 
 Before the days of the Russians the Turkomans used 
 to be very much like the Arabs. They belong to a 
 wholly different race, but because they lived in the same 
 kind of desert they acquired the same habits. When they 
 were hungry or restless, some Turkoman would set up 
 his spear in the ground and say, "After two days I am 
 going on a raid in Persia. Who will go with me?" 
 Then the young men and some of the older ones would 
 gather, and a company of twenty or thirty start out. 
 On their thin, tough horses they might ride a hun- 
 dred miles in a single day. Suddenly they would appear 
 near a Persian village at sunset, when the villagers were 
 coming home from the fields. The poor Persians would 
 run to the mud towers which dot their fields, but many 
 could not get to them. These the Turkomans seized. 
 In the village they stole whatever they could find and 
 then set on fire the straw at the threshing floors. They 
 could not burn the houses, because those are built of 
 mud. Taking the men, women, and children whom they 
 had captured, they tied their hands together and drove 
 them off at the point of the spear, compelling the cap- 
 tives to walk for many days. Many of them were sold 
 to merchants and to others in the rich oases of Merv, 
 Khiva, and Bukhara. 
 
 Now all this raiding and stealing has come to an end ; 
 but when hard times come, the Turkomans begin to 
 say, "Wc must go and plunder the Persians. Why 
 
ISO ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 do the Russians not let us do it ? How ate we going to 
 get food for our families if we cannot rob our enemies?" 
 
 The home of a Russian official in the oasis of Merv 
 
 Locusts. In Russian Turkistan, as in all dry countries, 
 grasshoppers of the kind called locusts often devour the 
 crops. In April the eggs begin to hatch. Here and 
 there little black spots appear, swarming with thousands 
 of tiny grasshoppers no bigger than the point of a lead 
 pencil. Little by little the spots spread, as the grass- 
 hoppers grow bigger. Often the people try to kill the 
 insects, but cannot because there are so many. After 
 a few weeks the whole country is spotted with round bare 
 patches where the locusts have eaten up all the fresh 
 spring grass. Then there comes a day when the 
 insects begin to move, for they have grown large quickly, 
 and are very hungry. 
 
 Straight away they go, stopping for nothing, and 
 always hopping forward in the same direction. If they 
 come to a ditch, they jump in. The people therefore 
 
TRANSCASPIA AND RUSSIAN TURKISTAN 131 
 
 dig ditches, and in this way they catch many and bury 
 them. But the others keep on. If the locusts come 
 to a brook flowing to a Httle oasis, they jump in. Many 
 are drowned, but many more swim across and, as soon as 
 their wings become dry, press onward. They come Hke a 
 vast moving army, hopping, hopping, hopping. When 
 they reach a tent they never think of turning aside, but 
 crawl right up the sides; and if the round top is open 
 they tumble down inside, and, turning in the right direc- 
 tion, go on again. 
 
 Behind them there is nothing left except bare, brown 
 earth and a few tough stalks. All the grain, the leaves 
 of the trees, and everything else that is green, is 
 eaten up. The poor Turkomans wring their hands, but 
 can do nothing. Their only hope is that the starlings — 
 large birds with black wings and rosy breasts — may come 
 and eat up the locusts before everything is gone and the 
 people are left to starve. 
 
 The Great Oases of Russian Turkistan. East of Trans- 
 caspia and the sandy desert the mountains to the south, 
 in Afghanistan and the Pamirs, grow higher and the 
 rivers larger. Therefore, the oases become richer, more 
 fruitful, and more densely populated. The city of 
 Samarkand occupies a typical oasis of Russian central 
 Asia. The railroad station is far from the town. There 
 are no street cars, but carriages can be hired very cheaply. 
 One horse, with a great wooden arch over his back, is 
 in the shafts, and another is fastened loosely to the 
 carriage, outside the shafts. The drivers are mostly 
 Russians, who wear high hats with ridiculously small 
 brims, and long, smooth coats, and high boots. In 
 private carriages the coachmen are always very fat, for 
 that is the fashion. Sometimes one meets a coachman 
 with a very thin, small face and a huge round body. He 
 
132 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 appears to be fat, but this is because his clothes are 
 stuffed to make him look big. 
 
 -The streets are wide, and are lined on each side with 
 a double row of poplar trees growing beside two muddy- 
 irrigation ditches. Half-naked men, with buckets or 
 shovels, take water from the ditches and throw it over 
 the street to lay the dust. Where the streets are not 
 watered the dust is often three or four inches deep. 
 When many people are passing, it is sometimes so thick 
 that the voices of people who are walking along can be 
 heard before the people themselves can be seen through 
 
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 A scene in the streets of Smnarkand 
 
 the veil of dust which hangs over the street. A mile or 
 two from the railroad one comes into the Russian city. 
 This is quite attractive, with its broad clean streets, its 
 many trees, its whitewashed fences of mud, and its low 
 one-story houses. The houses, like the fences, are white- 
 washed and often have roofs covered with red tiles. 
 Every Russian house in the town is surrounded by a 
 large garden full of fruit trees and tall poplars. 
 
 A little way from the new Russian city one comes 
 
TRANSCASPIA AND RUSSIAN TURKISTAN 133 
 
 to the old native city. It is wholly different. The 
 streets are very narrow, and there are no trees. On 
 either side of the dusty road nothing can be seen except 
 bare mud walls with little doors every fifty feet or so. 
 Over the tops of the walls branches of fruit trees can 
 be seen, and one knows that pleasant gardens are hidden 
 beliind the ugly walls. The streets are full of people. 
 The men wear the most bright-colored dresses that 
 can be imagined — pale blue, yellow, green, and purple. 
 Many of them are clad in silk, and often a single gown 
 has many colors. Sometimes one sees a man, on a 
 donke}', dressed in a bright red gown with huge round, 
 yellow spots on it, the biggest spot of all being in the 
 middle of the man's back. In the streets the women, 
 like those of other Mohammedan countries, have to wear 
 very dull, homely clothes, although at home they, too, 
 wear bright-colored silks. 
 
 It is not expensive to wear silk in Russian Turkistan. 
 Partly because wages are low and partly because mul- 
 berry trees grow in great abundance in all the oases, silk 
 is cheap. In May and June people eat the mulberries, 
 and beggars often camp for weeks under the trees and 
 actually live on nothing else. Yet this is not the chief 
 use of the mulberry trees, for their leaves are the only 
 good food for silkworms. Thousands and millions of 
 these worms are raised, and the whole city is full of little 
 factories where silk thread is being wound off from 
 cocoons. The silk not used at home is exported to other 
 lands, as is also cotton. The best cotton seed comes from 
 America. So the natives think that every American 
 must know all about how to raise cotton. 
 
 The streets of Samarkand abound not only in bazaars 
 with little shops like those of Persia, but also in wonder- 
 ful old mosques and tombs built by the famous Tartar 
 
134 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 conqueror, Timour the Lame, and his successors. These 
 men once ruled a great empire, with Samarkand as its 
 
 
 A shop in Samarkand 
 
 capital. It is hard for us to realize how great a country 
 Russian Turkistan is. It is almost half as large as 
 the United States; and yet it is only a small part of the 
 whole of Russia's possessions in Asia. Its area is equal 
 to that of the three states of the Pacific coast, the eight 
 Plateau states, and the states of North Dakota, South 
 Dakota, and Nebraska. The population is as great as 
 that of all these fourteen states, with the addition of 
 Minnesota and Kansas. To put it in another way, the 
 area and population of Russian Turkistan are greater 
 than the area and population of the United States west 
 of the looth meridian. From the Caspian Sea the 
 country stretches eastward 1,700 miles, or nearly as far 
 as from Chicago to San Francisco. 
 
Lonr/itiide Etat fiom GrcL-mn'ili 
 
 A reas of natural i 
 
Copyright, 1912, by Eand McNally <t Comjiamj 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 SIBERIA: THE MOST AMERICAN COUNTRY 
 IN ASIA 
 
 Siberian Pioneers. Among the countries of Asia 
 Siberia is the one that most resembles America. 
 Little by little, during the past two or three hundred 
 years, the people of Russia have crossed the Ural 
 Mountains and spread out over the broad plains of 
 Siberia, just as the people of America crossed the 
 Appalachians and spread out over the great plains of 
 the United States and Canada. The earliest American 
 pioneers were hunters and trappers, and so were those 
 of Siberia. In the great forests of the Appalachian 
 Highland and of the country extending from there far to 
 the northwest into Canada, the chief source of wealth, at 
 first, was the fur of the bear, beaver, mink, and many 
 other animals. The Indians, and later the white men, 
 caught or shot the animals and sent their skins to the • 
 more thickly settled regions east of the Appalachians, 
 from which they were shipped to Europe. In the same 
 way the far larger forests of Siberia tempted Russian 
 adventurers to wander among them, seeking the fur of 
 the sable, ermine, fox, and other animals. 
 
 The Siberian pioneers fought with the Tartars, Yakuts, 
 Buriats, and other aboriginal peoples, just as the Ameri- 
 cans fought with the Indians. Some of them treated 
 the natives fairly and honestly. Others taught them 
 to drink vodka, or whisky, and then sold them a dollar's 
 worth of the stuff for twenty dollars' worth of furs, even 
 as some of our countrymen did. The natives felt that 
 they were being cheated and that their land was being 
 
 135 
 
136 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 taken from them; and so the}', on their side, massacred 
 the white men, Ued to them, and betrayed them, after 
 solemnly promising to be friends. 
 
 The Settlement of Siberia from Russia. When the 
 rough trappers and hunters had explored the country, 
 other people began to come in to settle permanently. 
 Many of them were exiles, or people whom the govern- 
 ment sent away from Russia because they had been 
 accused of crime. Some of the exiles were really bad 
 men, who would have been put in prison, or even hanged, 
 if they had lived in America. Others were the very 
 best sort of men and women, useful people whom it was 
 a bitter shame to send out into the wilderness. The bad 
 exiles often lived by robbing and oppressing the natives. 
 The good exiles would not do this, and as there was no 
 work, they suffered great hardships, especially from 
 cold, poverty, and hunger. They were reformers who 
 wanted to improve the government of Russia, which was 
 then very oppressive. Therefore, the rulers did not like 
 them, and sent them as far away as possible into the 
 worst places they could hear of. 
 
 Besides the criminals and the political exiles, as the 
 reformers are called, there were many people who went 
 to Siberia of their own accord. Part of these were 
 dissenters, or people who did not believe in the national 
 church of Russia. They wanted to worship in their own 
 particular way. When they were not allowed to do 
 this, they moved to Siberia and settled in out-of-the-way 
 places, where the officials could scarcely find them. The 
 remainder of the people who went of their own accord 
 were regular settlers. They thought that the}' could 
 make a better living by going to Siberia. When there 
 were famines in Russia, as there often are when the rain 
 fails in the dry southeast, the peasants began to talk of 
 
SIBERIA; MOST AMERICAN COUNTRY IN ASIA 137 
 
 settling in Siberia, where they heard that there was 
 plenty of well-watered land. At first there were few 
 such settlers, but now they go in large numbers. Many 
 are helped by the government, which is very anxious 
 to have Siberia well filled with people. Some of them 
 do not have to pay taxes for a certain number of years, 
 and others receive help in money. Because of these 
 things the population of Siberia is now growing rapidly. 
 It is not yet very dense, however. On an average, there 
 are scarcely two persons for every square mile, while in 
 the United States there are forty. 
 
 What the Future Promises. Enthusiastic Russians 
 believe that after one or two centuries the two greatest 
 nations of the world will be those that inhabit the two 
 great northern plains. In the Western Hemisphere, they 
 say, there will be a great nation occupying the plains of 
 the northern United States and Canada. It may be 
 divided politically, but the people of both parts are of 
 the same race. In the Eastern Hemisphere there will 
 be a great nation having its home in the vast plains of 
 Russia and Siberia. Of course no one can tell exactly 
 what will happen; but it is certainly true that Siberia 
 and the northern part of America are the only two large 
 regions of the earth which are cool enough for the white 
 race and are not yet filled with people. They are the 
 countries which have the greatest opportunity to develop. 
 In the past two or three hundred years the histories 
 of the two have been much alike, although their institu- 
 tions differ widely. To-day America is ahead of Siberia. 
 This is partly because its early settlers, instead of being 
 exiles and criminals, were some of the most enlightened 
 people in the world, and established a governm.ent under 
 which every man is free to do his best. It is also 
 partly because the great American plains extend farther 
 
138 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 south than those of Asia and have a less severe climate. 
 
 The Resources of Siberia. As we have seen so many 
 times, the way people live in any country depends on 
 many factors. Let us see which of these are the most 
 important in Siberia. One factor is the nature of the 
 surface of a country, that is, its mountains, plains, hills, 
 and valleys. Except in the far south and in the east, 
 Siberia consists wholly of plains and low hills ; so if this 
 factor were the only one that made a difference the 
 people would live in almost the same way in all parts. 
 
 Another thing is the relation of a country to the 
 sea and to harbors. The shore of the Arctic Ocean 
 is so cold that very few people live there. Ships cannot 
 reach the coast, and there is no trade. On the Pacific 
 coast all the northern shore is also too cold to be of 
 use. Even as far south as the mouth of the Amur 
 River the harbors are completely frozen for six months 
 every year. It is only on the Manchurian coast that 
 the harbors are open long enough to be of much use 
 for commerce. Therefore the sea, like the mountains, 
 has very little positive effect on most of the people of 
 Siberia. 
 
 A third thing which influences the way in which people 
 live is the nature of the soil and the presence of minerals. 
 The plains of Siberia have almost the same sort of soil 
 in all parts. The soil is rich and capable of producing 
 fine crops, and the only important variations are due 
 to climate. In plains no one expects to find valuable 
 minerals. Generally the rocks are not of the kinds 
 which have been twisted and folded and broken, and 
 therefore filled with veins of metals. Moreover, they 
 have not been arched up so that the minerals are 
 exposed on the sides of the valleys. C)utside of the 
 famous Ural Range the mountains on the south and 
 
SIBERIA: MOST AMERICAN COUNTRY IN ASIA 139 
 
 east of Siberia are the only parts of the country where 
 minerals are important. In those regions there are large 
 deposits of gold, iron, and other metals. They are mined 
 a little, but in many places they are scarcely used at all. 
 One traveler says that a few years ago he met a long 
 string of camels carrying iron made in Europe to a place 
 in southeastern Siberia Avhere there were large iron 
 mines. The people did not use their own iron, but paid 
 enormous freight charges to have iron brought by rail 
 and caravan. 
 
 The two other important things' which have much 
 influence on the way in which people live are climate 
 and the means of communication. In Siberia these two 
 are far more important than the others. 
 
 The Effect of a Dry Climate in Transcaspia. From 
 south to north the climate of Asiatic Russia grows 
 steadily colder and more moist. In the far south the 
 driest, warmest place in Russian territory is the desert 
 of Transcaspia. It is very cold in winter, but the 
 summers are terribly hot. An American once rode into 
 the Transcaspian desert with a Turkoman in June. At 
 the end of the first day the Turkoman said, "I did not 
 know it was going to be so hot. I wish I had brought 
 my heavy coat." He meant exactly what he said. The 
 sun was so hot that it beat through his thin coat and 
 made him uncomfortable. A very heavy coat would 
 have been better to keep out the sun's heat. For the 
 same reason the Arabs, as we have seen, bundle up their 
 heads. 
 
 Transcaspia is so dry that there are not plants enough 
 to hold the soil in place. Therefore, the finer parts 
 have been blown away as dust, and only the sand is left, 
 piled up in big dunes. 
 
 The Turkomans are so used to sand that they think 
 
I40 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 they need it. Some Turkomans who were traveUng in 
 eastern Persia, where the whole country is covered with 
 gravel, came one night to a salty brook beside which 
 was a little patch of sand. "Look," said one of them, 
 "here is some sand. To-night we can have good bread." 
 They made a fire on the sand and while it was burning 
 they kneaded some dough. When all was ready, one 
 man made the dough into two flat, round sheets, 
 nearly eighteen inches in diameter and half an inch 
 thick. Between these he put a great many lumps of 
 fat from the big tail of a sheep. Another Turkoman, 
 meanwhile, raked away the fire and smoothed off the 
 hot sand under it. The double sheet of dough, like a 
 big sandwich, was placed on the sand, and then more 
 hot sand and the coals of the fire were placed on top of 
 it. After fifteen or twenty minutes one of the men 
 brushed off the coals and tapped the bread to see if it 
 was done. Then he turned it over and covered it up 
 again. When it was cooked and ready to eat there 
 were many ashes in it, but it tasted very good to the 
 Turkomans. 
 
 "How much better our way of cooking is than the 
 Afghan way," said one. Many of the Afghans heat a 
 round stone the size of a man's fist and, when this 
 is hot, pull it out of the fire and wrap dough around 
 it to the thickness of half an inch. It is then put in the 
 hot ashes once more until the dough is baked. Both 
 Afghans and Turkomans use the things which they have 
 around them. The Turkoman's way of cooking, like all 
 his ways of living, is greatly influenced by the dry 
 climate of his plains. 
 
 The Effect of Climate in the Steppes. A little farther 
 north in Asiatic Russia the plains become colder and a 
 little more moist than in Transcaspia. In this region of 
 
SIBERIA: MOST AMERICAN COUNTRY IN ASIA 141 
 
 the Kirghiz Steppe, as it is called, there is not enough 
 rain to allow trees to grow except close to the rivers. 
 Neither is there enough rain to make farming profitable. 
 So the Kirghiz and other Tartar tribes are pastoral 
 nomads, who live part of the time in tents and part of 
 the time in houses made of mud and wood. In winter 
 they stay in the houses; in summer they travel from 
 place to place with their animals and live in tents. 
 They have a few camels and cows, but most of their 
 wealth consists of small horses and sheep of various 
 
 The home of Russian colonists in the Siberian plains 
 
 colors. Their life is much like that of the people of the 
 plateaus, whom we shall describe later. 
 
 The Effect of Climate in Central Siberia : The Wheat 
 Fields and the Colonists. In the northern part of the 
 Kirghiz Steppe the amount of rain increases, and more 
 falls in summer than is the case farther south. There- 
 fore, trees begin to appear in groups at a distance from 
 the rivers. Soon, if one keeps on to the north, a beautiful 
 park-like country is reached. Broad fields of grass, Uke 
 
142 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 our prairies, are mingled with groves of cedar, pine, and 
 birch. Villages are scattered at intervals of five or ten 
 miles. They are the homes of Russian colonists who 
 have come here because this is the best part of Siberia. 
 The houses are low, thatched cabins made of logs, and 
 banked up with sod around the bottoms to keep the 
 wind out. The windows are small, and during the cold 
 winters are often sealed up with paper to keep out every 
 possible bit of air. Near each village stand great piles 
 of brown hay, which is fed to the cattle in winter. The 
 colonists raise wheat and other grains and vegetables, 
 and are cjuite prosperous. At sunset of a summer day 
 it is a very pretty sight to see the women and girls 
 in bright red or blue dresses and the men in colored 
 shirts, which are worn like coats belted at the v/aist and 
 hanging down outside the loose trousers. Often on a 
 Sunday afternoon one may see the boys of a village 
 gathered on one side of the road and the girls in their 
 bright dresses on the other. Sunday morning everyone 
 goes to church in a large white building with a green 
 dome. The priest always wears a long gown, and allows 
 his hair to grow long over his shoulders and down his 
 back. At their services the Russians do not sit down, 
 as we do. There is not a seat in the whole church. 
 Everyone stands, the men and boys usually on one side 
 and the women and girls on the other. Often the audi- 
 ence stands two hours or more without seeming to grow 
 tired. The Russians are a very reverent people. 
 
 Siberian Towns and the Siberian Railway. Naturally 
 the chief towns of Siberia, such as Omsk, Tomsk, and 
 Irkutsk, have grown up in this fertile region where grain 
 grows bountifully and where the climate is just right 
 for Russians. These cities seem very much like the 
 cities of western America. They are new and full of 
 
SIBERIA: MOST AMERICAN COUNTRY IN ASIA 143 
 
 energy. Business is booming; new houses are going up 
 very fast; factories are beginning to be built; and 
 schools, colleges, museums, theaters, libraries, and all 
 the various signs of high civilization are fast appearing. 
 The Siberians are wonderfully hospitable and make a 
 stranger feel much at home. 
 
 When the time came for a railroad to be built from 
 Russia to the Pacific Ocean, it naturally was located along 
 the broad belt of fertile wheat-raising country, where the 
 chief towns are situated. The trains do not run fast, but 
 they are comfortable and the fare is low. The cars are 
 divided into compartments about six feet wide. In each 
 compartment there are two seats, about seven feet long, 
 facing each other. At the end of the compartment 
 a door opens into a narrow corridor running the length 
 of the car. At night a sort of shelf, like the upper 
 berth of a sleeping car, is let down over each seat, so that 
 
 Russian girls dressed for a wedding 
 
144 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 four people can sleep comfortably in a compartment. 
 When a well-to-do Russian travels, he carries his own 
 sheets, towels, pillow, and soap with him. If he is going 
 on a winter journey, he also has his blankets. So he 
 can be very comfortable on the train, even if he has 
 to travel the two weeks' journey from St. Petersburg to 
 the Pacific Ocean. The chief defect of Russian cars is 
 that the windows are small and hard to open. They 
 are made so purposely, because of the intense cold 
 of Siberian winters. However, the cars are well warmed. 
 Forests are so abundant in central Siberia that wood 
 is far cheaper than coal for use in the engines. It is 
 for this reason that for miles beside the track great 
 piles of birch wood cut into short lengths are stacked 
 in white rows. 
 
 The Solemn Forests of the North. Most of the great 
 wheat-raising belt of Siberia was, and still is, covered 
 with forests which grow more and more dense farther 
 north. The main forest belt is from a thousand to 
 thirteen hundred miles wide from north to south, and 
 extends all the way across from west to east. It covers 
 almost as much ground as the whole of the United States. 
 Those who have not seen the virgin forest find it hard 
 to realize its vastness and its somber gloom. In the 
 United States our largest forests are broken by clearings 
 and villages, and are crossed by roads and railroads. 
 They are under the control of man. In Siberia no human 
 hand controls the mighty woodland. Dark and forbid- 
 ding, it stretches away for hundreds and thousands 
 of miles. Day after day, and week after week, one may 
 wander in it without seeing a sign of human dwellings 
 or any living creature except wild animals or, perhaps, 
 a Tungus or Ostyak native roaming in search of game 
 the skins of which he may sell. The forest is so vast. 
 
SIBERIA: MOST AMERICAN COUNTRY IN ASIA 145 
 
 so silent, so hostile to man that the wanderer grows 
 sad and timid. There seems to be no end to the vast 
 extent of towering trees, and no hope of ever getting 
 out into the open air and the sunshine. 
 
 The Tundras. In the far north the somber forest grows 
 small and stunted, until finally, near the Arctic Circle, it 
 is replaced by the barren tundras described in the 
 first chapter. There the natives live on the milk 
 of the reindeer and on the animals which they kill. If 
 the reindeer die or the people have to sell them for food, 
 the only other way they can make a living is to fish and 
 hunt. Some of the natives go regularly from place to 
 place, according to the season, following the fish. In 
 summer the fish come up into the rivers to lay their eggs, 
 and then the natives catch them in large quantities. 
 
 The Temperature of Northern Siberia. It is frightfully 
 cold in these far northern regions with their short sum- 
 mers and long winters. A Swedish traveler says that the 
 year he was there the real winter began, at the mouth of 
 the Lena, on September 23, with a temperature of 15° 
 below zero Fahrenheit. Before that it was very'cold, but 
 people did not call it winter. Yakutsk and Verkhoyansk, 
 where the winter temperature is the lowest on record, 
 are not at the extreme north, but 300 and 700 miles 
 south of the Arctic Ocean in the forest belt. In winter, 
 at Verkhoyansk, the temperature has been known to 
 go down to 90° below zero; and in summer it sometimes 
 rises to 90° above. At Yakutsk it goes down to 84° 
 below and up to 102° above. In these places the ground, 
 two feet or so below the surface, is frozen all the time. 
 Crops of many kinds, including even watermelons, grow 
 with their roots running down almost to the frozen part. 
 In Yakutsk buildings are not set on a foundation of 
 rock, but on one of frozen earth. 
 
146 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Although the Arctic Ocean is extremely cold, it is 
 warmer than the land to the south of it, for not only 
 does the ocean keep its heat better than land, but also 
 the water of warm seas mingles with that of those that 
 are cooler. Inasmuch as winds warmed by the Arctic 
 Ocean blow in over northern Asia, the tundras are not 
 so cold in winter as is the northeastern interior of 
 Siberia. They are much colder than the interior in 
 summer, however, and in winter they are far more 
 disagreeable because they have terrific storms, while in 
 
 Kirghiz drivers of a Russian post wagon making ready 
 for a journey 
 
 the interior, at Yakutsk and elsewhere, the winter air is 
 almost perfectly still, and there are few clouds and 
 not much snow. 
 
 Transportation in Siberia. All the various kinds of 
 country which we have spoken of, from Transcaspia to 
 the tundras, owe their differences chiefly to climate. 
 Let us see now what effect the climate and the character 
 of the plains and of the plants which grow upon them 
 have had upon transportation. In the south, where 
 the plains are open and grassy, horses and camels are 
 
SIBERIA: MOST AMERICAN COUNTRY IN ASIA I47 
 
 abundant and cheap. There is very little need of build- 
 ing roads, for all parts of the plain can be traversed 
 easily. Accordingly, most of the trade is carried on by 
 means of caravans. Often hundreds of camels loaded 
 with tea, wool, and other products are tied one behind 
 the other and led from China or Turkistan into the 
 southern part of Siberia. In other places loads are put 
 on the backs of horses and carried in the same way. ' 
 Already a few main wagon roads have been built in this 
 region, and wagons are taking the place of caravans. 
 Soon there will be railroads, but in the country regions 
 among the nomads it is probable that caravans will be 
 used for very many years, because animals can be fed 
 so cheaply, and the population is not sufficient to cause 
 much commerce. 
 
 A Russian Post Wagon. In the wheat-raising part of 
 Siberia, as we have seen, a railroad has been built, 
 while on every side post roads branch off to the remoter 
 towns. The first day in a Russian post wagon is great 
 fun. If the traveler has much baggage, he must take a 
 "tarantas" — a vehicle like a small hay wagon with low 
 sides made of boards. In front there is a seat for the 
 driver, and at the back a cover like a large buggy top 
 to cover the passengers. After the baggage has been 
 strapped on behind or placed in the front of the taran- 
 tas, some hay is put in the bottom of the wagon, 
 and blankets and pillows and other soft things are laid 
 over the top. On these the traveler sits or, more often, 
 half lies down. 
 
 When all is ready the horses are led out. The best- 
 trained animal is put into the heavy spreading shafts 
 under a wooden arch on which hangs a jingling bell. 
 Then two other horses are fastened by loose traces on 
 either side, outside the shafts. Often the outer horses 
 
ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 are only half trained. When the attendants let go of 
 the animals' heads they dash off at a gallop, and if the 
 
 Arriving at a post station in Siberia 
 
 driver is not ready with the reins firmlv in his hands, 
 they are likely to tip the wagon over. »Sometimes, if the 
 horses are young or only half trained, they gallop madly 
 for a mile or two. Occasionally in the open plain they 
 run off the road and go circling over the fields, but at 
 last they become a little tired and settle down to a 
 steady trot or a slow gallop. While all this is happening 
 the pas.senger is bumping around under the wagon top. 
 After riding from twelve to twenty miles the driver pulls 
 up at a low, whitewashed house with a striped pole in 
 front of it. It is the post station. Sometimes it is in a 
 village; but often it stands alone in the midst of the 
 plain or the forest. 
 
 When the traveler climbs out, he is likely to be a 
 little stiff and sore, unless the road has been unusually 
 smooth. The station keeper comes out, wearing a 
 military cap with a sort of button on the front of it. 
 
SIBERIA: MOST AMERICAN COUNTRY IN ASIA 149 
 
 Every one who does any work for the government wears 
 an official cap of some Ivind, sometimes with a uniform 
 and sometimes without. From the color and shape 
 of the cap and the marks on the button one can tell 
 exactly what work a man does. If the traveler is in a 
 hurry, he asks to have horses brought at once. Some- 
 times the station-keeper says, "All right," and at once 
 sends off a boy to catch some animals. At other times 
 he says, "I guess you will have to wait awhile. It is 
 time for the mail in two hours. I don't know whether 
 it will come in two wagons or in three or four. I can't 
 send off the horses with you, because they might be 
 needed for the mail. If I did not have them here fur 
 that I should lose my place." 
 
 While the horses are being brought the traveler buys 
 something to eat. If he chooses to wait, the wife of the 
 station keeper will prepare some meat and potatoes 
 and a soup full of meat and cabbage, called "shtchee'." 
 If he is in a great hurry, he must be content with eggs, 
 milk, bread, and tea. Russians are tremendously hungry 
 people. Unless the traveler says exactly how many 
 boiled eggs he wants, the landlady will always bring him 
 five, and expect him to eat them all. Often a man says, 
 "Give me two fives," and she brings ten eggs. 
 
 If one wants to travel night and day he can do so, 
 and can go nearly two hundred miles in twenty-four 
 hours if he does not have to wait for the post. It is very 
 hard work, because it is impossiljle to sleep in the 
 jolting wagon. After a few days of it one feels half 
 asleep all the time, and keeps dozing off only to be 
 awakened by the next bump. The Russian post system 
 is wonderfully well managed. It could have developed 
 
 ' The word is pronounced almost like the italicized letters in 
 the words sma.s/;^ china. 
 
ISO ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 only in a very large country of plains, where horses were 
 cheap and great distances had to be traveled. In winter 
 sleighs are used, and the horses go very fast indeed. 
 Sometimes it is so cold that once in half an hour the 
 driver must get out and knock the ice away from the 
 horses' noses, where the moisture from their breath 
 has frozen. If he did not, the ice would stop up their 
 nostrils and they could not breathe. 
 
 Siberian Rivers. Besides the caravans, the railroads, 
 and the post wagons, there is one other very important 
 means of travel — the rivers. To-day large steamers run 
 on them all summer when there is no ice. In the old 
 days, when explorers came to the country, they found 
 it impossible to travel through the forests. They and 
 the settlers who followed them had to use the rivers; 
 and even to-day in the north it is only by sailing along 
 the rivers that one can reach many parts of the country. 
 The explorers were obliged to zig-zag greatly when they 
 wanted to go east, for the rivers all flow more or less 
 directly north. Starting on one river near the Ural 
 Mountains, they floated down to the main stream in 
 a northeast direction. Then they went up or down the 
 main river until they found another large stream coming 
 in on the east side. Up this stream they rowed and 
 paddled their boats and rafts. Where the streams flowed 
 gently this was easy, and most of the streams do flow 
 gently for hundreds of miles in their lower courses; for 
 Siberia is very flat. Near their sources, where they flow 
 among the highlands, they run swiftly over rapids and 
 are of small size. In these places the pioneers, day after 
 day, had to get out and wade and pull their boats behind 
 them. Coming at last to the head of a stream, they 
 carried everything except the boats over the low divide 
 to another stream flowing to the next great river. It 
 
SIBERIA: MOST AMERICAN COUNTRY IN ASIA 151 
 
 was impossible to carry the boats, and new ones had 
 to be made. Sometimes, after making boats or rafts on 
 two or three rivers, the pioneers had no nails left, and 
 were obliged to make boats entirely of wood, using 
 wooden pegs for nails. On the branches of the Lena 
 River there are still boats of this kind. On the main 
 rivers, however, good sized steamers run regularly during 
 the summer season of open water. 
 
 Wherever one goes in Siberia, he feels that it is a 
 country of enormous size. He notices, too, how cold it 
 is, for even in summer he can see the signs of winter. 
 All the time he feels that it is as yet but partially 
 developed but that it is growing, and that some day it 
 will be very different from what it is to-day. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE PLATEAUS OF INNER ASIA 
 
 The Natural Divisions of Eastern Asia. In our study 
 of the geography of Asia we have now come to the 
 great eastern division, the dense population of which 
 comprises more than half the people of the continent. 
 Eastern Asia, it will be remembered, is bounded on the 
 southwest by the Himalaya and Burmese mountains, 
 which separate it from India. On the northwest it is 
 bounded by the mountains which run from the Pamirs 
 to the Sea of Okhotsk. These separate Russia from 
 China, except to the north of Manchuria, where Russia has 
 forced her way over the Stanovoi Mountains to the sea. 
 A careful study of the physical map shows that Eastern 
 Asia is divided into two very different parts by the 
 Great Khingan Range and other mountains, which form 
 a fairly continuous line running south and southwest 
 from near the Sea of Okhotsk to the eastern end 
 of the Tibetan Plateau and along the broken edge of 
 the plateau almost to Siam. The region east of the 
 mountains is the Pacific Slope, and the region to 
 the west is Inner Asia. 
 
 The Populous Pacific Slope of Asia. The Pacific Slope 
 consists of a strip of country from three hundred to one 
 thousand miles wide and more than three thousand 
 miles long, extending from the Sea of Okhotsk to the 
 Gulf of Siam. It is a beautiful region of mountains and 
 low hills, with large fertile plains at frequent intervals. 
 Winds from the Pacific Ocean blow over it in summer, 
 bringing abundant rain and making it very fruitful. 
 Therefore, except in the cold northern parts, it is densely 
 
THE PLATEAUS OF INNER ASIA 153 
 
 inhabited, and contains practically all the people of 
 Eastern Asia, or one-third of the people of the world. 
 
 It is divided into various parts by natural boundaries. 
 In the north lie the countries of Manchuria and Chosen 
 (Korea), with Japan separated from them by the 
 sea. The large central portion forms what is known 
 as China Proper — the "Flowery Kingdom of the 
 Eighteen Provinces," as the Chinese call it. The warm 
 southern portion is divided into French Indo-China and 
 Siam. In all these places the people are alike in many 
 ways, just as are the people of all the chief countries 
 of Europe. Chinese influence can be seen in the 
 customs of all parts. In climate and scenery and 
 in many other ways, the Pacific Slope of Asia is much 
 like the Atlantic Slope of North America from the 
 St. Lawrence River to the Gulf of Mexico, including 
 the Atlantic Plain and the Appalachian Highland. 
 Similarly, as we have seen, the plains of Siberia are like 
 the plains of America. 
 
 The Khingan Escarpment and Inner Asia. The east- 
 ern slope of the Great Khingan Mountains and of their 
 southwestern continuation rises steeply, and is often 
 covered with trees nourished by rain brought by winds 
 from the Pacific Ocean. The western slope is more gentle 
 and much shorter, and is dry and bare. It does not lead 
 down to fruitful plains or beautiful valleys, but to a 
 naked plateau high above the level of the sea. The Great 
 Khingan Mountains ought not to be called mountains, 
 for they are mountainous only on one side. Really, 
 they are what is called an escarpment — a great step 
 between a plateau and a lowland. Many rivers flow 
 across the escarpment. In the course of thousands of 
 years they have cut valleys in it, but these valleys are 
 very narrow. Often they are canyons in which the 
 
1 54 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 rivers, m their steep descent from the plateau to the 
 lowland, plunge over frequent rapids, up which boats 
 cannot ascend. Therefore, it is much harder to reach the 
 center of Asia than to reach the center of North America, 
 where the Mississippi River and its tributaries have no 
 rapids except close to the sources. 
 
 Away from the river valleys it is often hard to climb 
 the eastern side of the Khingan Escarpment. This, like 
 the rapids, tends to keep the Pacific Slope and Inner 
 Asia somewhat separate from each other. There is an- 
 other, and still more important, condition which divides 
 the two regions. The winds coming from the Pacific 
 Ocean have given up a large part of their moisture before 
 they reach the escarpment. There they rise rather 
 suddenly and give up most of the remainder. Accord- 
 ingly, when they descend to the plateaus on the other 
 side, they are very dry. The same thing happens where 
 the winds cross the other mountainous borders of Inner 
 Asia. Therefore, the whole countrj^ is parched, except 
 in a few especially high districts, and the habits of the 
 people are not like those prevailing on the Pacific Slope. 
 
 Tibet. Inner Asia consists largely of plateaus, but 
 there are also some great basins. The highest of the 
 plateaus is Tibet. In this high country, from two to 
 three miles aboA^e the sea, the winters are very cold, and 
 even in summer the nights are sometimes frosty. Tibet 
 is so high and cold that much of it consists of great gravel 
 plains, where nothing grows except a few bits of grass. 
 Little rain falls here, for the air has lost its moisture 
 by the time it gets across the mountains. The country 
 is bare, bleak, and open, with snowy mountains and 
 clear blue lakes on every side. In slightly lower regions 
 there is more grass, upon which sheep and yaks may feed, 
 and here the people live a nomadic life, like the Kirghiz 
 
THE PLATEAUS OF INNER ASIA 
 
 155 
 
 of the high plateaus farther north. In a few low valleys 
 crops can be raised, and there the people live in perma- 
 
 Tibetans living in a valley which is almost a\ hit^h as the 
 top of Pikes Peak 
 
 nent villages composed of flat-roofed houses with rude 
 stone walls. Tibet is as large as the United States east 
 of the Mississippi River and north of Tennessee ; but it 
 has only about one-thirtieth as many people, and proba- 
 bly never will have many more than it now has. 
 
 The Tibetans are a simple, friendly people. Life is 
 hard among them, but they are the most cheerful people 
 imaginable. Dressed in sheepskins or long woolen coats 
 and wearing sheepskin hats with earlaps, they do not 
 mind the cold. Now and again a man is seen clad in 
 reddish-purple, from warm cap to boots. He is a lama, 
 or Buddhist monk. One son from every family is expected 
 to be a monk. In each village there is supposed to be a 
 
iS6 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 lamasery — a queer place full of images of Buddha and 
 the saints, and hung with all manner of gaudy banners. 
 
 Tibetan officials traveling on horseback 
 
 Tibet is such a poor country that it cannot support any 
 more people. If many children were born and the 
 number of people increased, there would not be food 
 enough for all. Therefore, many Tibetans do not 
 marry, but become monks and nuns. Among those 
 who marry there is a custom quite unlike that of other 
 places. Elsewhere in Asia it is common for a man to 
 have two or more wives. Among the Tibetans one 
 woman often marries all the brothers of a family. 
 
 Mongolia. Another of the plateaus of Inner Asia is 
 Mongolia. It is even larger than Tibet, almost three 
 times as large, but it has not many more people, because 
 of its extreme aridity. The plateau is much lower than 
 Tibet and, accordingly, does not get so much rain. The 
 summers are very hot and the winters very cold. Much 
 of the plateau is an absolute desert of sand. The people 
 are mostly nomads. 
 
THE PLATEAUS OF INNER ASIA 157 
 
 Smaller Plateaus of Inner Asia. In addition to Tibet 
 and Mongolia there are smaller plateaus in Inner Asia, 
 some high like Tian Shan and others lower like the 
 Altai region. There are also several basins, the chief of 
 which is that of Lop in Chinese or East Turkistan. 
 The Lap Basin is larger than Tibet and has about the 
 same population. Its people live in fertile oases at 
 the foot of the mountains. We shall describe them 
 in the next chapter. The remainder of this chapter 
 will be devoted to the Kirghiz nomads of the Tian Shan 
 Plateau. The people of Tian Shan differ in race from 
 those of either Mongolia or Tibet, but all three races are 
 nomads and live in much the same way. Nomads and 
 oasis dwellers are the only sort of people who can live in 
 Inner Asia, because it is so dry. The whole number of 
 people in the region is only five million. Yet the area is 
 as great as that of the United States, and more than that 
 of the Pacific Slope of Asia, which has about one hundred 
 times as many people. If Inner Asia had as much rain as 
 the Pacific Slope, it could support almost as many people. 
 
 A Mongol encampment 
 
1S8 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 The Necessity of Nomadism in Tian Shan. The Tian 
 
 Shan Plateau is a great upland about ten thousand feet 
 above the sea. From its general level, snowy mountains 
 rise to much greater heights, while between them broad 
 plains and basins lie spread out for miles. Snow covers 
 even the lowest basins for seven or eight months of the 
 year, and farming is impossible. There is a great deal of 
 fine grass, however, full of wild flowers, such as pansies, 
 daisies, and gentians, and a host of others. The grass fur- 
 nishes good pasture for many kinds of animals during 
 the summer ; but neither animals nor men can live in the 
 deep snow during the winter. If people are to use 
 the grass, they must be nomads who come up to the 
 plateau with their animals in summer and go down to 
 the lower valleys in winter. 
 
 Up on the plateau it is best to move from place to 
 place every two or three weeks; for otherwise th^- 
 grass in one spot is eaten up, and the animals do 
 not get so fat as they do when they have all the grass 
 they want. So the Kirghiz have adopted the nomadic 
 life. They move regularly from place to place, accord- 
 ing to the season, coming back to a given spot at 
 about the same time each year. Since they move 
 around so much, theii houses must be of a kind that can 
 easily be taken to pieces and carried about ; hence tents 
 are used. Willow wood and woolen cloth, being the 
 easiest materials to get, are used for making these 
 portable dwellings. The tents have large round holes in 
 the top to let out the smoke ; for fires are often made 
 in them. Even the richest men cannot have very large 
 tents, because large tents cannot be moved. So the 
 rich and the poor all live in much the same way, which 
 makes the Kirghiz democratic. 
 
 Migrations Among the Kirghiz. A Kirghiz migration 
 
THE PLATEAUS OF INNER ASIA 159 
 
 is an interesting sight. At evening a village of ten or 
 fifteen round, gray tents stands on a grassy slope at the 
 foot of massive limestone cliffs. At one side hundreds 
 of stupid sheep, with huge fat tails, try to push their 
 way into the middle of a large flock. Women in dresses of 
 white cotton, or of red, green, or yellow silk, catch some 
 of the sheep and milk them, while funny little lambs run 
 about, bleating and trying to find their mothers. On 
 the other side of the tents herds of neighing, kicking 
 horses, fat mares, and frisky colts are mixed up with 
 stolid cows and oxen, or with camels. The camels are 
 great beasts with two humps. They love the dry desert, 
 and are likely to catch cold in the moist mountains 
 where they are taken to grow fat. So the Kirghiz make 
 coats of felt for them, which are worn night and day. 
 
 In the morning the attractive scene of the evening 
 is wholly changed. Pieces of tents are lying on the 
 ground, with household goods scattered all around them. 
 In one place a number of gay leather boxes stand on the 
 green grass ; near by some quilts are spread on the ground. 
 Next to these lies a pile of saddles, and beyond them 
 some red and blue rugs, a dozen leather bags and buckets, 
 and some wooden bowls. There are no chairs or tables 
 or beds. The furniture and dishes are of very simple 
 kinds, which can be carried easily on the backs of ani- 
 mals, and will not break if the loads fall off when the 
 animals run away. 
 
 Very early in the morning the slow-moving, pattering 
 flocks of sheep are sent away to spend the day in walking 
 the twelve miles to the next encampment. Then oxen 
 and camels are led up to be loaded. A camel nine feet 
 high is a very fierce-looking animal, but little Kirghiz 
 girls, seven or eight years old, are not at all afraid of such 
 a beast. A girl will lead a camel up to a pile of tent 
 
r6o 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 cloth and poles, and twitch the rope tied to a peg through 
 the animal's nose. The camel roars horribly and tries 
 
 f"H' 
 
 
 A Kirghiz mother and daughter coming to make a call 
 
 to get awav, but when she twitches the rope again the 
 great animal drops down on its knees, then squats on 
 its hind legs, and lastly pushes forward its knees 
 until the horny pad on its breast rests on the ground, 
 and it is ready to be loaded. When a camel's load has 
 been well fastened on, a mother takes her baby and ties 
 it securely into a little wooden cradle, which she puts 
 on top of the camel. Over the cradle she throws a 
 big rug, and ties it down tightly. Then the camel gets 
 up and walks about, and the mother, in spite of the 
 crying of her baby, goes off to help in loading the other 
 pack animals. 
 
 While the women and girls are doing these things, 
 the men and boys are catching riding horses. For this 
 purpose a boy takes a pole, like a fishing pole with a rope 
 tied to the end of it in place of a fish line. He jumps 
 on a bridled, unsaddled horse that has been kept tied near 
 
THE PLATEAUS OF INNER ASIA i6i 
 
 the tents all night, and gallops away after another 
 horse. Often he has a long chase, but in the end he is 
 pretty sure to be able to throw the rope around a horse's 
 neck and bring the animal in to be saddled. 
 
 At last everything is packed, and the procession is 
 now ready to start. First comes a group of men on good 
 horses, then some women and girls riding their horses 
 astride quite as well as their husbands and brothers. 
 The girls wear silk dresses like those of their mothers or, 
 if it is cold, long gowns of quilted cotton. On their 
 heads they wear big caps with broad fur brims, even in 
 summer. When they are married, they will give up the 
 caps and wear headdresses of white or pink cloth, pret- 
 tily embroidered and many yards long. The cloth is 
 wound around the head again and again, until it forms 
 a cylinder a foot high. Then, too, they will lengthen 
 the braids of their straight black hair by adding black 
 thread or horsehair. At the end they will tie some 
 silver coins and the keys to all the family boxes. They 
 will have no pockets, but they will never lose their keys, 
 which jingle behind them not far above their heels. 
 
 Next in the procession after the girls comes a man 
 on a cow; then a heavily-loaded camel with two small 
 boys swaying around on top of the load, and two funny 
 baby camels running behind. After these, two fat cows, 
 with rings in their noses and loads of poles on their 
 backs, walk quietly along. They are driven by an old 
 man with a black fur cap, who carries on his wrist a 
 hunting eagle with a leather hood over its eyes. His 
 little grandson, three years old, stands on the horse's 
 back behind him, firmly grasping the old man's shoul- 
 ders. No Kirghiz fears a horse. The little boy's brother 
 comes next, riding on a young steer and driving a 
 herd of frisky horses. Toward evening the camping place 
 
1 62 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 has been reached by every one. Once more the tents 
 are all in place and everything looks as it did the night 
 befoi'e, twelve miles away. 
 
 The Travels and Hospitality of the Kirghiz. The 
 
 Kirghiz are compelled to travel so much that they prize 
 horses more than anything else. If a Kirghiz is going 
 to make a journey, he starts out in the morning on 
 his horse. By noon, perhaps, he comes to another camp, 
 where he leaves his own horse and takes another. The 
 next day, as he goes on, he takes a third and a fourth, 
 changing horses as often as he chooses and never paying 
 anything. By and by the horses are taken back to 
 their owners; but nobody cares if his horse is away 
 two or three weeks, because all but the very poor have 
 a great many. Of course there are no hotels or inns in 
 the Tian Shan country. So the Kirghiz, like all nomadic 
 people, are very hospitable. They love to have guests, 
 and often kill a lamb or a sheep for them. Sour milk is 
 the commonest food, although much meat is eaten. 
 Many of the Kirghiz have almost no bread, since they 
 cannot raise any crops among the mountains. In some 
 places bread is so rare that the children almost never 
 taste it. They think it is as good to get a piece of 
 bread as children in America think it is to get candy. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 A SEA OF SAND AND SALT 
 
 Old Stories of the Lop Basin. In the old days before 
 people knew much about geography, they used to tell 
 queer stories about the Lop Basin in Chinese Turkistan, 
 It is so hard to reach the basin that very few people 
 go there, and explorers have only recently found out 
 the truth. According to one old stor}^ the middle of 
 the basin was occupied by a vast sea of sand instead 
 of water. The sea, so it was said, had great waves which 
 rose and fell like those of the ocean. It could not be 
 crossed in boats or in any other way. In it, wonder- 
 ful to say, many delicious fish were supposed to live, 
 without water. Of the rivers which flowed into the 
 sea one was said to be made of precious stones instead 
 of water, and others were thought to flow six da^'s of 
 the week and rest on Sunday. 
 
 The Sea of Sand of the Takhla Makan Desert. Of course 
 these stories are not true, but every one of them has 
 some truth back of it. For example, the sea of sand is a 
 sandy desert as long as from New York to Chicago and as 
 wide as from Cincinnati to Detroit. It consists of sand 
 which has been blown by the winds into long dunes or 
 rows, like waves. On the side from which the strongest 
 winds blow the dunes slope gently, while on the other 
 side the slopes are steep and very hard to climb. Some 
 of the dunes are only a few feet high and fifty or a 
 hundred feet long. Others are like small mountains, 
 four or five hundred feet high and many miles long. 
 Among the big dunes it is impossible to travel, because it 
 is so hard to walk up the steep slopes in the soft sand. 
 
 163 
 
1 64 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Even if one could walk, it would be impossible to travel 
 far, as there is no water. 
 
 Once a bold Swedish traveler named Hedin crossed 
 part of this desert, carrying water for his men, but none 
 for his camels. After four or five daj^s the camels 
 became A-ery hungry and thirsty, for it was not possible 
 to find water so soon as Hedin had expected. By and 
 by a camel died, and then another. The water for the 
 men, which was carried in leather bags, was all used up, 
 and they, too, began to be very thirsty and terribly 
 weary. Finally they could go no farther; the last 
 camel gave out, and there seemed to be no way to get 
 any water. The natives lay down to die. Hedin would 
 not give up, but struggled on through the sand, some- 
 times falling down because he was so weary. He knew 
 he must be near the border of the sandy country and 
 that there he would find a river. By and by he saw 
 some poor, half-dead trees, and then the tracks of 
 animals, which proved that water was near. At last he 
 reached the river and lay down beside it to drink. 
 As soon as he had refreshed himself and gained his 
 strength again, he took off his high boots, filled them 
 with water, and tramped back to revive the men whom 
 he had left perishing in the desert. 
 
 The Rivers of the Lop Basin. In a country so dry as 
 this the only water is that which comes from rivers. 
 The Lop Basin is surrounded on every side by the high 
 plateaus where the K^irghiz, Tibetans, and Mongols 
 live. At the foot of the plateaus, thousands of feet 
 below the grassy uplands, rivers come out from moun- 
 tain valleys and deposit their load of sand and pebbles 
 in the form of a great sloping plain, like that of Trans- 
 easpia. This deposit of piedmont gravel, as it is called 
 because it is found at the foot of the mountains, is very 
 
A SEA OF SAND AND SALT 165 
 
 dry and bare, looking almost like an enormous beach 
 from five to forty miles wide. There is nothing to be 
 seen in crossing it except whirlwinds of dust blown up 
 hundreds of feet and countless pebbles which have been 
 polished and carved by the wind-driven sand into little 
 three-cornered pj^ramids. In this gravel most of the 
 rivers lose themselves. Their waters simply sink into 
 the ground and disappear. During sunny days, when 
 much snow melts upon the mountains, the rivers flow 
 far, even across the gravel. When clouds shield the 
 mountains from the sun and very little snow melts, 
 the rivers disappear as soon as they reach the gravel. 
 This explains how it came to pass that the old stories told 
 of rivers of stone, which flowed some days and not others. 
 At Khotan when the river dries up, crowds of people 
 go out and dig in its bed for jade, a kind of stone which 
 is extremely hard and of which the Chinese are very 
 fond. It is red, white, green, or black, and makes- 
 pretty bowls, pipes, and bracelets. One might almost 
 say that the river of Khotan is a stream of precious 
 stones. 
 
 The Zones of the Lop Basin. The Lop Basin is divided 
 into zones or rings, as it were. On the outside lies the 
 plateau zone, and inside that, the barren zone of gravel. 
 Then comes a zone of vegetation where all the oases are, 
 and inside that, the sandy desert. The ring or zone of 
 vegetation does not get any more rain than the deserts 
 on either side of it; but a great deal of water, which has 
 been lost in the gravel, here lies just below the surface of 
 the ground. Accordingly, many plants can grow, such 
 as reeds, poplars, and feathery tamarisk bushes with tiny 
 grayish-green scales for leaves and sweet-scented purple 
 sprays of flowers. In the zone of vegetation life is very 
 easy. The Chantos, who inhabit it, get water from 
 
i66 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 springs or from the few rivers which cross the gravel. 
 They spread it over the fertile soil and are able to raise 
 many kinds of crops. Occasionally one sees miles and 
 miles of fields, with yellowish-gray walls of dry mud 
 around them. The houses, which are also made of 
 mud, are surrounded by gardens of fine melons, vineyards 
 full of luscious grapes, and orchards of splendid peaches, 
 apricots, plums, and other fruit. At Turfan, a small 
 basin near the Lop Basin, the people of one village do 
 nothing but raise grapes — a small green kind without 
 seeds. These grapes make such good raisins that sup- 
 plies of them are sent a three months' journey by caravan 
 every year to Peking, for use in the Emperor's palace. 
 The Chantos of the Zone of Vegetation. The people of 
 the pleasant oases hate to go out into the dreary desert. 
 So they stay at home, and know very little about other 
 parts of the world. This makes them timid and always 
 
 Chanto men and boy drinking tea in a garden 
 
A SEA OF SAND AND SALT 
 
 167 
 
 anxious to please strangers, whom they fear. They 
 always say the thing which they think will please others. 
 Oncg a traveler hired 
 one hi them as a guide 
 in the desert. The 
 other villagers said 
 that the man knew 
 all about the desert 
 and could take the 
 traveler to a well 
 there. The native, 
 who was chief of 
 the canals and dis- 
 tributed the water of 
 the oasis, did not dare 
 confess that he did 
 not know the place, 
 for fear he would be 
 laughed at or the 
 traveler would be 
 angry. He trusted to luck to find the well. The party 
 wandered around in the sand for four days in hot 
 weather. Their water came to an end, and they had 
 to hurry anxiously back to the river. The camels 
 became so thirsty that their throats rattled horribly. 
 If the Chantos did not lead such easy lives in the 
 sheltered oasis, and had not thus become so weak and 
 cowardly, they would tell the truth and save themselves 
 and others many annoying experiences. 
 
 Sand-buried Ruins, The traveler with the poor guide 
 was looking for ruins. In many places there are the 
 remains of old villages far out in the midst of the sand, 
 where now there is no water. The natives say that long 
 ago the people who lived in the ruins were very wicked. 
 
 A Chanto dinner of sour milk 
 and coarse corn bread 
 
1 68 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 A holy man came and told them to repent When they 
 would not do it, he began to turn a hand mill of the 
 
 
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 j4 roadway in an oasis in Chinese Turkistan 
 
 kind used for grinding flour. When he turned it, sand 
 began to fall from the sky and buried the villages. This is 
 merely a legend, or story, to explain something which the 
 people do not understand. During the last one or two 
 thousand years the climate of Chinese Turkistan, and of 
 other parts of Asia, has grown more and more dry. The 
 rivers have become smaller; and in many places where 
 once there were many people no one can now live. The 
 sand in the desert is moving all the time. When a 
 village has to be given up for lack of water, sand quickly 
 blows in and covers it up. 
 
 Deposits of Loess Made by the Wind. When the wind 
 blows hard, so much sand and dust are borne along in 
 the air that no one can see more than a few hundred feet. 
 The sand blows into people's eyes and almost makes them 
 blind. Travelers cover their heads with cloths and lie 
 down to wait till the wind dies away. If the wind lasts 
 
A SEA OF SAND AND SALT 169 
 
 long the sand sometimes smothers people. When it is 
 over, the air is gray and dim with falling dust for days. 
 In writing a letter the paper must be brushed every 
 ten or fifteen minutes, or else the dust will be so thick 
 that the pen will be clogged. A great deal of dust is blown 
 southward from the desert to the mountains. There it 
 slowly falls, and is kept from being carried away by the 
 grass which grows on the mountain slopes. In this way 
 deep accumulations of a peculiar yellow earth called loess 
 have been brought from the desert and laid down 
 in the moister places, where they form fertile soil. 
 Millions of people dwell on deposits of this kind in China 
 Proper. 
 
 Lop-nor : The Lake of the Lop Basin. There are a few 
 rivers in Chinese Turkistan that are not lost in the gravel, 
 and are not used for irrigation. They flow to the lowest 
 part of the basin, and there form an irregular lake. It 
 is like that of Seistan, except that it is smaller and more 
 shallow. Most of it is merely a great marsh full of tall 
 reeds. The deeper parts of the lake contain fish, which 
 are caught by people called Lopliks, who live in houses 
 made of reeds. The Lopliks eat almost nothing but fish. 
 Long ago, when people first heard about the Lop Basin, 
 they were told that fish came from it. As they did not 
 know of the lake, but only of the sand, they thought that 
 the fish lived in the sand. The part of the lake of Lop 
 farthest from the mouths of the rivers is salty. Long 
 ago, in the days when people lived in the region where 
 sand has now buried the ruins of old towns, the lake was 
 much larger. As the lake grew smaller, great quan- 
 tities of salt were deposited in its old bed. Now, a 
 plain of hard rock salt, two hundred miles or more 
 long, surrounds the lake. There is not the slightest 
 sign of any living thing, either plant or animal. For 
 
170 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 days one stumbles over angular blocks of rock salt, 
 broken into sheets an inch or two thick, which stick up 
 two or three feet like the frozen waves of a choppy sea. 
 When an explorer who was crossing it picked out what 
 seemed like a soft, smooth place in which to pitch a tent, 
 he found that the salt was so hard it bent the iron 
 tent pegs double. He and his men had to take axes and 
 chop away the hummocks of salt in order to get places 
 large enough to lie down on at night to sleep. The sea 
 of salt and the sea of sand in Chinese Turkistan are 
 probably the most barren deserts in the world outside 
 of Arabia. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 MANCHURIA: THE LAND OF BEANS 
 
 Uses of the Bean. Everyone in this country has 
 heard of Boston baked beans, but very few people know 
 anything about 
 Manchurian bean 
 cake. Manchu- 
 rian beans are of 
 many colors — 
 red, white, green, 
 black, 3^ellow, and 
 spotted. They 
 are raised almost 
 everywhere, and 
 are used in all 
 sorts of ways. 
 Some are eaten 
 green, some are 
 pickled, and others are dried and boiled. Part of the 
 crop is also fed to horses and cattle, and part exported 
 to Japan and south China. Often beans are allowed 
 to sprout in water until the plump white roots are 
 about two inches long. Then they are boiled and 
 stewed with a little meat, or with only a gravy, and 
 form the favorite Chinese dish called "chop suey. " 
 Sometimes the beans are boiled a little and then ground 
 into flour. The flour is made into dough, which is 
 pressed through a peculiar colander with holes the size 
 of a very large pin. The dough comes out in long 
 white strings like the. kind of macaroni called vermicelli. 
 This bean macaroni is eaten in most parts of China, 
 
 Copyright by Underwood & Underwood 
 
 Grinding grain in Manchitria 
 
 171 
 
172 ASIA; A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 and is very good. For home use the Manchurians make 
 a sort of bean cheese. Besides all these ways of using 
 beans, great quantities are boiled and then pressed, to 
 get the oil which they contain. Part of the oil is used 
 for food, like olive oil and butter; and part is used for 
 native lamps, like kerosene. When it is to be sent to 
 distant places, it is put in great wicker baskets lined 
 with paper, or else in tight wooden boxes. The dry 
 part left after the oil is squeezed out forms the fa- 
 mous Manchurian bean cake. It is sold for good prices 
 to the Japanese and Chinese for fertilizing the fields. 
 
 The Resemblance between Manchuria and North- 
 eastern United States. Before New England became a 
 manufacturing region, most of the inhabitants were 
 farmers. The climate is just right for raising certain 
 kinds of beans which do not grow so well farther south. 
 Naturally, in New England the people raised a good 
 many. Hence people joke about Boston baked beans. 
 At present most of the food which New Englanders eat 
 comes from the West, and the places where beans are 
 chiefly raised are western New York and southern Michi- 
 gan. The climate there is nearly the same as that of 
 New England, but the plains are larger and the rocks 
 fewer than farther east. The northeastern part of the 
 United States is the bean region of the Western Hemi- 
 sphere, just as Manchuria is the bean region of the Eastern 
 Hemisphere. The reason is that both places have a 
 climate adapted to the growth of especially good varieties 
 of that particular vegetable. 
 
 There are many other much more important ways in 
 which the two regions are alike. The country from the 
 Amur River southward to the Yellow Sea, including 
 Manchuria, Chosen, and the strip of Siberia called Pri- 
 morsk, which lies north of Vladivostok, is in the same 
 
MANCHURIA: THE LAND OF BEANS 173 
 
 latitude as that part of North America which extends 
 from the St. Lawrence River southwestward to Chesa- 
 peake Bay. Both regions are located on the east 
 side of a great continent and on the west side of a great 
 ocean. Therefore, they have much the same type of 
 climate, the same kinds of plants and animals, and the 
 same relation to the countries round about. 
 
 Differences between Manchuria and Northeastern 
 United States: Rainfall. Although the American region, 
 of which New England is the center, and the Asiatic 
 region, of which Manchuria is the center, are alike in 
 many ways, there are several important points in which 
 they differ. For instance, in Asia high mountains rise 
 close to the sea, and their ruggedness prevents the coast 
 from being as thickly settled as it is in America. They 
 also shut out part of the rain which would otherwise fall 
 on the inland districts. Therefore, as one goes west 
 from the Liau-ho and the Sungari he finds the country 
 growing more and more dry. The plains at the foot of 
 the Khingan Escarpment have so little rain that there is 
 almost no agriculture. Those in a corresponding place 
 in America form the rich states of Indiana, Illinois, and 
 Michigan, where there is plenty of rain and where some 
 of the finest farms in the world are located. 
 
 Out-blowing and In-blowing Continental Winds. An- 
 other important difference between the Asiatic and 
 American regions is due to the fact that Eurasia is very 
 much larger than North America. The land in all 
 parts of the world grows cool or grows warm much 
 faster than the sea. In winter Eurasia cools off very 
 fast during the short days, when the sun in all the 
 northern parts never gets high above the horizon. 
 This causes the air over the land to contract so that the 
 air over the ocean stands, so to speak, at a higher level 
 
174 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 than that over the land. Therefore, far above the 
 earth's surface there is a landward flow, and the 
 amount of air over the land increases. It presses 
 down on the land and causes winds which blow out 
 toward the ocean, especially eastward across the north- 
 ern part of Manchuria and the Pacific Slope, which thus 
 becomes very cold. Even in the southern part of 
 Manchuria the thermometer often goes down to about 
 20° below zero, and farther north a temperature of 30° 
 or 40° below zero is common. The winds that blow out 
 from Siberia contain very little moisture. Hence, there 
 is not much snow in winter. 
 
 In the summer just the opposite happens. The great 
 land mass of Eurasia grows very warm during the long 
 sunny days of June and July, especially in the dry 
 regions of Inner Asia. Warm air, as everyone knows, 
 expands. Thus, at high levels air begins to flow out 
 toward the sea, which is now relativel}^ cool. This 
 destroys the balance of pressure, because there is now 
 more air over the ocean than over the land. Therefore, 
 cold air from the ocean comes in from all sides, taking 
 the place of the warm air which it causes to rise. Thus, 
 during the summer, strong winds blow in from the 
 Pacific Ocean across Manchuria and the other parts of 
 the Pacific Slope of Asia. Since it has come from the sea, 
 the air contains much water. When it reaches the land 
 and is obliged to rise, or becomes cool for any other reason, 
 it gives up the water in the form of heavy rain. 
 
 The Heavy Rains of Summer. In Manchuria some- 
 times half of the yearly rainfall of twenty or thirty inches 
 falls in the two months of June and July, or of July and 
 August. Everything is soaked. The rivers all overflow 
 and spread out so that they are very nearl3' like lakes. 
 Umbrellas are of little use if one has to stay out long. 
 
MANCHURIA: THE LAND OF BEANS 17S 
 
 Some of the wilder native tribes make themselves clothes 
 of the skins of large salmon, to shed the rain. Sometimes 
 in wet weather one meets a native dressed only in a 
 loin cloth and a big hat like an umbrella. The rest 
 of his clothes are on top of his head, wrapped in an 
 oilskin, so that he may have something dry to put 
 on when he reaches a village. 
 
 The Difficulties of Transportation. During the rainy 
 season the roads of Manchuria are merely long lanes 
 of mud, sometimes soft and oozy, and at other times 
 somewhat stiff and very sticky. It is almost impossible 
 to travel, except in the mountains where the roads are 
 rocky and hard. In the great central plains, where 
 most of the people live, there is not a sign of a rock or 
 stone for hundreds of miles. Fine soil will never make 
 hard roads when rain is falling. In summer the Man- 
 churians find it so difficult to travel that most of the 
 time they stay at home and look after the crops. 
 
 The few carts that travel over the soft roads in sum- 
 mer cut deep ruts. In the fall the country dries up and 
 then freezes. A traveler, starting out in the winter, 
 takes a two-wheeled native Chinese cart without springs, 
 and goes bumping over the rough frozen roads. Each 
 big wheel has four heavy spokes, and no more, while 
 the axle turns with the wheels. The body of the cart con- 
 sists of a little floor of boards on which is set a small blue 
 top. One horse or mule is put in the shafts. Ahead of 
 him two or three others are harnessed abreast, and 
 ahead of them two or three more. Passenger carts gen- 
 erally have five horses. Freight carts, which are 
 larger and have no tops, usually have seven horses. The 
 horses are all driven with a very long whip like a fishing 
 pole, and without bridle, bit, or reins. The drivers hang 
 their feet over the front edge of the cart, and direct the 
 
176 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 leaders by yelling at them or by hitting them with the 
 whip in just the right place. When a person who is not 
 used to the whip tries to use it, he almost invariably 
 hits several horses at a time. Then they all try to go 
 in different directions, and soon there is a runaway. 
 
 The winter is the season for traveling and sometimes 
 a thousand carts a day are seen on important routes. 
 Some carry beans, bean oil, tobacco, wheat, or millet. 
 Others are loaded with silk, opium, and furs. All the 
 drivers are dressed in furs or in quilted gowns of cotton. 
 
 A Chinese military parade to welcome a Manchurian governor 
 
 Many have diamond-shaped pieces of woolen cloth tied 
 from ear to ear across their faces to keep their noses 
 from freezing. Others wear masks with no opening 
 except for the eyes. Many protect their feet by means 
 of large leather shoes stuffed with soft grass to keep out 
 the cold. If a man has a beard, he must take care 
 that it does not freeze tight to his coat and mask. 
 
 A Manchurian Inn. At night the traveler stops at 
 an inn, a large, fairly clean building with one big room 
 inside and stables outside. Either side of the room is 
 bordered by a raised platform of dry mud, where 
 
MANCHURIA: THE LAND OF BEANS 177 
 
 travelers sit to get warm. Such platforms are very 
 common in China. Under them the people burn wood, 
 or more often weeds, the smoke of which goes all around 
 underneath and then through a little chimney to the 
 outside. The platform becomes pleasantly warm, and 
 makes a fine place on which to sleep during the bitterly 
 cold winter. 
 
 Robbers. One night when a traveler was staying at 
 such an inn, he heard a great shouting and the sound of 
 gun shots and of the hoofs of galloping horses. Two 
 carts came thundering down the road and dashed into 
 the courtyard of the inn, just as the owner slammed the 
 gate shut and bolted it. All the guests came running 
 out crying, "Hun-hu-tze! Hun-hu-tze!" which means 
 "red-beards," and also "robbers," Many shots were 
 fired, and one man in the courtyard was wounded and 
 a horse was killed. Then the robbers heard that there 
 was a European in the inn and ran away. But before 
 they went, they took all the money from the people 
 in three carts that had not succeeded in getting into 
 the courtyard before the gates were shut. 
 
 The next day the traveler saw some Chinese soldiers 
 taking two prisoners to Mukden. They were robbers 
 who had been captured, and were to be killed as a 
 punishment. In Manchuria robbery has for many 
 years been a regular profession, although now it is being 
 stopped by the Japanese and Russians. In the old 
 days the Chinese thought Manchuria a cold, desolate 
 place. So, when anyone had done some wrong thing at 
 home in China, the officials sent him off to this poor 
 country as a punishment. In this way Manchuria came 
 to have many bad men, who, for lack of a better means 
 of earning a living, began to rob the peaceful settlers. 
 Soon the robbers banded themselves together, and 
 
lyS ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 instituted a regular system by which everyone had to 
 pay them so much, or else be robbed. Not long ago they 
 became so powerful that all travelers by cart and all 
 junks going down the rivers in summer paid a regular 
 fee for the sake of being let alone. A robber soldier, with 
 a red flag bearing the word "Vengeance" in Chinese, 
 would stop fifty carts at a time ; and each one would pay 
 him something. 
 
 Wild Animals. At the inn where the robbers ran 
 away from the European, there was a man from the 
 high mountains in the eastern part of Manchuria. 
 When the traveler questioned him, he said, "Oh, I 
 come from the mountains, where for miles and miles 
 there is nothing to be seen except beautiful woods. 
 The whole country is full of animals. I have killed bears 
 and foxes and wolves, and many other kinds of game. 
 There are so many wild animals that it is a religious duty 
 for everyone to kill them. The best animals are the 
 tigers. I shot one last month. Now I am taking its skin 
 down to Mukden to sell to a Chinese official. I have 
 its bones, too, because the Chinese pay good prices for 
 them to grind up and use as medicine." 
 
 Dog Farms. AVhile he was talking, another man from 
 the foot of the mountains came up and said, "I am 
 carrying dogskins to market. You see it is so cold in 
 our part of the country, far to the north, that the dogs 
 have very thick, fine hair. So we raise a great many of 
 them for fur. They forage around and find food for 
 themselves much of the time, but we give them some 
 millet every day, not good millet, but that which is too 
 poor for either horses or men. When a girl is married, 
 her father often gives her five or si.x dogs, and with those 
 a family can almost make a living. When we kill the 
 animals we not only sell the skins, but eat the meat."- 
 
MANCHURIA: THE LAND OF BEANS 
 
 179 
 
 Products of Manchuria. In another man's cart the 
 traveler saw a great deal of frozen meat. Part of it 
 was deer's meat or 
 venison, and part 
 was frozen spar- 
 rows and frogs, 
 which only rich 
 people eat. An- 
 other cart was full 
 of pork. There are 
 a great many pigs 
 in Manchuria, and 
 all of them are 
 black. The driver 
 of the meat cart, 
 like the majority of 
 Manchurians, lived 
 on bread made of 
 millet. Although 
 
 Copyright by KeyBtooe View 
 
 A merchant's son, in Manchuria, 
 delivering a bale of rice 
 
 beans are the greatest export of the country, millet 
 is the chief food. It grows in large heads at the 
 top of long stalks like those of corn. Many of the carts 
 on the road were loaded with millet stalks to be used for 
 fuel. Others had beans in baskets constructed of mat- 
 ting made from millet. Millet is also used to make 
 an intoxicating drink like rum, which is much used by 
 the Manchurians. Without the millet and beans most 
 of the Manchurians would not know how to live. They 
 have many other kinds of farm products, however, 
 and are beginning to grow wheat, which thrives in this 
 region and is rapidly becoming an important crop. 
 Everything that grows in the northeastern part of 
 the United States grows, or could be made to grow, in 
 Manchuria. 
 
ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 A Chinese soldier 
 
 on duty in the 
 
 provinces 
 
 The Population of Manchuria. Manchuria is a large 
 region, almost equal in size to New England, New York, 
 New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West 
 Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, and Michi- 
 gan. It has nearly half as many 
 inhabitants as all these states together. 
 In the east the high mountains contain 
 very few people. The whole region is 
 wooded. Most of the people are either 
 hunters, lumberers, or gold miners. 
 The center of Manchuria consists wholly 
 of rich river plains, and here the popula- 
 tion is very dense. Except in the large 
 towns the inhabitants are almost all 
 farmers. In the west the plains are 
 made of loess, a fine soil brought by 
 the winds, and are so dry that there are not many farms. 
 The people are not numerous ; some of them are nomads 
 like the Mongols farther west. 
 
 The Manchus. Most of the inhabitants of Manchuria 
 are Chinese, who have come into the country during 
 the last fifty years or more. Only a small number 
 belong to the race of the Manchus, the original people 
 of Manchuria. About three hundred years ago the 
 Manchus conquered China, and now the Chinese Em- 
 peror and many of the highest officials are Manchus. 
 Manchu men look much like Chinese men, although they 
 are usually taller and stronger. Manchu women do not 
 dress exactly like Chinese women. They do not bind 
 their feet when they are girls and, therefore, are able to 
 walk around easily. Many of them wear wooden shoes 
 three or four inches high, which make them look much 
 taller than they really are. 
 
 The Political Condition of Manchuria. At the present 
 
MANCHURIA: THE LAND OF BEANS i8i 
 
 time Manchuria is in an uncomfortable political con- 
 dition. The country belongs to China; but Russia and 
 Japan both exert a great deal of influence upon it. 
 Russia wants to control a route through Manchuria to 
 the harbors on the southern coast which, unlike those of 
 Siberia, are open all the year and not frozen up six 
 months. Japan thinks that it would be dangerous for 
 her if Russia controlled Manchuria. Moreover, her own 
 country is too small for all of her people. She cannot raise 
 food enough at home, but must buy food from abroad; 
 and no market is so convenient as the splendid wheat 
 fields of Manchuria. From them she can bring food, or 
 to them her people can go as colonists, .unless some 
 nation like Russia shuts her out. Since the war between 
 Japan and Russia, in 1904 and 1905, Japanese influence 
 has been very strong in the southern part of Manchuria 
 to a point north of Mukden, and Russian influence has 
 been strong farther north. Neither country is supposed 
 to own Manchuria. Each, however, claims part of the 
 railroad, and so keeps soldiers there to protect the line 
 and the stations. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 CHOSEN (KOREA): THE LAND OF THE 
 
 MORNING CALM 
 
 Japanese Influence. Chosen, like Manchuria, is a 
 country which has given rise to quarrels among her 
 neighbors — China, Russia, and Japan. In the old days, 
 centuries ago, Chosen, then called Korea, was ruled by 
 China; and the Koreans obtained from the Chinese the 
 Buddhist religion, as well as various customs and arts- 
 Many of these things they passed on to Japan. Now, 
 just the opposite is happening. Chosen has passed under 
 the protection of Japan, and has finally become a part 
 of the Japanese Empire. The Korean government has 
 been overturned and the country is now ruled by Japa- 
 nese officials. Consequently, the Japanese are teaching 
 the Koreans and Chinese many things about government 
 and science which they, themselves, have learned from 
 Europe and America. It is natural that Chosen should 
 be a sort of halfway kingdom. It is not Japanese and it is 
 not Chinese, but it has many customs which have been 
 learned from each of its neighbors. It is completely 
 separated from the two by the sea and by mountains, 
 and yet it lies very close to both. 
 
 The Korean Mountains. Chosen is a wonderfully 
 beautiful country. In the north the splendid range of the 
 Ever-White Mountains lifts its densely-wooded heights 
 to an elevation of 8,700 feet above the sea. Mile 
 after mile one can travel among primeval forests, which 
 clothe the sides of deep, picturesque valleys and high 
 mountain ridges. Among the trees wild animals still 
 wander, just as in the Manchurian mountains farther 
 
CHOSEN: THE LAND OF THE MORNING CALM 183 
 
 north. A few tigers, still here, are hunted by men who 
 make a business of selling the skins, or the claws for rich 
 
 Copjtigh* bj Underwood k DDderwood 
 
 Soul from the south gate. In the background may be seen 
 the French and American churches 
 
 Korean women to carry in their purses as charms to 
 prevent ill luck. In a large part of northern Chosen the 
 mountains rise so high that the temperature is too cold 
 for extensive agriculture, and the population cannot 
 be large. The height of the mountains and their rela- 
 tively uninhabited character make it difficult to cross 
 from the plains of Manchuria to the more habitable cen- 
 tral and southern parts of Chosen. Hence, the boundary 
 between the two countries has become fixed in this 
 region. Some day the lofty trees will doubtless be cut 
 for lumber; and miners will come into the region, for 
 the high mountains are full of gold and other minerals. 
 
1 84 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 As one advances southward, the Korean mountains 
 decrease in height and become correspondingly more 
 habitable. The main chain runs near the east coast. 
 On that side the slopes are very steep, and only a small 
 amount of land is flat enough to cultivate. On the west 
 minor mountain ranges run irregularly toward the sea, 
 inclosing between them lovely valleys where the soil 
 is fertile and agriculture highly . profitable. Here 
 village after village is inhabited by a contented, happy 
 population of Koreans. The richness of the land, the 
 beauty of the scenery, and the delightful character of 
 the climate furnish almost ideal surroundings. 
 
 Summer and Winter Seasons. In winter the prevail- 
 ing winds blow out from the continent of Asia, as they 
 do in Manchuria. In Chosen, however, they are not 
 biting cold as they are farther west. Having crossed 
 the waters of the Yellow Sea, they have been warmed 
 somewhat. Hence, although the winter climate is crisp 
 and invigorating and there is plenty of frost, the cold 
 is not benumbing as it is on the main continent. In 
 crossing the Yellow Sea the winds do not have time to 
 gather much moisture. Hence, there is relatively little 
 rain or snow in winter, and the almost perpetually clear 
 skies make that season delightful. The summers, too, 
 are very pleasant. The winds then blow from the ocean 
 toward the land, and bring with them a fair amount of 
 moisture. During July and August and part of Septem- 
 ber the weather is warm and muggy and the rainfall is 
 quite heavy. Still, it is rarely so hot or damp that one 
 cannot walk or exercise with comfort. The fact that 
 Chosen gets its rainfall chiefly in summer is of great benefit, 
 for the abundant supply of water in midsummer causes 
 vegetation to grow luxuriantly. The mountain slopes 
 are so damp that a species of wild rice grows without 
 
CHOSEN: THE LAND OF THE MORNING CALM 185 
 
 irrigation. Ordinary rice is grown in large quantities. 
 Occasionally the summer rains are insufficient and the 
 rice crop fails, bringing famine ujjon the land. 
 
 The Korean Coast. Except in the north where the 
 Ever-White Mountains block the end of the peninsula, 
 Chosen is completely surrounded by the sea. Hundreds 
 of thousands, or even one or two million years ago, the 
 region now occupied by the Yellow Sea was dry land 
 which stretched from Shantung across to Chosen and 
 thence to Japan. Then the land, with all its fertile 
 valleys and plains, sank beneath the ocean. Little by 
 little, during thousands of years, the water kept coming 
 in over the land. The plains became broad expanses 
 of blue sea, the surrounding hills became islands, and the 
 valleys at the foot of the mountains, deep bays and gulfs. 
 
 To-day the coasts of Chosen, especially on the west 
 and south, may be called drowned, like those of Asia 
 Minor. On the west coast hundreds of lovely islands 
 rise steep and wooded from the bluest of seas. Some 
 are only small rocks; others are so large that thou- 
 sands of people live upon them, in the valleys and 
 small plains between the great forested mountains. 
 Here and there, deep bays run many miles into the land. 
 As the bays have wide mouths and narrow heads, the tide 
 rises very high — twenty feet in most places and forty 
 feet in some. At low tide great mud flats lie bare, and 
 reefs and rocks are seen on every side. On such a shore 
 boats meet with many dangers. So in the past the 
 Chinese have generally come to Chosen by the hard land 
 route through Manchuria rather than brave the dangers 
 of the sea. Now that steamers are in use and people 
 have learned to build hghthouses and to make good 
 maps of dangerous places, it is much easier to sail the 
 Ivorean seas. ' / 
 
i86 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Oopyriahlhy Underwood*: Underwood 
 
 Fusan: looking northwest across the native section 
 
CHOSEN: THE LAND OF THE MORNING CALM 187 
 
 On the southeast coast the tides are not so high, and 
 the harbors are much better than on the west. Hence, 
 communication with Japan has always been fairly easy 
 and Japanese ships now come in large numbers to the 
 port of Fusan. In this part of Chosen the people 
 naturally have many Japanese habits, while on the other 
 side of the country Chinese customs are more prevalent. 
 
 The Fisher Folk of Chosen. The tides of Chosen have 
 done much to isolate the Koreans by preventing them 
 from being a seafaring people. In Asia Minor the many 
 islands and ba^'s produced by drowning caused the 
 inhabitants to become great sailors. In Chosen this did 
 not happen, because the tides are so strong that it is very 
 difficult to use boats, except in the rivers. 
 
 In the rivers and quieter waters of the west coast the 
 Koreans use small boats a great deal for fishing, but dare 
 not go out to sea with them. Most of the fishing is 
 done on the east coast, where there has not been so 
 much drowning of the land and where the tides are not 
 nearly so high as on the west coast. As one comes 
 near to one of the many fishing villages, people are 
 seen walking about, dressed in white and wearing big 
 straw hats. Seen from a distance the white clothes 
 are pretty, but near at hand they almost always appear 
 dirty and unattractive. The little fishing villages 
 also look pretty from a distance, especially when seen 
 from the sea with the universal Korean background 
 of fine trees. Close at hand they are seen to consist of 
 small, untidy houses facing in all directions and not 
 separated by proper streets. All are low, with only one 
 story. The roofs are thatched with bundles of straw 
 projecting far out over the walls. Sometimes a rich 
 man's house has a pretty roof of red tiles, but that is not 
 common except near the cities. Near each village the 
 
i88 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 white sandy beach is covered for long distances with 
 black fish, which are being dried in the sun. A most 
 
 disagreeable smell 
 comes from them, 
 and one wonders 
 how even the fish er- 
 men can endure it. 
 Korean Food. 
 The dried fish are 
 sent to all parts of 
 the country and 
 every one uses 
 them. Often they 
 are eaten without 
 being cooked. The 
 Koreans think no 
 more of eating raw 
 fish than we think 
 of eating raw cab- 
 bage. Sometimes 
 when a man goes 
 fishing in one of tlie 
 rivers, instead of 
 
 Copyright by DDdenrood & Uniorwood 
 
 Winnowing grain in the streets of 
 Chemulpo 
 
 having a basket in which to put the fish, he has beside 
 him a little dish of pepper and other spices. Wlien he 
 catches a fish he cleans it and then, without any cook- 
 ing at all, dips it into the pepper and eats it. Some of 
 the other Korean ways of preparing food are very dif- 
 ferent from ours. For instance, a chicken is sometimes 
 cooked entire, with the feathers, head, and claws. Most 
 of the people live on rice and beans. In the north 
 where it is a little too cold for rice to grow, they eat a 
 kind of sorghum which is often called millet. 
 
 Korean Hairdressing. When a foreigner first sees a 
 
CHOSEN!: THE LAND OF THE MORNING CALM 189 
 
 g;roup of Koreans in their loose white clothes, he notices 
 that some of them are men with thin beards on their 
 faces and with their black hair done up in little topknots 
 on the crowns of their heads. Others, whom he takes 
 to be women, have their hair hanging down their backs 
 in long black braids. Soon, however, he sees that some 
 of the supposed women are not women at all, but 
 unmarried boys and young men. When Koreans are 
 married they change the way of wearing their hair. 
 The women arrange theirs in curls and loops, while 
 the men cut off most of theirs and have the rest done 
 up in topknots. The hair thus cut off is usually sold. 
 Part of it goes to China for use in lengthening Chinese 
 cues. When a young man or woman is to be married, 
 the best friends are asked to arrange the hair; so that 
 in Chosen the "hairdresser" means what we mean by 
 the "bridesmaid" or the "groomsman." 
 
 All Koreans want to be married. As long as single, 
 both men and women are treated as children. The)^ may 
 be married at only fourteen or fifteen years of age, but 
 thereafter they are treated as if grown up. The boy 
 puts on a man's hat, and the girl goes tolive in the secluded 
 rooms of the women of her husband's family. 
 
 Korean Homes. A journey in Chosen is very pleasant. 
 Recently several railroads have been built, but in most 
 places one travels on horseback. In some districts no 
 horses can be secured, so the traveler uses oxen or else 
 walks and has his baggage carried on the backs of men 
 or women. Everywhere the people are friendly. If a 
 stranger comes to a village, Mr. Kim or Mr. Ni invites 
 him into his little house. It may be a poor place with 
 a mud floor, or with only strong mats of paper or bamboo 
 to sit upon; but the Koreans will make him welcome. 
 The women keep out of the way, for it is considered very 
 
igo 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 improper for a woman to let herself be seen by any men 
 except those of her own family. In the cities the women 
 
 formerly were 
 obliged to stay in 
 the houses all day, 
 but after sunset 
 when it was dark^ 
 so that they could 
 not be seen, they 
 were permitted to 
 go through the 
 streets with their 
 small warning lan- 
 terns. This custom 
 is being changed 
 now. Most of the 
 women, however, 
 still lead a dull life, 
 for women are 
 despised as infe- 
 riors, and are often 
 abused. In the 
 villages they go 
 
 Copyrlgbt b^ Underwood & UdJur^ooi 
 
 A bull driver bringing wood into Soul 
 
 about more freely than in the cities, and do more than 
 their share of the work. The boys and girls play together, 
 and many learn to read and write. One favorite game 
 is played by burying a ring of wood in a pile of sand. 
 When all is ready, every child takes a stick and pokes as 
 rapidly as possible, trying to get the ring on his stick. 
 
 Mourning Customs. One cannot stay long in Chosen 
 without seeing men with huge hats of plaited bamboo 
 straw about four feet in diameter and with heavy veils 
 wholly covering their faces. They are mourners whose 
 fathers or mothers or near relatives have recently died. 
 
CHOSEN: THE LAND OF THE MORNING CALM 191 
 
 For a number of ^days the mourners must go about, 
 wearing the hats and veils and carrying big clubs. At 
 certain times for three years they must make offerings 
 at the graves of the dead, and during all that time 
 they are forbidden to marry. The Koreans practice 
 ancestor worship of the same kind as that which will 
 be described in the chapter on the Chinese. 
 
 The Love of Nature. The beauty of the forested 
 mountains and drowned seacoasts of Chosen has instilled 
 in the people a great love of nature. The Koreans, like 
 the Japanese of whom we shall read in the next chapter, 
 are one of the few Oriental peoples who go to summer 
 resorts to enjoy the beauties of nature. In their summer 
 houses the rich often have what are called "looking 
 rooms," built especially for the purpose of commanding 
 a beautiful view of the sea, or of a waterfall, a fine moun- 
 tain peak, or a gorge. The Koreans believe that spirits 
 of various kinds live in the brooks and trees and hills. 
 The chief of all the spirits is the Mountain God, whom the 
 peasants really worship, although they call themselves 
 worshipers of Buddha. Many of the chief resorts are 
 monasteries which Buddhist priests have built in the most 
 beautiful parts of the mountains. 
 
 Korean Progress. Altogether the Koreans are a very 
 pleasant people, and have a good deal of ability. They 
 are rapidly giving up their old customs and are becom- 
 ing more like the people of America and Europe. 
 The nature of their country is such that they have 
 many metals, fine harbors, a fruitful soil, and an excel- 
 lent climate. All these things make it probable that 
 Chosen will always be a prosperous and civilized country. 
 One of the greatest hindrances to progress is the occa- 
 sional failure of the summer rain. When this happens 
 the rice crop is spoiled and thousands of people starve. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 JAPAN: THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 
 
 A Country of the Far East. In America we think of 
 Japan as far to the west across the Pacific Ocean. The 
 majority of the people of the world, however, think of 
 it as the most eastern of all countries. Therefore, in 
 Europe Japan is spoken of as part of the Far East, and 
 the Japanese, themselves, have for ages called their 
 country the "Land of the Rising Sun." 
 
 The Debt of Japan to Other Countries. The first inhabi- 
 tants of Japan came from the mainland of Asia or from 
 the islands of the Malay Archipelago, thousands of years 
 ago. Until the middle of the last century Japan looked 
 upon China as the only great civilized nation besides her- 
 self, and from China she obtained much of her civiliza- 
 tion. Buddhism, the chief religion of Japan, was 
 founded in India, but it was brought to the Japanese 
 through China and Chosen. In the same way many ideas 
 as to art and literature came through Chosen from China 
 to Japan; and the Japanese long ago adopted the Chinese 
 method of writing and many other peculiar customs. 
 During the last fifty years a great change has come over 
 Japan. Instead of learning only from China and shut- 
 ting herself off from the rest of the world, she has begun 
 to learn from Europe and America. She has to a large 
 extent adopted our system of government, our railroads, 
 steamships, and telegraphs, and our ways of doing 
 business. 
 
 This does not mean that Japan is like America or 
 Europe, nor that she is like China. She lias learned 
 many things from the rest of the world ; but she is 
 
JAPAN: THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 193 
 
 different from all other countries. Much of the difference 
 is due to the nature of the country, as we shall presently 
 see. To-day Japan 
 is the most civilized 
 nation of Asia. 
 Indeed, in many 
 ways Japan is the 
 most civilized na- 
 tion in the world. 
 Europeans and 
 Americans have 
 made greater prog- 
 ress than Japan in 
 inventions, manu- 
 factures, and com- 
 merce, but Japan 
 is ahead of us in 
 equally important 
 matters such as 
 
 The celebrated bronze Daibutsu or image 
 
 of Buddha at Kamakura near 
 
 Yokohama 
 
 patriotism, fihal respect, cleanliness, politeness, art, and 
 the love of nature. 
 
 The Influence of the Ocean. As the traveler from 
 America approaches Yokohama, the chief port of Japan 
 on the Pacific Ocean, he sees at once that the country is 
 very beautiful. Lovely green islands rise from the blue 
 water and are capped by clean, white lighthouses. On 
 the mainland densely-wooded mountains rise directly 
 from the shores or from narrow, highly-cultivated plains. 
 Fair bays and gulfs extend far into the land; and it is 
 evident that the coast of Japan, like that of Chosen, has 
 in some past time sunk and been drowned, eo that now 
 the sea has come into the valleys. Hundreds of white 
 sailboats show that the Japanese are a seafaring people. 
 Most of the boats are used in catching fish. When 
 
194 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 a strong wind comes up and threatens to overturn the 
 boats, the fishermen do not shorten their sails as we do, 
 by lowering the top and tying a reef. Instead of this, 
 they make the surface exposed to the wind narrower than 
 before, by unlacing and taking off one of the vertical 
 strips of cloth of which each sail is composed. When 
 people hear of customs like this, they often say that the 
 Japanese are topsy-turvy. We are just as much topsy- 
 turvy, for the Japanese way is often exactly as good as 
 ours, and sometimes better. 
 
 The Navy of Japan. Since Japan is wholly sur- 
 rounded by water, she cannot be strong among the 
 nations of the world unless she has many ships. 
 Therefore Japan, like England, is constantly developing 
 her navy. The country is not very rich, and has hard 
 work to get enough money to buy warships, which cost 
 several million dollars apiece. Her people are very 
 patriotic, however, and cheerfully pay taxes for the 
 good of the country. The Japanese make fine sailors, 
 and because of this the naval power of the country 
 
 is growing. 
 
 The Volcano of 
 Fuji. When ocean 
 steamers come near 
 to Yokohama, the 
 passengers always 
 come out on deck, 
 not only to see the 
 beautiful scenery 
 near at hand, but 
 in the hope of 
 seeing Fuji-san, or 
 Fuji Mountain, 
 which is frequently 
 
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 Hff- ,^ ^-^J^^' 
 
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 A Japanese junk 
 
JAPAN: THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 195 
 
 called Fuji-yama. There is no place in all Japan 
 where one cannot see mountains if the air is fairly- 
 clear. Most of the mountains are not rough and rugged 
 like the Alps, but soft and round and green, hke the 
 Appalachians of our southern states. Dense woods cover 
 the lower portions, so that scarcely a rock can be seen. 
 In the center of Japan, however, many mountains rise 
 so high as to be bare and rocky, and of these Fuji is easily 
 chief. It is a great volcano, more than 12,000 feet high. 
 It is two thousand feet lower than Pikes Peak, but it 
 rises in sight of the sea instead of from an inland plateau, 
 and so it seems to be higher. During about half of the 
 j^ear its top is covered with snow, which, since the vol- 
 cano is now quiet, does not melt. The Japanese are 
 passionately fond of Fuji-san, and, in spite of the hard 
 climb, make pilgrimages to its top. Everjrwhere on 
 Japanese screens or bowls, or in pictures, the cone of Fuji 
 is drawn, sometimes pure white, and sometimes pink or 
 purple in the glow of the setting sun. 
 
 The Climate of Japan. The mixture of sea and land 
 and the universal presence of mountains are not the 
 only factors which render the beauty of Japan unsur- 
 passed. The other chief factor is the climate. Japan, 
 like the portion of the United States from northern 
 Florida to Maine, lies upon the eastern side of a great 
 continent, in north latitude 30° to 46°, with a large 
 ocean bounding it on the east. Hence its climate is 
 much like that of our Atlantic states. In the south the 
 coast of Japan is washed by the warm Kuro Shiwo. 
 This current, like the Gulf Stream, comes from equa- 
 torial regions and brings a large amount of heat. Winds 
 blowing over this become warm and moist. When 
 they reach the Japanese mountains, they rise, expand, 
 grow cool, and give up abundant rain. This is especially 
 
196 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 the case in summer, when strong winds blow inward 
 toward the center of Asia. Hence, southern Japan is not 
 only warm, but very moist. North of Tokyo, which 
 lies near the middle of Japan, the coast trends north 
 and south instead of northeast and southwest. Here 
 the climate grows rapidly cooler as one goes northward, 
 but still continues to be rainy, Yezo, the northern 
 island, is quite cold, colder than Maine, which lies in the 
 same latitude. The reason for this is that an Arctic 
 current washes the northeast coast of Asia, just as one 
 of tlie same sort borders the corresponding coast of North 
 America. In A.merica the current is partly deflected 
 oceanward by Newfoundland. In Asia, on the con- 
 trary, it comes in full force to Yezo. Thus two opposing 
 currents make Japan not only unexpectedly warm in the 
 southern half, but unexpectedly cool in the north. In 
 
 k 
 
 
 4 
 
 »fr 
 
 • 
 
 
 ^Rh:^^r 
 
 
 .4 
 
 wt^^^SSi^^'''''^ 
 
 
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 m 
 
 kiS^fl^ 
 
 M|Bn '-v^Slite^l^S^ftr -,M dipf^ w 
 
 The valley through which the ascent of the volcano 
 Asama-yama is made 
 
JAPAN: THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 197 
 
 winter the prevailing winds of Japan come from the 
 northwest, from Siberia. They are cold and dry. In 
 
 
 "^ 
 
 -f" •j-sfe*:'*'* 
 
 LaT»a covered with ashes at the top of the volcano Asama-yama 
 
 crossing the Sea of Japan, however, they collect a fair 
 amount of moisture, which is deposited as snow or rain, 
 especially on the western side of the mountains. For- 
 tunately for Japan the crest of the mountains lies nearer 
 to the west coast than to the east, and thus the cold 
 winds are cut off from much of the country. Naturally 
 the side of the island exposed to the cold continental 
 winds from Asia is less warm and productive than the 
 southeast coast in the path of warm currents and oceanic 
 winds. Consequently, the population of Japan is densest 
 in the south along the eastern coast. In all parts of 
 Japan the rainfall is sufficient to support abundant 
 forests. In the most densely-populated parts the 
 growth of trees is highly luxuriant. 
 
 The Effect of Scenery. The mountains of Japan, 
 the fair valleys, and the beautiful coasts, joined with the 
 
igS ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 abundant forests and the splendid flowering trees and 
 shrubs which are fostered by the warm, damp climate, 
 have helped to make the Japanese the most artistic 
 people in the world. Everybody, old and young, will 
 stop to look at a pretty flower, a bright sunset, or a 
 white cascade. In this respect we are barbarians com- 
 pared with them, and they cannot help looking down 
 upon us. Our guide books boast of the size and cost of 
 our great buildings, the length of our railroads, and the 
 vastness of our commerce. Theirs tell the traveler that 
 a certain lake is most beautiful when the lotus lily is in 
 bloom or that the time to visit a valley is when the light 
 of the full moon may be seen upon the snow. Unfor- 
 tunately the Japanese are forgetting some of their love 
 of beauty, and are devoting much energy to the mad rush 
 for wealth and business supremacy. 
 
 The Dress and Appearance of the Japanese. Before 
 we discuss Japan further, let us see how her people 
 appear. The city streets are full of little people dressed 
 in sober, tasteful colors, mostly brown and blue, A 
 few wear European clothes, but the}' do not look half so 
 well as those in the true Japanese dress. Almost every- 
 one is bareheaded, and it is noticeable that all the hair 
 is jet black. That of the men is cut short, while that of 
 the women is tied up in shining rolls covered with oil 
 to keep it in place. The skin of all the people is smooth 
 and of a yellowish-olive tint. Some of the children and 
 country women have red cheeks, while the cheeks and 
 lips of the city women are very much painted. The 
 outer dress of all alike consists of a kimono — a long, 
 loose sack with very large sleeves. The men wear 
 small girdles or sashes, and the women large ones tied 
 in huge bows behind. The children, even the little ones 
 three years old, are dressed exactly like their fathers 
 
JAPAN: THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 
 
 199 
 
 .4 toy-trumpet peddler. Note that he is 
 wearing wooden etogs 
 
 and mothers, in loose and graceful clothing. In the 
 
 country the men, and occasionally the women, who are 
 
 hard at work in the 
 
 rice fields or else- 
 where, often wear 
 
 nothing above the 
 
 waist. The people 
 
 are sensible, and 
 
 dress for their 
 
 work so they do 
 
 not have to think 
 
 about their clothes 
 
 while laboring in 
 
 the fields. 
 
 Shoes Made by 
 
 the Carpenter. The 
 
 streets are very 
 
 clean in dry weather, because no one is allowed to 
 
 throw anything into them and there are no horses. 
 
 As the Japanese walk along the streets, one hears a 
 
 peculiar click, click, click. The sound comes from the 
 wooden clogs, two or three inches high, which almost 
 everyone wears. It is hard to walk in them, because 
 they are so high and are so likely to fall off when not 
 carefully fastened on. For this reason many of the 
 Japanese, especially the women, have an awkward, 
 shuffling gait. Coolies and people who are at work 
 do not wear clogs. They are useful, because in rainy 
 weather the streets get very muddy, and the clogs keep 
 people out of the mud. Perhaps the Japanese would 
 have leather shoes if they had cows and oxen, as we do, 
 to furnish skins from which to make them. They have 
 little leather, for reasons which we shall see later, and 
 so the shoemakers use wood. 
 
2O0 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 The Cause of the Industry of the Japanese. Let us 
 
 turn back now to the mountains, the sea, and the 
 climate of Japan, and see what influence these physical 
 factors have had upon the gracefully-dressed little people 
 in the wooden shoes. In spite of their beauty, the 
 mountains are in some ways a hindrance to the progress 
 of the country. They take up so much room that there 
 is not much space where people can live and work. 
 Plains are few and small and are located chiefly near the 
 coast, with only a few in the interior. In the plains 
 the population is very dense. In the mountainous 
 parts of the country no one can live except in the narrow 
 valleys ; so in all these parts the population is scanty. 
 Not more than one-sixth of the whole country can be 
 used for farms. 
 
 Japan is somewhat larger than the United Kingdom, 
 but the amount of land from which people can get food 
 is only a little more than half as much as in that country. 
 Yet the number of people in Japan is much greater than 
 in Great Britain and Ireland. For many }^ears the United 
 Kingdom has brought from other countries a large part 
 of the food for her people. Japan has not done this until 
 within a few years. Therefore in the past it has been very 
 hard to get enough food for all her inhabitants. Every 
 bit of ground that could bear crops has been used; and 
 it has been necessary for everybody to work very hard. 
 The people have done everything possible to enrich the 
 soil, and to use all the plants and animals that can be 
 made to furnish food. In this way the Japanese have 
 become extremely industrious and economical. They 
 work hard from morning until night, except on festival 
 days. They use many unusual articles of food, such as 
 seaweed, cuttlefish, whales, green bamboo tips, and other 
 things which the nations of Europe and America have 
 
JAPAN: THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 201 
 
 never learned to employ, because they have not felt the 
 need of using every possible kind of food. 
 
 Fishing. It would be a bad thing for the Japanese if 
 they could not eat fish. People need some food like meat 
 which contains what are called proteids, substances full 
 of nitrogen. Fish contains abundant proteids, and takes 
 the place of other kinds of meat in Japan. Except in 
 the remote interior, one can hardly go to a dinner where 
 fish are not served in two or three different ways, both 
 cooked and raw. That seems to us a queer habit, but 
 it is no more queer than the American habit of eating 
 raw oysters. In order that the fish may be fresh, they 
 are kept in water until they are sold. Many miles from 
 the sea, one often meets two men walking along with a 
 great tub of live fish between them, hanging from a pole 
 laid across their shoulders. Since animals for food are so 
 rare, it is fortunate for Japan that the drowning of her 
 coasts has formed so many islands, large and small, and 
 so many bays and gulfs which make fishing easy. There 
 are probably more kinds of fish on the coast of Japan 
 than in any other area of the same size in the world. 
 
 Cormorant Fishing. Sometimes a traveler has the 
 good fortune to see Japanese fishermen using cormorants. 
 The cormorant fishers go out at night in small boats, 
 carrying bright torches. A very skillful fisherman has 
 twelve birds. Cormorants are black, and resemble large 
 sea gulls with long beaks, on the lower side of which are 
 natural sacks in which the birds can stow away several 
 fish. Cormorants are very greedy. Each bird has a 
 cord fastened around its body and a loose metal ring 
 around its throat. Holding the cords in his hand, the 
 fisherman puts the birds into the water one by one, 
 always in exactly the same order, beginning with the 
 youngest. He takes them out from the water in the 
 
202 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 opposite order, the oldest first, so that the young birds 
 do the most work. The birds are so used to this order 
 that they fight fiercely if it is changed, and the old birds 
 punish the young ones for being in the wrong place. 
 When all the birds are in the water, they swim quickly 
 about in every direction, looking for fish. The fisher- 
 man has to be very skillful to keep the cords from 
 becoming twisted. When a bird catches a fish it tries 
 to swallow it, but unless the fish is small this is impossi- 
 ble because of the ring around the neck. If the fish is 
 not swallowed, the bird keeps it in the bag under its 
 beak. When the fisherman sees that the bags are full, 
 he pulls in the birds, opens their beaks, and takes out 
 the fish that have been caught. The fish are put into a 
 tub of water, and the birds are let loose to catch more. 
 Sometimes a single bird has been known to catch one 
 hundred fifty fish in an hour, but this is uncommon, 
 
 A Dinner without a Dining Room. Now that we are 
 discussing food, let us see how the Japanese take their 
 meals and what they eat besides fish. There are no din- 
 ing rooms in Japanese houses ; or perhaps we ought to say 
 that every room is a dining room. People sleep, sit, work, 
 and eat in the same rooms. At a Japanese inn or hotel, if 
 a guest wants his dinner, he claps his hands or calls out, 
 and some one answers "Hai!" Then a good-tempered, 
 smiling girl comes with a little round table and sets it 
 before him. On it she puts tiny cups of tea and thin little 
 cakes slightly sweetened. Fine tea grows in Japan, and 
 everyone drinks it in enormous quantities, but always out 
 of small cups, and very slowly. Occasionally out of the 
 most delicate tea leaves, that have been pounded, rich 
 people actually make a kind of soup. It is bitter and is 
 very bad for the nerves. As soon as a child is old enough 
 to have anything but milk, he begins to drink tea. 
 
JAPAN: THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 203 
 
 Japanese Food. When the dinner comes on, it consists 
 of food which foreigners think very insipid until they 
 
 Japanese women buying supplies front a vegetable carl 
 
 become used to it. Sweetmeats of sugared beans, sweet 
 rice, or perhaps chrysanthemum leaves are brought as the 
 first course. Then come soups, boiled fish, raw fish, 
 boiled vegetables, pickled vegetables, and at last plain 
 boiled rice, which forms the main part of the meal. 
 What we call dessert always comes first, and the 
 main substantial food last. The Japanese eat large 
 quantities of pickles of many kinds, partly because the 
 rice, of which they eat so much, is rather tasteless, and 
 partly because people need sour or acid foods in hot, damp 
 weather. In the country one of the commonest kinds of 
 food is pickled radishes. These radishes are as big as a 
 man's arm and are pure white. When pickled they 
 smell most horribly — as bad as our Limburger cheese. 
 The Japanese have a story of a blind man who had saved 
 some money and hid it in a jar of pickled radish. A 
 thief stole it. The blind man did not know what to do 
 
204 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 until suddenly a thought struck him. He made his friends 
 call all the villagers and set them in a row Then he 
 began to smell of their hands, and so found the thief who 
 had put his hand in the pickles. 
 
 Rice Culture. The Japanese eat rice even more than 
 we eat bread. It is raised in all the lowland regions and 
 upon terraces among the mountains. The rice plant 
 requires a great deal of water. If Japan were not so 
 rain}' in summer, rice could not be raised so universally. 
 It would not be possible to support so many people, for 
 other plants, such as wheat, need more space in order to 
 produce the same amount of food. The rice is planted 
 in May or June in fields of half-liquid mud. After it has 
 grown up two or three inches, it is transplanted into 
 rows. Water is turned on to it from the brooks and 
 rivers, and it lives most of the time in standing water. 
 Women wade among the rows and keep out the weeds 
 most carefully. The water of rice fields is full of short 
 eels, which the Japanese are very fond of eating. 
 
 Other Japanese Crops. Besides rice there are many 
 other important products in Japan. One of the most 
 famous is silk, obtained from the cocoons of caterpillars 
 which are fed on leaves cut from the cultivated mulberry 
 tree. The bamboo is one of the commonest of plants. 
 From it the Japanese are able to make screens, hats, mats, 
 sails for junks, pipes, paper and ever so manv other useful 
 things. The camphor tree, also, is very valuable. The 
 camphor is obtained from it by cutting the roots and stems 
 into small pieces and boiling them. Still another famous 
 plant is the lacquer tree, in which gashes are cut to 
 allow the sap to flow out. From this is made the 
 lacquer which we see so often on Japanese bowls. It is 
 usually black, although it can be painted all manner 
 of beautiful colors. This strange varnish will not grow 
 
JAPAN: THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 
 
 hard in dry places, but has to be put in a damp place 
 in order to harden and become dry. 
 
 The Size of the Japanese. The Japanese are the 
 shortest of all peoples aside from the pigmies of Africa. 
 When one gets on a Japanese train, it seems as if all the 
 railroadofficialswereboys. Very few of the Japanese men 
 have mustaches or beards; and this, joined with their 
 short stature, makes them look very young. On an aver- 
 age the grown men are only as tall as American bo\s of 
 about fourteen, and the women are still shorter. Almost 
 everything in Japan is small in size. 
 
 Jinrikishas: the Japanese "Pull-man Cars." When 
 the traveler leaves the railroad station at such a place 
 as Tokyo, the capital, he finds the streets full of little 
 two-wheeled buggies like big baby carriages. Between 
 the shafts stand short men called coolies, dressed in 
 thin blue clothes which leave the arms and legs bare. 
 
 A Japanese street •:r.ene. Notice the jinrikishas 
 
206 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 In his cloth girdle each man carries a blue towel with 
 which to wipe the perspiration from his forehead. At 
 
 the back of the 
 j inrikisha, or ' 'man- 
 power cart," as the 
 big baby carriage 
 is called, there is 
 a very broad straw 
 hat which the coolie 
 puts on when it 
 rains. The rest of 
 the time he goes 
 bareheaded. In- 
 stead of getting in- 
 to an electric car or 
 into a carriage the 
 traveler takes a jin- 
 rikisha, and away 
 goes the coolie trot- 
 ting through the streets. Sometimes if the road is hilly 
 or long, two coolies are in the shafts and one pushes 
 behind. At first a foreigner feels very queer to be 
 pulled around like a baby, but soon he gets used to it. 
 In the streets scarcely a horse can be seen. Even 
 heavy loads are pulled and pushed by men, four men 
 sometimes being necessary for one cart. The distances 
 that the men can trot are wonderful. It is a common 
 thing for a man to go forty or fifty miles in a single day, 
 trotting steadily all the way with a jinrikisha behind him. 
 Scarcity of Horses and of Food Supply for Men. Until 
 one understands the geography of Japan, it seems very 
 odd that so civilized a nation should let men do the 
 work of horses. There is a good reason for this, how- 
 ever. In the first place, horses and cows and sheep 
 
 A Japanese cart carrying manure to 
 fertilize the fields 
 
JAPAN: THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 207 
 
 and other animals which eat grass do not thrive in 
 Japan. On the mountains, which occupy so large a part 
 of the country, there is very little grass. The abundant 
 summer rains, caused by the monsoons which blow in 
 from the Pacific Ocean, make the country so wet that 
 trees and bamboos and other large, coarse plants grow 
 splendidly. In fact they grow so well that small grasses 
 do not have an opportunity. Down in the plains, where 
 the forests are cleared off, it would be possible to raise 
 grass and grain for animals ; but all the space is needed 
 to raise food for the people. To raise food enough for 
 one horse requires a space large enough to supply food 
 for several men. If the Japanese used horses, some of 
 the people would have to starve. So it is better to 
 feed the people and let them do all the work. 
 
 A few parts of Japan have a good many horses. 
 These are the colder regions on the northwest coast 
 among the mountains, and up in the northern island 
 of Yezo where the climate is much like that of New 
 England. In these places grass grows abundantly. 
 There are not so many people in these regions as in 
 other parts of Japan. In Yezo the horses run half wild 
 much of the time. When they are kept in stables their 
 heads are where the tails of our horses are. A horse is 
 backed into his stall and led out, as is customary with 
 us only in our fire-engine houses. It is much easier to 
 feed horses when they are fastened in this way, and the 
 danger of being kicked is much less than when they are 
 tied in our fashion. 
 
 The Scarcity of Meat. What has just been said about 
 the scarcity of grass and of animals which eat grass 
 explains why the Japanese eat little meat and much fish. 
 They cannot eat meat because they cannot raise the 
 necessary animals. A few years ago it was the fashion 
 
2o8 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 in Japan to imitate European and American customs. 
 Many people tried to eat meat. It was sold by the 
 ounce instead of by the pound, as with us. On the whole 
 the people do not care much for it, and it is used chiefly 
 in the cities. In addition to the scarcity of animals there 
 is another reason wh}^ beef is not eaten. The Japanese 
 are mostly Buddhists, although not very faithful ones, 
 and Buddhism forbids the killing of animals, especially 
 of cows and oxen. In India it forbids the killing of fish 
 and birds also ; but the Japanese do not pay any attention 
 to this, and fish and birds are part of their regular diet. 
 
 A good story is told of some Japanese hunters, who 
 live among the mountains and hunt deer. A traveler 
 noticed that they ate the meat of the deer. "Don't 
 you know that your religion forbids you to eat such 
 meat?" "Oh no, it doesn't," they answered. "Thedeer 
 is not an animal, but a fish." "How can that be?" asked 
 the traveler. "The deer looks like an animal to me." 
 "Oh," was tlie reply, "you don't know much about our 
 language. In Japanese one name of deer is 'mountain 
 whale.' So the whale is a fish, and we are allowed to 
 eat fish." 
 
 Houses Whose Walls Are All Windows. In Japan it is 
 not surprising to find the shops all having the whole front 
 open to the street. That is the case in most parts of Asia. 
 It is very surprising, however, to see many of the houses 
 open. They look as though they consisted of nothing 
 but heavy roofs supported by pillars. Looking inside 
 them, one sees in one house a mother cooking dinner over 
 a little square pot full of charcoal, while two children are 
 playing on the white floor. In another a girl is dressing, 
 and a man is plaiting a mat out of bamboo straw. In 
 still another place a family is eating dinner, resting on 
 their knees on the floor, each one with a little square table 
 
JAPAN: THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 209 
 
 a foot high before him. In a neighboring building a great 
 many people are bathing, men on one side and women 
 on the other. No one seems to care at all that the 
 houses are open. The people in the streets pay no atten- 
 tion to what is happening in the houses, and those in the 
 houses do not seem to know that any one can see them. 
 It is all part of the great politeness of the Japanese. 
 Many people think that the open character of the houses 
 is one reason why the Japanese are so polite. They are 
 obliged to "have on their company manners," as we say, 
 all the time. A boy cannot be very polite to his sister 
 on the street and slap her at home, as he sometimes does 
 in America ; neither can a girl have a sweet smile in com- 
 pany and a sulky face at home. At least, if either of 
 them does these things all the neighbors will know it. 
 
 The Japanese houses have walls of a sort, as one sees 
 plainly at night. 
 
 The walls are 
 merely thin .paper 
 screens for the 
 inner parts of the 
 house and heavy 
 wooden shutters for 
 the outside. The 
 shutters are some- 
 thing like those 
 which we have on 
 the outside of shop 
 windows, except 
 that they move 
 sidewise instead of 
 up and down. 
 When they are up, 
 the houses are dark 
 
 The interior of a Japanese house, 
 slwwing mats , screens, and 
 i open walls 
 
2 10 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 and little air can get in. Therefore they must be taken 
 down every day. In many cases, when the shutters 
 
 Hotels in the beautiful Nikko region. Notice the shutters 
 
 have all been taken down, the smaller houses are quite 
 open and people can look in from the street. Of course 
 there are now in Japan many houses like those in 
 America, but these are not common outside of the large 
 cities. The inside of a Japanese house can be divided 
 into as many rooms as the owner happens to choose on 
 any particular day. The floor is covered with beautiful, 
 thick mats of yellowish rice straw. They are all of 
 just the same size and shape — about six feet long by 
 three feet wide, and three inches thick. Paper screens 
 are made to slide between the mats, dividing the house 
 into oblong or square rooms of any desired size. The 
 Japanese speak of a room as being so many mats in 
 size. Thus an eight-mat room is one having eight mats 
 to cover its floor It can be divided into two four-mat 
 rooms, or can be joined to others to form a larger room. 
 
JAPAN: THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 211 
 
 Monsoon Rains and the Necessity for Open Houses. 
 
 The openness of the houses is almost a necessity. In 
 summer the monsoon rains fall heavily, especially on 
 the Pacific coast from Sendai to Tokyo and westward, 
 where most of the people live. This region, as we have 
 seen, is so far south and is washed by such a strong ocean 
 current from the equator that the summers are very 
 warm. Therefore, from June to September the air is 
 wet and sticky a large part of the time. If shoes or 
 clothes are put awaj'- in boxes, they mold in a few days. 
 It is necessary for the houses to be open in order to 
 keep them sweet and fresh. 
 
 Earthquakes and Houses. Earthquakes as well as 
 the monsoon rains have a good deal to do with the way 
 in which Japanese houses are built. Japan is the land 
 of earthquakes. Scarcely a week passes without a small 
 one in some region, and during some years there have 
 been as many as two thousand. Most are too small to 
 do any damage or even to be felt except by delicate 
 
 One of the temples of Nikfeo 
 
212 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 instruments ; but many are strong enough to shake down 
 houses, especially if they are built stiffly like ours, with 
 solid walls. The light Japanese houses are not easily 
 shaken down because they have no stiff walls. Even if 
 they do fall, the loss is shght, since they are very inex- 
 pensive. Only the roof is heavy enough to hurt people 
 if it falls on them. In Japan it would be foolish to build 
 heavy buildings of stone. This explains why Japan has 
 so few wonderful temples or public buildings like those 
 of Greece, the only European country whose people were 
 ever so artistic as those of Japan. If they wished to use 
 stone, the Japanese could get it, provided they took a 
 good deal of trouble; but they do not need it. The 
 heavv summer rains and the warm summer climate cause 
 trees of all kinds to grow luxuriantly, and the light, strong 
 bamboo is found almost everywhere. Thus it is easy 
 to find splendid material for houses adapted to a land of 
 earthquakes. 
 
 Typhoons and Heavy Roofs. Foreigners often wonder 
 at the great roofs of Japanese houses, which look very 
 top-heavy. Often the wide-spreading roof is first put 
 together on the ground. Then it is taken to pieces; 
 the slender lower part of the house is built, and finally 
 the roof is put together again in its proper place. The 
 roofs need to be heavy, partly to keep out the rain and 
 partly to prevent the houses from being blown away 
 by tj'phoons. The typhoons are tremendous storms of 
 wind and rain which sweep up the Pacific coast from the 
 Philippine Islands. The rain falls in drenching floods and 
 the wind blows furiously. The Japanese houses seem 
 queer to us, and they would be queer in America; but in 
 a country of heavy summer rains, earthquakes, and 
 typhoons they are much more sensible than houses of 
 our stvle would be. 
 
JAPAN: THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 
 
 213 
 
 
 Fires and "Godowns." Japanese houses take fire 
 ver}^ easily. If a match is dropped on one of the thick 
 mats, a fire is hkely 
 to start, and nothing 
 can readily stop it. 
 One house of Hght 
 wood and straw sets 
 another on fire, and 
 not infrequently burn 
 whole villages. In 
 Tokyo there have 
 been several fires in 
 which 10,000 houses 
 were burned. As the 
 houses are inexpen- 
 sive and can be built 
 again quickly, the loss 
 from fire is nothing 
 like as large as it would be in America. Of course when 
 there is a fire.everythingthatisin the houses is destroyed. 
 Accordingly, the Japanese keep most of their valuable 
 property in fireproof, air-tight buildings made of plaster. 
 After a fire these "godowns," as they are called by 
 foreigners, all remain standing uninjured. Sometimes 
 the owners of houses keep all the wood and mats for a 
 new house ready in the godown. A house can be 
 put up so quickly after a fire that the Japanese jokingly 
 say that if a man hurries too much in rebuilding his 
 burned house, the same fire which burned the first one will 
 come back with a different wind and burn the second. 
 
 Japanese Furniture and Shoes. In a Japanese house 
 there is almost no furniture. The people sleep on the 
 mats which form the floor, putting a quilt or two below 
 them and others above them for warmth. They sit on 
 
 ^4 cooin di^.^sLii III Ins sirmu laiii 
 coat and hat 
 
214 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 the floor to read or write or talk, squatting always on 
 their knees with their feet under them. As a rule 
 Japanese houses are beautifully clean. There are, of 
 course, some dirty people, but not many. Upon enter- 
 ing a Japanese house one must take off his shoes. It 
 would never do to walk over the clean mats with dirty 
 feet. It would be like walking on the beds and chairs 
 in our houses. That is one reason why wooden shoes 
 are worn so universally. They keep people's feet up out 
 of the mud, and they can be taken off easily and left 
 at the door when one enters a house. 
 
 The Japanese tell a good story of a man from the 
 country who had never seen a railroad train. When he 
 was to travel on a train for the first time, he took off his 
 shoes before getting in and left them on the platform, 
 just as he would at the door of a friend's house. At the 
 end of his journey he was much surprised not to find them 
 outside the door at the foot of the steps. He thought 
 that the platform and station went along with the train. 
 
 Ornaments in the Houses. The Japanese have many 
 beautiful ornaments, but they do not fill their houses 
 with them as we do. A man who owns several fine 
 pictures brings out one at a time and keeps it in the 
 house for a while and then changes it for another. This 
 custom has grown up because it is not safe to keep 
 valuable articles in the houses, where they are in great 
 danger of being burned. Although the custom had so 
 commonplace an origin, it has had a fine effect upon the 
 Japanese. It has taught them that there is more 
 pleasure in one beautiful thing which is really studied 
 than in a hundred which are merely set out for show. 
 If a beautiful picture or a rare piece of china is brought 
 out, the whole family enjoy it for a few days or weeks, 
 and learn to appreciate its beauty. The Japanese think 
 
JAPAN: THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 215 
 
 that we have very poor taste, because we want to fill our 
 houses with ornaments. Often we do not care whether 
 the ornaments are genuinely beautiful, provided they 
 make a show. When the Japanese bring an ornament 
 into their houses, they do it because they love beauty. 
 A man may have a thousand precious objects of art, 
 but his house is almost as simple as that of his neighbor 
 who has only ten. This way of life saves the Japanese 
 a great amount of fretting and worry and jealousy. 
 
 The Love of Flowers. Since the people of Japan have 
 learned to be simple in their houses, they are simple in 
 other things, but they are always artistic. We often 
 arrange flowers in big, gaudy bouquets with the flowers 
 all pushed together. They think that a single loose 
 spray is much more beautiful than any more crowded 
 arrangement. We value flowers that are out of season, 
 and think that the winter roses or pinks, which cost a 
 small fortune, are the most beautiful. They think that 
 flowers are most beautiful at the time when they natu- 
 rally bloom. It is not in good taste to decorate the 
 house with flowers which are out of season. 
 
 The art of decoration is valued so highly that part 
 of the education of every girl of good family is a course in 
 the arrangement of flowers. So fond are the Japanese 
 of flowers that they have flower holidays. In the spring 
 all the people, from the old man down to the youngest 
 child, go out to look at the cherry blossoms? The fruit of 
 the cherry tree is very sour and poor in Japan, and is 
 hardly worth eating ; but the people love the blossoms so 
 much that cherry trees are cultivated everywhere. We 
 have taught the Japanese how to build railroads, steam- 
 ships, and factories, and a host of other good things; we 
 might profitably learn from them how to enjoy beauty 
 and how to live contentedly amid simple surroundings. 
 
2i6 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Bathing and Cleanliness. The Japanese are the clean- 
 est people in the world. In Tokyo a quarter of the 
 inhabitants go to one or another of the eight hundred or 
 more large public baths every day, and most of the rest 
 bathe daily in their own homes. A traveler once came 
 to a village where the people are in the habit of bathing in 
 the water of some hot springs. An old villager apolo- 
 gized for the dirtiness of himself and his neighbors. 
 "We are very busy now, during the summer, and we 
 have time to bathe only twice a day," he said. "How 
 often do you bathe in winter?" asked the traveler. 
 "fJh, four or five times a day," was the answer. "The 
 children get into the bath whenever they feel cold." 
 
 Usually the baths are so hot that foreigners cannot 
 stand the heat at first. The tubs used in private houses 
 are round and small, only large enough to sit down in, 
 not to lie in. The water is kept hot during the bath by 
 a copper pipe placed at one edge and filled with burning 
 charcoal. Sometimes the pipe is not protected by a 
 board, and the bather has to be careful not to touch it 
 and burn himself. 
 
 If people bathe in water which is merely warm and 
 then go out of doors in winter, they take cold ; but if the 
 water is hot, it does no harm. One odd thing about 
 Japanese baths is that several people bathe in the same 
 water, one after another. This is not so bad as it seems, 
 since no one scrubs himself in the bath but does that 
 when b.e comes out. 
 
 Hot Springs. One reason for the frequent baths is 
 that Japan contains a great number of hot springs. 
 The country is full of volcanoes, as might be expected 
 where earthquakes are so frequent. Near the volcanoes 
 there are usually many springs of hot water. By 
 using these the Japanese first found out the advantage 
 
JAPAN: THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 217 
 
 of hot baths. Bathing is more necessary in Japan than 
 in many countries, for in summer the air is so warm and 
 damp that people's clothes become wringing wet with 
 perspiration whenever they do any active work. Hence, 
 it is necessary to bathe often in order to keep clean and 
 sweet. In such a climate loose clothes like those of the 
 Japanese are far better than ours. People such as 
 coolies who are pulling jinrikishas, or men and women 
 who are working in the fields, become so hot and wet 
 that they are most uncomfortable and dirty if they wear 
 many clothes. So it is wise for them to wear as few 
 as possible. 
 
 The Most Polite People in the World. In all the Japa- 
 nese streets and everywhere else one notices how polite 
 the people are. When two peasant acquaintances meet 
 on the way to market, they stop and bow low several 
 times. If two friends meet in the street, they put 
 their hands on their knees and bow again and again, 
 bending over till their heads are on a level with their 
 hips, while they pull in their breath with a sucking 
 noise, as a mark of respect. If they meet in the house, 
 they get down on their knees and keep touching their 
 heads to the floor. When they talk about themselves, 
 they always say "My unworthy self!" or "My wretched 
 house!" or use some other expression indicating that 
 they are very poor and worthless. The other person is 
 always spoken of as very worthy. For instance, a 
 man invites his friend to dinner in this way: Will 
 your most honorable self deign to honor my miserable 
 table with the light of your gracious presence?" Even 
 the children use these forms, which are so common that 
 no one thinks of them as having any special meaning. 
 They use them just as we write "My dear sir," to a man 
 whom we have never seen. 
 
2l8 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Japanese politeness is not confined to words. A 
 traveler tells this story. One day he and a friend went 
 in swimming on a very rocky part of the seashore. 
 While they were far out in the water swimming, some 
 workmen came along and stopped by their clothes. 
 The traveler thought they would steal something, but 
 his Japanese companion said not to worry. When they 
 swam ashore, they found that the workmen had gone 
 on, leaving two soft mats for them to dress on in place of 
 the rough stones. The laborers would have felt insulted 
 
 if the bathers had 
 offered them any 
 money when they 
 took the mats back 
 after dressing. The 
 Japanese were so po- 
 lite that they really 
 wanted the strangers 
 to be comfortable. 
 
 Children's Games. 
 Japan has been called 
 the "Children's Para- 
 dise." It is certainly 
 a good place for them, 
 and they are always polite. Fathers and mothers go 
 everywhere with their children on festival days. The 
 best day for the girls is the "Feast of Dolls," on the third 
 day of the third month. On that day every girl baby 
 born during the year receives two dolls. The older 
 girls, too, often receive presents. When a girl carries her 
 doll, she puts it on her back inside her kimono, with its 
 head sticking out over her shoulder. That is the way 
 in which babies are caiTied. One of the things which 
 girls enjoy most is the "cooking man," who comes around 
 
 Japanese children in charge of a 
 child nurse 
 
JAPAM: THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN 219 
 
 on feast days with a toy kitchen. The stove has a real 
 fire in it. A girl's father pays a few cents to the man, and 
 the girl can cook griddlecakes and other foods just the 
 right size for dolls. 
 
 The great day for boys is the "Feast of Flags," on the 
 fifth day of the fifth month. If a boy has been born in 
 a house during the year, a great paper fish is floated 
 over the house. The boys receive presents of drums 
 and swords and other warlike toys. In February and 
 March, when it is windy, the boys fly kites. They dip 
 the upper fifteen or twenty feet of kite string in glue 
 and then in powdered glass so that the fragments cling 
 to the string. Then they have kite fights. Two boys 
 fly their kites together. Each one tries to get his to go 
 in such a way that he can cut the other boy's string 
 with the glass on his own string. It is quite exciting 
 when a string is cut and a big kite comes toppling down 
 to the ground. In many of the games the boys who are 
 beaten have their faces marked with ink, while the girls 
 have to put pieces of paper in their hair. 
 
 On festival days one of the most interesting sights is 
 the "bug man," who has tame beetles which pull little 
 carts full of rice. Other men have irregular wads of 
 paper. When these are put into water, they unfold into 
 pretty little flowers and birds or into animals and men. 
 Still others have small wooden ducks and geese. When 
 these are put into water, they swim around as if alive. 
 Camphor has been stuck to them on one side, and when 
 this dissolves it makes the little animals move. 
 
 Japan and Her People. Altogether Japan is a delight- 
 ful country. Nature is everywhere charming, whether 
 one looks at the blue bays studded with islands or the 
 green mountains clothed with luxuriant trees far up 
 toward the snowy top of Fuji and the other volcanoes. 
 
220 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 In some parts of the world the works of man are far from 
 harmonious with nature, but Japan has few of the ugly 
 
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 A typical Japanese garden. Artistic landscape gardening is 
 characteristic of Japan 
 
 factory towns and smoking furnaces which disfigure so 
 many parts of Europe and America. For the most part 
 the Japanese towns and villages, with their heavy -roofed 
 wooden houses, fit into the landscape perfectly. So, too, 
 do the tastefully dressed people, with their gentle ways 
 and determined spirit. Nothing in all Japan is more 
 charming than the universal politeness, even in the midst 
 of crowds and discomfort. The Japanese are such polite 
 people that now, as we say good-by to them, we may 
 well imitate their custom, and bow low three times to 
 the so-called "Yankees of the East." 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 CHINA: THE OLDEST OF NATIONS 
 
 The Civilization of China. Two thousand years ago the 
 people of northern and central Europe were barbarians 
 who spent most of their time in hunting and fighting. 
 Thev dressed in skins and lived largely on the flesh of 
 wild animals. To-day their descendants, the English, 
 French, Germans, and other races of western Europe, are 
 the most civilized nations in the world. When our an- 
 cestors were ignorant savages living in rude huts, the 
 Chinese were already highly civilized. They lived in well- 
 built houses, wore silk clothes, and knew how to read and 
 write. They possessed schools, orphanages, and hospitals, 
 and were governed peacefully and justly. Long before 
 our ancestors thought of such things, the Chinese had 
 devised the art of printing and invented gunpowder and 
 the compass. The}' learned that the best way to settle 
 quarrels was by arbitration rather than by blows. 
 
 After doing all this, the Chinese ceased to make 
 progress, and have stood still for centuries. Europe 
 and America, on the contrary, have progressed rapidly, 
 leaving the Asiatics far behind. To-da}', however, the 
 Chinese are beginning to wake up. In a few hundred 
 years they may once more be far ahead of us, unless 
 we learn to practice greater industry, patience, and 
 economy, the three great virtues of China. 
 
 The Isolation of China. Most boys and girls know 
 how hard it is to study without a teacher, for instance 
 during the summer vacation. If two or three children 
 study together it is much easier than for one alone; yet 
 even so it is difficult to make much progress unless there 
 
222 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 is some one from whom to ask questions. For ages 
 China has been like a pupil working alone and with- 
 out a teacher. 
 
 The nations of modern Europe had Greece and Rome 
 as teachers in some things and the Israelites and other 
 races as teachers in other matters. And besides this they 
 taught one another. When the French mastered some 
 new fact, the English and Germans soon learned it from 
 them. At other times the French were the learners, 
 and so the countries of Europe made progress all together. 
 
 For thousands of years China has been separated 
 from other nations, or else has been so much in advance 
 of those around her that she could learn little from 
 them. Long, long ago her people became so highly civi- 
 lized that all the nations near them were barbarians 
 in comparison. Little by little, China taught Japan, 
 Chosen, Siam, and some of the islands of the sea. These 
 countries adopted the Chinese mode of writing, the 
 Chinese form of ancestor worship, and many other Chinese 
 customs and arts. In some things Japan went far ahead 
 of China; but the Chinese, foolishly, looked down upon 
 their former pupils and would not learn from them. 
 Then the Japanese shut themselves up in their islands 
 for centuries and almost never went to China. 
 
 Former Chinese Ideas of Europe. When Europeans 
 first visited China, the Chinese called them "barbarians" 
 or "foreign devils." Books were printed in which Euro- 
 peans were pictured as being like monkeys or apes, or 
 as strange men having tlieir heads on their breasts, ears 
 a foot long, and only one eye apiece in the middle of 
 the forehead. People in Europe had equally queer ideas. 
 of the Chinese, and there are old books in our libraries 
 which say that they have lioofs like horses. At length, 
 about a hundred years ago, the Chinese and Europeans 
 
CHINA: THE OLDEST OF NATIONS 223 
 
 began to learn that they are much alike — even if the 
 Chinese do have yellow skins while the Europeans, as 
 the Chinese say, have red skins. At first the Chinese did 
 not understand the strength and civilization of the rude 
 barbarians who simplv nodded their heads instead of 
 bowing politely to the ground in Chinese fashion. When 
 ambassadors first came from Europe, the Chinese tried 
 to compel them to act as if the Chinese Emperor were 
 their ruler, and to worship him by falling on their 
 knees and knocking their heads on the floor nine times. 
 High officials believed that England was a single city, 
 and that America and Europe were little provinces 
 which had once paid tribute to China. Now all this is 
 changed. China and the remainder of the world have 
 learned to know one another. The steamboat is the 
 chief agent of the change. 
 
 Causes of the Isolation of China: Desert Barriers on 
 the Northwest. In the old days China was shut off 
 from the rest of the world. On the west and north lay the 
 deserts of Chinese Turkistan and Mongolia and the almost 
 uninhabitable region of eastern Siberia. Europeans 
 almost never crossed the deserts, the only inhabitants 
 of which were Tartar and Mongol nomads. Often the 
 nomads suffered from lack of food for their cattle and 
 themselves. Then they invaded China in hordes, 
 and sometimes they conquered the country and ruled it 
 for centuries. The present Emperor is a Manchu, whose 
 ancestors invaded China in just this way more than two 
 hundred fifty years ago. The Chinese did not learn 
 much from the nomads, for the invaders were uncivilized 
 and began at once to copy the Chinese. 
 
 The Great Wall. Two thousand years ago a Chinese 
 emperor wanted to stop the invasions of barbarians, so 
 he built a great wall, which still stands. The traveler 
 
224 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 who goes to Peking can easily go out by rail to Shan- 
 haikuan, two hundred miles to the northeast, and see it. 
 
 The Great Wall of China 
 
 It consists of two thick walls of gray bricks made of clay. 
 Between the walls stone and earth have been packed 
 until the whole is one solid mass. The entire structure 
 is twenty-five feet wide, or somewhat wider than an 
 ordinary house; and its height is thirty feet, which 
 equals that of a two-story house with an attic. On top 
 of the wall large towers rise thirty or forty feet higher. 
 From the sea, east of Peking, this huge wall extends 
 far away to the west to the great desert of the Tarim 
 Basin. Its length, including the many windings, is 
 about 1,700 miles. In America such a wall would 
 extend almost from Buffalo to Santa Fe. The Romans, 
 when they ruled England, built a similar but far smaller 
 wall as protection against the warlike Picts of Scotland. 
 Mountainous Barriers on the West and South. On 
 the southwest side of China nature itself has made a 
 wall. South of Chinese Turkistan the great Tibetan 
 Plateau can be crossed only with the greatest difficulty. 
 
CHINA: THE OLDEST OF NATIONS 225 
 
 Farther to the south, in Burma and Siam, great moun- 
 tain ranges and fever-laden valleys almost prevent all 
 access ip China from India. Native travelers are des- 
 perately afraid to spend the night in the deep gorges 
 of the Salwin and Mekong rivers. The roads which 
 they must traverse are extremely bad; and when they 
 reach the hot, steamy valley bottoms, those who have 
 come from the cool air of the high mountains on either 
 side often contract fever and die. 
 
 The Sea as a Barrier on the East. On the eastern 
 side China is bordered by the sea. Until the invention 
 of steamships the broad ocean kept foreigners from the 
 Western World away. Thus the Middle Kingdom, as 
 the Chinese proudly call their country, was for thou- 
 sands of years cut off from all the world except a few 
 small nations who were her pupils. Few people went 
 out of China, and few came in. The number of inhabi- 
 tants kept growing, but no new ideas arose. Thus the 
 largest and oldest of civilized nations stood still, keeping 
 its own peculiar customs and becoming in consequence 
 more and more unlike the rest of the world. 
 
 The Physical Form of China. On a physical map of 
 China the Khingan Escarpment is seen to continue 
 south-southwestward from Manchuria, past Peking, 
 to Hwaiking-fu on the Hwang-ho, the great river of 
 northern China. From there the escarpment continues 
 irregularly as the edge of the high mountains of Inner 
 Asia. Proceeding in the same southwesterly direction, 
 it crosses the Yangtse River at the gorge above Ichang. 
 Thence it passes through the remote province of 
 Kweichou to the southwestern corner of the plateau 
 province of Yunnan, in east longitude 106°, not far from 
 the Tropic of Cancer. With the exception of the valley 
 of the Hwang-ho, from the escarpment westward to 
 
226 ASIA; A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Singan-fu, and of the Red Basin of Siichwan on the 
 upper Yangtse, the densely populated portion of China 
 
 
 
 
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 The entrance to village in north China 
 
 lies to the east of the Khingan Escarpment and its 
 nameless continuation. This area occupies about the 
 same position in the continent of Asia that the portion 
 of the United States east of the St. Lawrence, Ohio, and 
 Mississippi rivers occupies in the continent of America. 
 These two corresponding regions are of about the same 
 size, and lie in about the same latitude, so that they 
 enjoy essentially the same temperature. The Chinese 
 region, however, is far more densely populated. The 
 reason for this is found partly in the form of the land 
 and partly in the climate. 
 
 The part of China east of the escarpment is divided 
 naturally into four regions. The two northern are the 
 great alluvial plains of the Hwang-ho and Yangtse- 
 kiang. For hundreds of miles, from beyond Peking in 
 the north to south of Shanghai in the south, the plains 
 are almost unbroken. Everywhere the soil is highly 
 fertile. Hence, it is possible for a great number of people 
 
CHINA: THE OLDEST OF NATIONS 227 
 
 to be supported by farming. The third region com- 
 prises the mountainous country four or five hundred 
 miles wide which lies south of the Yangtse-kiang. 
 Fortunately for the Chinese the mountains are com- 
 paratively old. Accordingly, they have been worn down 
 to a rather low height and are well covered with soil. 
 It is fortunate also that they lie south of latitude 
 30°. If they were located farther north, or if they were 
 higher, the climate would render agriculture relatively 
 difficult, and the population could not be dense. As it 
 is, most parts of the mountains can be cultivated. 
 
 On the steeper slopes terraces are constructed, and 
 it is almost as easy to raise crops among the mountains 
 as on the plains. Accordingly, this region is much more 
 densely peopled than is any other extensive mountain- 
 ous country in the world. The fourth and most southern 
 division of China consists of the basin of the Si-kiang. 
 It is partly mountainous and partly plain, but every- 
 where the region is capable of supporting great numbers 
 of people. 
 
 The Climate of China. The cHmate of China, even 
 more than the isolation of the country and the form of 
 
 A village among the mountains of south China 
 
228 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 the land, has a tremendous effect upon the habits and 
 character of the Chinese. If China, like the correspond- 
 ing latitudes of Southwestern Asia, received its rainfall 
 chiefly in winter, the population might not be more 
 than a tenth as great as at present, and the mode of life 
 of the people would be wholly different from what it 
 now is. The great size of the continent of Asia, as 
 we have seen in other cases, causes the land to fall 
 to a very low temperature during the winter and to 
 become greatly heated in summer. This occasions 
 high barometric pressure in winter and low pressure 
 in summer Accordingly, in the cold season the pre- 
 vailing winds of eastern Asia blow outward, not only 
 in Manchuria, Chosen, and Japan, but also in China 
 Proper The winter winds are cold and dry, because 
 they come from the interior In northern China they 
 sweep down as bitter gales from the northwest. In 
 southern China they are not so cold, but they bring 
 frosts to Hong-kong and make the winters comparatively 
 bracing as far south as the Tropic of Cancer. This is an 
 excellent thing for the Chinese, for it imparts energy to 
 those who live in latitudes where the continuous heat 
 is likely to induce inactivity and laziness. 
 
 In summer the winds blow inward from the south or 
 soutlieast. Since the climatic belts of the earth follow 
 the sun from south to north in the spring, the winds 
 from the ocean reach southern China earlier than 
 northern China. In the south they begin as early as 
 April. As the warm, damp, in-blowing winds rise over 
 the mountains of southern China, they expand and grow 
 cool so rapidly that they give up large amounts of rain. 
 Hence, luxuriant vegetation and dense population 
 prevail not only in the plains of the Si-kiang, but among 
 the mountains of the southern half of China. Farther 
 
CHINA: THE OLDEST OF NATIONS 229 
 
 north the rain comes later, and in northern China it 
 does not arrive until June. As a rule, however, it comes 
 in time to enable rich crops to grow in all the plains, 
 although here the mountains are not so productive. In 
 the regions where the rain is delayed till June forests 
 are scarce. Trees require a long growing season. In the 
 spring neither they nor any other plants can begin to 
 grow until the refreshing rains arrive. After the coming 
 of the rain the season is too short for the trees to make 
 their proper growth. Therefore, forests are confined to^ 
 the moister places, and the mountains as a whole are 
 naked and barren, quite unlike the beautifully-forested 
 and densely-peopled mountains of the south. 
 
 The Density of Population in China. In the preceding 
 paragraphs we have spoken of the great density of the 
 population of China. This is evidently due to the three 
 factors which have just been discussed; namely, the 
 isolation of China, the form of the land, and the climate. 
 The isolation of the country has made it difficult for the 
 inhabitants to migrate to other lands, as the people of 
 Europe have been doing for the past three hundred 
 years, since America and Australia began to be settled. 
 Hence, they have stayed at home and increased in 
 number. Moreover, because of the barriers on all sides 
 China has not suffered so severely from devastating 
 wars as have some other countries whose populations 
 have thereby been diminished at frequent intervals. 
 The effect of the form of the land upon the density 
 of population in China is evident. The plains of the 
 north are so fertile and easily tilled that they naturally 
 support millions of people. The mountains are chiefly 
 in the south where the temperature is such that their 
 elevation does not cause them to be unfruitful If the 
 plains were in the south and the mountains in the north, 
 
230 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 the number of inhabitants could not be so great as now. 
 The plains would be warm, swampy, and unhealthful to a 
 much greater extent than at present, and the mountains 
 would be too cold to produce abundant crops, even 
 though their slopes are gentle and the soil deep. Finally 
 the third and most important factor in promoting 
 density of population in China is the summer rains 
 caused by in-blowing monsoon winds. Sometimes the 
 winds fail and the rains are scanty. Then, as we shall 
 see, great numbers of people die from famine, and the 
 population is reduced. 
 
 The density of the Chinese population has had many 
 different results. For instance, the scarcity of land has 
 led fathers to divide their fields among their sons time 
 and again, in successive generations. Hence, to-day the 
 fields are remarkably small and irregular in shape. 
 Often a farm consists of only four or five acres divided 
 into little patches not much bigger than city house lots 
 and scattered in various places. The necessity for land is 
 so great that the roads, especially in the plains, consist 
 of merely the narrowest paths, just wide enough for a 
 man or a wheelbarrow. Often the paths are extremely 
 crooked, because the owners of fields keep encroaching 
 upon them in the attempt to get a little more land. It 
 is said that when a dishonest man and a careless neigh- 
 bor live side by side, the former often moves the bound- 
 ary stones of his field steadily over into his neighbor's 
 field, a foot this year, a foot next, and so on, until he has 
 stolen fifteen or twenty feet of good land without being 
 noticed. 
 
 Another result of the density of the population of 
 China is the unparalleled industry of the Chinese. No 
 other nation in the world works so hard. Men, women, 
 and children work most of the time. People who have 
 
CHINA: THE OLDEST OF NATIONS 
 
 231 
 
 so little land in proportion to the number of inhabi- 
 tants must of sheer necessity work hard or else starve. 
 Moreover they must 
 be very economical, 
 a trait which the 
 Chinese possess to a 
 high degree. It is 
 often said that a 
 Chinese family could 
 live on what an ordi- 
 nary American family 
 throws away. This 
 is an exaggeration, 
 but, nevertheless, the 
 Chinese have learned 
 to save everything. 
 
 Industrious Chinese coolies carry- 
 ing coal 
 
 Except among those who are comparatively' wealthy, 
 they do not throw old pieces of cloth into the rag bag, as 
 we do. On the contrary they save them, and patch their 
 clothes until it is hard to tell which are the patches and 
 which the clothes. Food is never thrown away in our 
 reckless fashion, and everything that can possibly be eaten 
 is always saved. Many things which we do not consider 
 edible are esteemed by the Chinese. For instance they 
 use fishskin and several kinds of seaweed, and poor people 
 eat the flesh of certain animals such as dogs. All this 
 is due entirely to the fact that the inhabitants are so 
 numerous that every possible source of food must be 
 utilized. 
 
 The Poverty of China. From what has just been 
 said, it is evident that the Chinese are a poor nation. 
 Their poverty is largely the result of the density of 
 population. Little by little during the thousands of 
 years of their existence the Chinese have learned how to 
 
232 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 live in such a way that the largest number of people are 
 suppoited on the smallest possible amount of land. 
 They have come to rely for food upon crops which yield 
 the greatest return per acre. Accordingly, the people 
 do not eat much meat and wheat. Except in the far 
 northwest where the country is relatively dry and not 
 densely inhabited, wheat fields and flocks or herds are 
 as scarce as in Japan, and for the same reasons. In the 
 north and in some parts of the south millet takes the 
 place of wheat, but the commonest food is rice. Meat 
 is replaced, as one would expect, by beans and peas and 
 other pulses. Such a diet is good in times of plenty, 
 but bad when famines come, as they so often do in 
 China. 
 
 In countries where the people eat wheat and meat and 
 feed their animals with grain, there is much less distress 
 from scanty crops than in China. If necessary, the 
 inhabitants of such lands can kill the animals, and not 
 only eat their flesh, but use for food the grain that 
 would haA'e been fed to the live stock. In China when the 
 crops fail, there is absolutely nothing to fall back upon, 
 and the people starve. This fact has had much to do 
 with making the Chinese unprogressive. They have 
 been discouraged time after time by recurring famine 
 or disaster and have not been able to overcome such a 
 handicap. For the same reason the Chinese are likely 
 to be slow in taking a prominent place in the world's 
 affairs. On the whole they are too poor and unpro- 
 gressive to rise into sudden prominence like their 
 neighbors, the Japanese. It must be remembered, 
 however, that the economy and industry of the Chinese 
 are characteristics which may sometime make them one 
 of the most powerful nations of the world. At present 
 these qualities have not yet played an important part 
 
CHINA: THE OLDEST OF NATIONS 233 
 
 because the Chinese are so slow to adopt new methods. 
 Many of the leaders, however, are progressive. 
 
 The Diversity and Unity of China. There is great 
 diversity in China. The dry mountains of the north 
 present a totally different appearance from the bamboo- 
 covered slopes of the far south, and the rich plains and 
 rice fields of the mouth of the Yangtse contrast strongly 
 with the almost impassable and uninhabitable valleys 
 on the borders of the plateau of Yiinnan. The people, 
 too, differ greatly in the various parts. Their customs, 
 language, and dress all differ. In some places, such as the 
 almost inaccessible mountains of the province of Kwei- 
 chou in the southwest, the mountains are inhabited by 
 aboriginal races wholly different from the Chinese. 
 
 Nevertheless, China as a whole possesses remarkable 
 similarity in all parts. It is diverse but by no means 
 so diverse as India, for example. Everywhere except 
 among the aborigines the same form of Buddhism, 
 modified by the teachings of Confucius, prevails. The 
 whole country looks to Peking as its head, and the 
 language of Peking is used everywhere by officials and 
 men of education. In spite of the differences between 
 the various parts, China is not sharply divided into 
 distinct physical provinces. One region shades off into 
 another; there are almost no large uninhabited areas; 
 and there is no part of the country where it is impossible 
 to travel. Because of this it has been possible to send 
 out officials year after year from Peking to all of the out- 
 lying provinces. They have taken with them the ideas 
 of the capital and have spread them through the 
 countrA^. In the same way, merchants have always 
 been in the habit of traveling to all sections. If it had 
 been necessary to cross extensive uninhabited areas 
 or to go to places where there was a sudden change from 
 
234 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 one type of country to another, this would not have been 
 so easy. Everywhere, however, the merchants found 
 people from whom to buy food and to whom to sell 
 goods. They could always find some one who knew the 
 language of Peking, and hence it was comparatively 
 easy to visit even the remote parts of the country. 
 Thus the various portions of China have never become 
 diverse and unrelated, as have those of India. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 PEKING AND THE HWANG-HO 
 
 The Diversity of China. In the last chapter we con- 
 sidered the general facts in regard to China as a whole, 
 its isolation, the form of the land, and the climate. We 
 saw that China has stagnated because she has been 
 cut off from the rest of the world. She has grown poor 
 because favorable physical conditions have made the 
 population very dense, while other conditions have pre- 
 vented people from moving away. We saw, too, that 
 physical conditions have permitted the country to have 
 a large amount of diversity and yet to remain one land 
 inhabited by a single nation. In this chapter and others 
 we shall take up the various parts of China. We shall 
 see how they differ, and shall study some of the many 
 customs which depend more or less closely on the 
 general facts already stated. 
 
 The Mouth of the Yellow River. An excellent way 
 to get a good idea of China as a whole is to begin in the 
 far northeast near Peking and travel southward along 
 the coast, turning aside to follow each of the three 
 great rivers far into the interior. In approaching the 
 coast of north China through the Gulf of Pechili, one 
 notices that the water changes from blue to muddy yel- 
 low. No land is in sight, but the captain of the steamer 
 says that the ship is passing the mouth of the Hwang-ho, 
 or Yellow River, which brings down enormous quantities 
 of mud from the plateaus far to the west. Part of the 
 mud is deposited on the land, and part is spread over 
 the bottom of the sea. In this way the sea becomes 
 more and more shallow and its borders are gradually 
 
 23s 
 
236 ASIA; A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 converted into land. After a ship has sailed many- 
 miles through the Yellow Sea, land at length appears, 
 a flat, uninteresting country, so low that it cannot be 
 seen till close at hand. 
 
 Peking. A short railroad ride across the smooth plain 
 takes one to Peking, the famous capital. The city 
 consists of two large oblongs inclosed by walls, which 
 are higher and thicker than the Great Wall. Every 
 Chinese city has walls, and so do many of the villages. 
 The walls are of little use as a protection against modem 
 cannon, but in the old days they furnished excellent 
 protection ; and even now they are useful in keeping 
 out the bands of robbers who often infest the country 
 in times of famine. The southern oblong of Peking is 
 called the Chinese city. The northern is the Tartar or 
 Manchu city, where all the government offices are located. 
 In the center of the city, within another inclosure, 
 the Emperor lives with his family and a great number 
 of attendants. The Chinese worship the Emperor. 
 When he passes through the streets, at rare intervals, 
 great preparations are made. Everyone must leave 
 the route by which he is to pass, and all shops must be 
 closed. If anyone comes to the street by accident when 
 the Emperor is passing, he must fall on his knees and 
 hide his face on the ground until the ruler's gay pro- 
 cession has passed. 
 
 Street Scenes and Clothing in Peking. Peking is a 
 dirty city. The narrow streets are full of holes; for 
 there are almost no pavements, and in the wet weather 
 of summer they are fearfully muddv. The houses are 
 almost all low, with tiled roofs. The stores and shops 
 are small, but many of them appear elegant from a 
 distance. This is because the fronts are made of carved 
 wood and ornamented with gaudy signs bearing Chinese 
 
PEKING AND THE HWANG-HO 
 
 237 
 
 letters painted on a background of red, black, gold, or 
 silver. Thousands of people pass to and fro, talking in 
 
 Chinese military officers with fans and smoked glasses 
 
 a tone which to us sounds very singsong. The people 
 from the country are dressed mostly in blue. Those 
 from the city wear brighter clothes ; some of the women 
 have dresses of purple and green, of blue and pink, and 
 of other gay colors. The most interesting clothes are the 
 silk robes of officials. Some wear light blue gowns, and 
 others dark blue or purple. On their breasts the mili- 
 tary officers wear large square pieces of silk upon which 
 are embroidered tigers, while the civil officials wear 
 peaceful birds done in the most beautiful colors. It 
 seems strange to us to see men dressed in skirts and 
 carrying fans, but to the Chinese this is the proper 
 thing. Many of the officials and merchants wear large 
 glasses, an inch and a half in diameter, and nearly a 
 quarter of an inch thick. Sometimes these are smoked 
 to protect the eyes from the glare of the sun, and the 
 
238 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 appearance is so odd that the foreigner can hardly 
 refrain from laughing. 
 
 Officials and other people of importance do not go 
 about much on foot. Army officers ride on horses, 
 but to most Chinese this seems too warlike. Because 
 of the large amount of food which they require, horses 
 are very scarce in the densely-populated parts of China. 
 Hence the Chinese are afraid of them and think that it 
 requires a brave man to ride one. Most Chinese who are 
 not so poor as to travel on foot employ uncomfortable 
 little carts with two wheels and no springs, such as we 
 saw in Manchuria. Those who can afford to do so ride 
 in sedan chairs, which may be described as bird houses 
 large enough for a man. The sedans are mounted on 
 long poles. Two, four, or eight men put the poles on 
 their shoulders and trot away with the sedan. Only 
 persons of high rank are allowed to have eight sed3,n 
 bearers. In China it is possible to tell the rank of many 
 people by their hats, or rather by the round buttons 
 worn on the tops of their hats. The highest officials 
 or mandarins wear red buttons, the next wear blue, 
 the next white, and the lowest gold or gilt. Scholars 
 also wear a special button on their hats. 
 
 The Languages of China : Methods of Writing. Some- 
 times in the busy streets of Peking one notices two men 
 in a shop who seem to be doing business but do not 
 talk to each other. They write down what they have to 
 say on a piece of paper which they pass back and forth. 
 At first it seems that they must be deaf or dumb, but 
 soon both turn aside and begin to talk freely to their 
 companions. They write, simply because one is from a 
 distant province where the spoken language is quite dif- 
 ferent from that of Peking. The Chinese language fur- 
 nishes an admirable illustration of both the diversity 
 
PEKING AND THE HWANG-HO 239 
 
 and the unity of the country. China is so large and its 
 people are so separated from one another that there 
 are many branches of the Chinese language which differ 
 as much as do French and Italian. For instance, in 
 Peking the word for "man" is jin; in Shantung it is yin; 
 in Shanghai, nieng; at Ningpo, ning; at Foochow, long; 
 and at Canton, yan. Yet the country possesses such a 
 degree of unity that, strange as it may seem to us, all 
 these words are written in exactly the same way. 
 
 The Chinese do not have any letters representing 
 sounds as we do. Instead, they have what are called 
 ideographs. These originated as pictures which have 
 now been reduced to a very few lines. Thus, for "man" 
 the Chinese write /., which represents the body and 
 two legs of a man. Any man who can read understands 
 that /_ means "man;" but if he is from Peking he pro- 
 nounces it jin, while if he is from Foochow he calls it 
 long. It is just like our numerals. If we see the figure 
 "2" we call it two; but a Frenchman calls it deux, and a 
 German zwei. When the sign for "man" is put into four 
 lines representing walls, thus 0, it means "prisoner." 
 A dash in the middle of an oblong means "sun;" and a 
 pig under a roof 3< rneans "home." Chinese is written 
 in columns, not in lines. The first page is at what we 
 call the back of a book and footnotes are put at the top. 
 
 The Chinese language is very hard to learn. In the 
 standard Chinese dictionary there are 44,449 characters, 
 all different. It is not necessary to learn all these, 
 but about 2,500 are necessary. Many of them are very 
 complicated, much worse than the one given above for 
 "home." It would not be possible to learn them if the 
 simpler signs — such as those for "man" and "sun" — 
 were not repeated again and again in new combinations. 
 Even so, it takes most of a boy's school days to learn to 
 
240 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 write. The letters are not made with a pen but with a 
 soft brush. One day a Chinese watched a traveler 
 write with a fountain pen. He thought that the for- 
 eigner must be a magician because he never dipped the 
 pen into ink. "Can the pen make ink of itself?" he 
 asked. When the working of the pen .was explained to 
 him, he understood it at- once, for the Chinese are clever 
 people. After watching the traveler write a few minutes 
 more, he remarked to another onlooker, "What a 
 learned man the stranger must be to write such small 
 letters." The Chinese language is so difficult to write 
 that only those who have written a great deal can make 
 small, neat letters with^he common brush. The 
 Chinese believe that if a man writes much he must be 
 learned, and they have a great admiration for learning. 
 They have taught their system of writing to the Japanese 
 and Koreans. Educated men in all three countries 
 read the same books and can write letters to one another, 
 even in cases where they cannot understand a word of 
 any spoken language but their own. 
 
 Europeans and Americans find it almost impossible 
 to use the Chinese language. Accordingly, in foreign 
 business a language is used which has English words 
 altered in such a way as to be easy for the Chinese to 
 pronounce. It is called "pidgin," or "business" 
 English. Here is a sample. An American in one of 
 the "treaty ports," or Chinese cities where forei.gners 
 are allowed to live and own land, went to call on two 
 young ladies. The Chinese servant, who opened the 
 door, gravely remarked: "That two piecey girl no can 
 see. Number one piecey top side, makee washee, washee. 
 Number two piecey go outside, makee walkee, walkee." 
 He meant that the elder sister was up stairs taking a 
 bath, and the younger had gone out to walk. 
 
PEKING AND 'THE HWANG-HO 
 
 241 
 
 Rapid transit in China. Seeing the 
 country on a wheelbarrow 
 
 Traveling by Wheelbarrow. From Peking one can 
 travel southward by rail or can go back to the sea ; but 
 if one wants to 
 see as much as 
 possible of the 
 people, it is a 
 very good plan 
 to go by wheel- 
 barrow. Of 
 course it is not 
 very comfort- 
 able, and unless 
 one carries food 
 with him he 
 may be able to 
 get nothing but 
 rice and tea, or 
 poor cakes made of millet. A Chinese wheelbarrow has 
 a much larger wheel than ours, and the load is put 
 on either side of it. One man holds up the handles, on 
 which there is very little weight, and often another, 
 pulls in front. Sometimes a donkey is fastened on ahead. 
 If there is a good wind from behind, a sail is put up, and 
 away trundles the wheelbarrow so fast that the barrow 
 man almost has to trot. This odd one-wheeled vehicle 
 is used partly because of the scarcity of horses, and 
 partly because its single wheel renders it fit for the 
 narrow roads of China. Both reasons for its use result 
 from the density of the population. 
 
 The Plains of Pechili. In the vast, smooth plain 
 south of Peking there are no real roads, only the crooked 
 paths already described, dusty in winter and very 
 muddy in summer. There are no fences, nor any pas- 
 ture lands. Every foot of ground right up to the 
 
\ 
 
 242 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 winding paths is cultivated. Village succeeds village . 
 so quickly that it seems as if one were in the suburbs of 
 a city most of the time. Often the traveler meets 
 other wheelbarrows or men carrying loads on their 
 backs, and occasionally a sedan chair is met. Of 
 course, animals such as cows, horses, and sheep are very 
 rare, because there is no room for them. Pigs and 
 chickens, however, are abundant; for these animals 
 require but little room and can be fed on food that man 
 cannot use. 
 
 The Cue. All the men on the road wear their hair 
 in cues, or "pigtails." Some have it loosely braided, 
 which shows that the}' have the same disagreeable traits 
 of character as those men in America who always wear 
 their hats on one side of their heads. Others, who are at 
 work, have the cue coiled around the neck; but when 
 they meet an acquaintance they at once take it down. 
 To have one's cue around the neck or in a knot when 
 greeting a friend, is like a man having his hat on in the 
 house in America. When the Manchus came to China, 
 nearly three hundred years ago, they wore cues; but 
 the Chinese did not. The new Emperor ordered the 
 men to wear cues as a sign that they were conquered. 
 They would not do it, but kept their hair cut short. 
 Then he ordered that all criminals should have their 
 hair cut short. At once everyone began to let his hair 
 grow as a sign that he was not a criminal. Now all 
 Chinese are very proud of the cue. 
 
 Foot-binding. With the exception of the very poor 
 most of the women whom the traveler meets have a 
 strange, tottering way of walking. They have to sit 
 down and rest very often. It is because they have 
 small feet. When they are babies their feet are tied 
 up very tightly, and are kept so until the babies become 
 
PEKING AND THE HWANG-HO 243 
 
 women. The feet have no chance to grow, and are 
 often only two and a half or three inches long. The 
 Chinese think that small feet are very beautiful, but the 
 custom is a ver}' silly one. It causes much suffering to 
 the girls, who never can run and play and have any 
 fun. Almost every nation has some foolish customs of 
 this kind, which have grown up no one knows how. 
 Fortunately the Chinese have begun to see the folly of 
 foot-binding, and it is being given up. 
 
 Scenes outside a Village. When the barrow man meets 
 a friend, he does not merely say, "How do you do?" 
 and pass on. Instead he stops to make many low bows, 
 and says politely, "Has your honorable and worthy self 
 eaten rice?" Each of the friends pretends to bow 
 lower or more often than the other, and each seems to 
 prevent the other from bowing. But it is half sham, for 
 they both know that the one whose station is considered 
 lowest will make the most and ■ the humblest bows. 
 The process takes a long time and, as it is near nightfall, 
 the traveler is glad to go on to the next town, which is 
 merely a big village with a wall. Outside the wall not a 
 house can be seen, although other villages, walled and 
 unwalled, appear in all directions across the plain. 
 Between them the land is a great garden with patches of 
 melons, turnips, and huge cabbages, fields of millet, wheat, 
 and other crops. Here and there is seen a vinej^ard or a 
 few trees. In almost ever}' field there is a little sleeping 
 shed or a platform raised above the ground. In the 
 harvest season some one must watch the fields all the 
 time to see that nothing is stolen. Hence scores of 
 people are seen coming out of the village with pieces 
 of cloth and the crudest kind of cots on which to sleep. 
 China is so thickly populated that in every village there 
 are poor people who steal in order to live. Some of 
 
244 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 the people belong to the village; more of them have 
 come from some place where there has been a famine. 
 
 A lyptcal Chinese village 
 
 Scenes inside a Village. Inside the wall of the village 
 the houses are huddled together as closely as in the city. 
 Most of them are made of dry mud; for, as we have seen, 
 wood is scarce in northern China, because the monsoon 
 rains do not come till the very end of spring or the 
 beginning of summer. The roofs of some houses are 
 flat and are made of mud, while those of others slope 
 and are covered with a thatch of straw. Only the 
 best have roofs of good red tiles. During the heavy 
 rains of summer a mud house often becomes so wet 
 that it crumbles to pieces and falls down, occasionally 
 killing some of the occupants. 
 
 Chinese Superstitions. In the villages the streets are 
 never straight for any great distance. "Why is this?" 
 a traveler asked. "Oh," said his barrow man, "you 
 know there are many demons living around here. Some- 
 times they come into the village and do lots of harm. 
 They make people grow sick, or lose their money. We 
 try to keep them out as much as possible, and our priests 
 
PEKING AND THE HWANG-HO 245 
 
 say many prayers against them at the temples. Still 
 they often get in. You know they are very stupid. 
 When they get started they keep on straight ahead and 
 can't turn a comer. We always make the streets in our 
 villages crooked just to fool them. They don't know 
 when they come to a corner, and so they run into the 
 walls and get hurt. 
 
 "Last summer," the barrow man went on, smoothing 
 his pigtail, "the demons were very bad. We planted our 
 seeds in the fields as usual in the spring. A few showers 
 fell and some of the crops came up. Then the demons 
 stopped the summer rains from falling. They made 
 the northwest wind blow. It dried up the earth. The 
 plants which had begun to grow all shrivelled ■ up. 
 The plain was bare and brown in June, and one would 
 have thought it was midwinter, if the air had not been 
 so hot. We made a procession and prayed for rain. 
 Every man carried a green willow branch, for the willows 
 had not dried up. Then we got an image of the Dragon 
 King, who causes drought. One man went ahead with a 
 bucket of water into which he dipped his branch, and 
 sprinkled the dripping water on the ground, crying out, 
 'The rain comes, the rain comes.' Other men carried 
 gongs and drums, and still others, flags. Yellow and 
 white flags stood for wind and water; green and black 
 ones represented clouds. On them were inscriptions 
 such as, 'Prayer is offered for rain,' or 'For the salva- 
 tion and relief of the people.' As we walked along 
 everyone cried out, 'The rain is coming,' or 'Let it 
 rain.' 
 
 "The priests led us to the river. There we caught 
 the Dragon King. He took the form of a little green 
 lizard, in order that we might not know him. But we 
 put him in a sedan chair and carried him to the house of 
 
246 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 the Mandarin. The great man came out and worshiped 
 the Dragon King, and then we let the lizard go. We 
 
 ii|M 
 
 j^Mifcss^. 
 
 U 
 
 l™Jj»5gf^^^l?^ 
 
 ..-'*..■_■ .-v"»»*j^963 
 
 A Chinese temple 
 
 thought the rain would come then, but it did not. The 
 Mandarin went to all the temples to pray. Then he 
 ordered the north gate to be shut. The dry winds come 
 from the north, you know, and sometimes, if the north 
 gates are shut, it keeps the demon of drought away. 
 E ven that was of no use , and at last we went to the temple 
 of the Goddess of Mercy. We took her image and set 
 it out in the sun until the paint peeled off, in order that 
 she might see how we were suffering from the drought. 
 In July the rain came, but it was so late that we only 
 got a very small crop of millet and vegetables. Half the 
 people in the village did not have enough to eat, and 
 thirty people died of hunger." 
 
 Drought and Famine. Every village has stories like 
 this to tell. Almost all parts of China suffer from 
 drought, especially the northern parts. The monsoon 
 winds bringing rain from the ocean in summer are a 
 great blessing; but when they come late or when 
 they bring less rain than the crops need, the people 
 
PEKING AND THE HWANG-HO 
 
 247 
 
 suffer terribly. As the Chinese have not studied the 
 laws of nature, they do not understand why the rains 
 fail. They think that all misfortunes are due to evil 
 spirits or demons. A large part of their time and 
 energy is spent in trying to prevent the demons from 
 doing harm. At last the leaders of China are beginning 
 to see that by studying the causes of misfortune they 
 may be able to find remedies. 
 
 A River above a City. After the traveler had heard 
 about the drought and the famines, he went on for 
 many days southward across the same smooth plain, 
 and at last came near the city of Kaifung. In the 
 distance a high wall appeared, stretching for miles in 
 either direction. It was too long to be merely the wall 
 of a city. "What can it be?" he asked himself. Steps 
 led up the side of it, and up these he climbed, followed 
 by the barrow man. At the top he found himself on the 
 banks of a broad, muddy stream, the great Hwang-ho. 
 He was ferried 
 across in a boat, 
 and on the other 
 bank saw below 
 him on the plain 
 the great city of 
 Kaifung. There it 
 lay, its gray walls 
 surrounding a 
 blue-gray sea of 
 common houses, 
 from which arose 
 here and there the 
 red blocks of large 
 government build- 
 ings, the green-tiled 
 
 The twin pagodas southwest of Peking, 
 near Taiyuen-fu in Shansi 
 
248 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 roofs of tawdry temples, and the slender shafts of tall 
 pagodas. There were, also, massive walls of stone-faced 
 pawnshops and of storehouses six or seven stories high. 
 If the river, now at its height, should rise a little 
 farther and overflow the banks or make a break in 
 them, much of the city would be flooded. 
 
 The Floods of the Hwang-ho. Every year the turbid 
 river deposits mud in its bed at low water. The next 
 year at high water the stream rises a little higher than 
 before, and the great embankments which wall it in 
 have to be built up a little more. In this way the bed 
 of the river and its banks rise gradually above the 
 plain. Sometimes the river breaks through its banks 
 and floods the country for dozens of miles on either side. 
 Formerly the Hwang-ho did not turn to the northeast 
 near Kaifung-fu, but went on straight east and then a 
 little south, and entered the ocean not far north of the 
 mouth of the Yangtse-kiang. 
 
 In 1852, however, the river broke through its banks 
 and streamed away northward along its present course 
 to its mouth in the Gulf of Pechili, more than three 
 hundred miles from the old mouth. Thousands of 
 square miles of the plain were flooded. A raging torrent 
 of yellow water swept away hundreds of villages and 
 millions of people had to flee. Many could not escape 
 and were drowned. The others saved their lives but 
 lost everything else — houses, furniture, crops, friends. 
 Families were separated; children wandered about for 
 weeks trying in vain to find their parents. It was 
 months before the homeless sufferers found rest. Many 
 died of starvation; more were killed by the pestilence 
 that followed. The remainder settled in new places or 
 became beggars or, after the floods had subsided, wan- 
 dered back to the place which had once been home. 
 
PEKING AND THE HWANG-HO 249 
 
 In 1887 the Hwang-ho again changed its course. This 
 time it broke away to the south at Kaifung-fu and 
 flowed to the Yangtse-kiang. Again hundreds of thou- 
 sands of people perished of starvation or were drowned. 
 It cost the Chinese government twelve or thirteen million 
 dollars to get the river back to its old bed. No wonder 
 the Hwang-ho is called "China's Sorrow." The changes 
 in its course were as great as would be those of the 
 Mississippi if it should suddenly leave its present channel 
 at the mouth of the Arkansas River, and should flow to 
 the Gulf of Mexico by way of Montgomery and Talla- 
 hassee, through the states of Mississippi, Alabama, and 
 Florida. 
 
 For hundreds of thousands of years before men existed 
 in China, the Hwang-ho and the other rivers flowed to the 
 seas as they chose, sometimes in one channel and some- 
 times in another. Thus they deposited the mud which 
 they carried and built up the great plains where a large 
 part of the multitudes of Chinese now live. To-day the 
 plains are the most productive part of the country. 
 They have a population more dense than that of any 
 other' part of the world except, perhaps, the plains of the 
 Ganges and the Nile. In no other place do floods have 
 such an opportunity to cause disaster and famine. The 
 reason for the floods is, in part, the great amount of rain 
 which the monsoons cause to fall in midsummer and, in 
 part, the lack of forests on the mountains to hold back 
 the water. 
 
 The Northwestern Plateau Provinces: Coal. Above 
 Kaifung-fu, the plain of the Hwang-ho soon comes to an 
 end. The river here flows across the escarpment which 
 in China, as in Manchuria, divides the low plains from 
 the plateaus. On the plateau lie the provinces of Shansi, 
 Shensi, and Kansu. They are rich in coal and iron, but 
 
250 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 are too dry and hilly to be very thickly inhabited. 
 Because of the minerals many foreigners want to build 
 railroads and open mines; but the Chinese are slow about 
 giving permission, because they prefer to do these things 
 themselves. Some day the plateau provinces will play 
 the same part in China that Pennsylvania does in the 
 United States, or that Lancashire does in England. 
 
 Loess. In Shensi and Shansi many of the roads are 
 trenches from ten to fifty feet deep. In this region 
 horses and other animals, such as sheep, are more numer- 
 ous than in the great plains, because here part of the 
 land cannot possibly be cultivated, and so is used for 
 pasture. As the traveler rides along in the bottom of 
 a dusty ditch on horseback or in a Chinese cart, he 
 notices doors cut in the walls of the road and people 
 going in and out. The doors give access to small 
 square caves or houses dug in the soft soil in which 
 
 A memorial temple in Shansi 
 
PEKING AND THE HWANG-HO 251 
 
 the roads are sunk. These dwellings have no windows 
 and no means of ventilation. In many cases there is no 
 way for smoke to get out except through the door. The 
 houses are warm and dry, but are not very pleasant ac- 
 cording to our ideas. Above the houses, on the top of 
 the plain, are roads and smooth fields where crops are 
 growing, watered sometimes by streams and canals, 
 which have to be carefully kept away from the deep roads. 
 
 All this region is composed of the peculiar kind of soil 
 called loess. When the strong northwest winds blow 
 from Mongolia and the desert region of Gobi, they whirl 
 up the loose sand and dust of those dry regions and carry 
 it forward with them. The larger particles are soon 
 dropped, but the smaller are carried for hundreds of 
 miles. The air is sometimes so full of dust that it is 
 impossible to see more than half a mile. Little by little 
 the dust falls, but fast enough to be noticeable in a few 
 minutes on white cloth. Sometimes it comes down so 
 fast that in writing a letter one must brush his paper 
 every ten or fifteen minutes to keep the pen from be- 
 coming clogged. Where the dust falls in grassy places, it 
 remains. In the course of thousands of years so much 
 dust has fallen that now there is a deposit fifty to one 
 hundred feet thick of fine, yellow earth, or loess. It is 
 very tenacious, so that when it is cut with a spade 
 the marks of the spade may remain visible ten or twenty 
 years. Along the roads the feet of the animals and the 
 wheels of carts break up the loess into dust. The wind 
 picks up the dust and carries it away. Thus the roads 
 keep losing material and sink into the ground. 
 
 Winter Customs of Heating Houses and of Dress. The 
 plateau provinces are very cold in winter. The houses 
 are heated by "kangs," or mud platforms of the sort 
 that are found in Manchuria. As coal is not much used, 
 
252 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 weeds are the chief fuel, but they blaze up quickly 
 and are soon consumed. A "kang" may be very warm 
 when one goes to bed on it, but after a few hours it 
 becomes very cold. It is so hard to keep warm that the 
 people here, as in all parts of northern China, wear a 
 great many clothes. Often they put on one dress after 
 another, until in cold weather they may have on five 
 or six and look enormously fat. Sometimes a child has 
 on so many clothes that when it falls down it cannot 
 get up again; and there it lies kicking until its mother 
 notices it. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 SHANTUNG AND THE PROVINCEvS OF 
 THE YANGTSE-KLANG 
 
 Shantung. Between the old and new mouths of the 
 Hwang-ho lies the promontory of Shantung. Long ago, 
 when the great plains of China were under the sea, it 
 was an island. Now it is only partly surrounded b}^ the 
 ocean, and the western side is bordered by plains 
 smoother than our prairies. Shantung is a mountainous, 
 rocky region. Its hills are bare and not very fruitful; 
 but its people are among the strongest and most capable 
 in all China. Because they are poor, many of them go 
 elsewhere to find new homes. Most of the millions who 
 have recently settled in Manchuria are from Shantung. 
 For thousands of years the rocky peninsula has been one 
 of the most important parts of the Middle Kingdom. 
 More than two thousand years ago it was the home of 
 Confucius and Mencius, the two greatest men of China. 
 The descendants of Confucius — the Dukes of Kung — 
 still live here, where their ancestors have lived for 
 seventy-six generations. No other family in the world 
 can trace its ancestors back so far. 
 
 Foreign Nations and Chinese Law. In modem times 
 Shantung has been a region much desired by the nations 
 of Europe. Germany compelled China to lease to her 
 the city and harbor of Kiao-chou on the south coast a 
 few years ago, and England demanded and obtained 
 a lease of the fine harbor of Weihaiwei on the north 
 coast. Now the Germans are building railroads and 
 opening mines. Little by little they are taking the 
 control of Shantung out of the hands of the Chinese. 
 
 253 
 
254 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 The Chinese form of government is so different from 
 that of Europe and America that foreigners are not 
 willing to live under Chinese laws. In Italy an American 
 is subject to the laws of that country, and if he commits 
 a crime or has a lawsuit, he must come before an Italian 
 court. In China it is different. All foreigners are tried 
 according to their own laws, by consuls and other offi- 
 cials of their own government. This vexes the Chinese; 
 but foreign governments will not consent to any other 
 arrangement until the Chinese change their laws and 
 their courts. 
 
 Chinese Punishments. In Shantung, and in every 
 other province, prisoners are often whipped until they 
 die. Those who are suspected of crime are tortured 
 until they confess. Sometimes one sees by the wayside 
 two or three criminals with pieces of wood, like the tops 
 of kitchen tables, around their necks. The boards are 
 kept on night and day until the punishment is ended. 
 The men must go without food unless friends feed them, 
 for their hands cannot reach their mouths through the 
 boards. Neither can the men lie down by night or by 
 day, nor sit with their backs against anything, nor 
 protect themselves against passers-by, who spit upon 
 them and insult them. On the boards are pasted papers 
 saying, "This man is a thief," "This man let his father 
 go hungry when he himself had plenty," or "This man 
 led a mob to pull down his neighbor's house." 
 
 One of the worst things about Chinese punishments is 
 that they are not alwaj's inflicted on the right person. 
 A rich Chinese was convicted of cheating his customers 
 and of illtreating his mother. He sent this message to 
 the judge: "I know a poor man who wants to get 
 money to bury his father. He will come and take my 
 whipping if I pay him enough. If you will let him take 
 
SHANTUNG AND PROVINCES OF THE YANGTSE 255 
 
 A prisoner wcarint^ the heavy wooden 
 
 frame. Note the placards telling 
 
 the story of his offense 
 
 my place, I will pay you a hundred ounces of silver." 
 The judge sent back word: "Send the money secretly. 
 Go to your home. 
 I will have a new 
 trial in which it will 
 seem as if the poor 
 man was the crimi- 
 nal, not you." Of 
 course no civilized 
 government can 
 allow its subjects 
 to be treated in 
 this way. 
 
 "Treaty Ports." 
 The majority of the 
 Chinese do not like 
 to have foreigners 
 in their country, especially when the foreigners grow 
 rich by doing business which the Chinese think they 
 themselves might do. On the other hand, foreigners 
 do not like to live in China except under the protection 
 of their own governments. Accordingly, it has been 
 agreed that foreigners shall not do business or settle 
 permanently in all parts of the country, but only in 
 about thirty cities which have been especially agreed 
 upon. In many of the "treaty ports," as the cities are 
 called, a certain quarter is set apart for foreigners and 
 is put under foreign rule. There any one may buy land 
 and do business just as in America or Europe. Outside 
 of the treaty ports missionaries are almost the only for- 
 eigners who reside permanently in Chinese cities. 
 
 Besides the treaty ports there are five cities in China 
 which belong outright to foreign nations, or have been 
 leased by them for long terms. Two of these, as we have 
 
2s6 
 
 ASIA; A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 seen, are in Shantung, namely, Weihaiwei, belonging to 
 England, and Kiao-chou, belonging to Germany. North 
 
 of Shantung, 
 Japan has tak- 
 en possession 
 of Port Arthur 
 and the coun-' 
 try around it. 
 In the south, 
 at the mouth 
 of the Si-kiang, 
 England long 
 ago compelled 
 China to give 
 her the famous 
 port of Hong- 
 kong, now one 
 of the greatest 
 
 A coolie with his wheelbarrow loaded with 
 rice in front of a shop at Shanghai 
 
 commercial 
 centers in the 
 world. Not far away lies Macao, which Portugal took 
 against the will of China. It was once important, but 
 now its trade has gone to Hong-kong, and Macao is 
 merely a great gambling resort. The history of the 
 foreign cities and treaty ports illustrates the way in 
 which European nations have compelled China to trade 
 with them. The Chinese wanted to be let alone, but the 
 other nations thought that they could grow rich by trad- 
 ing with China. As they had guns and ships, they were 
 able to compel the Chinese to do as they wished. The 
 people of China resent this, and no one can blame them. 
 Shanghai. The most important of all the treaty 
 ports is Shanghai. It lies near the mouth of the Yangtse- 
 kiang and bears the same relation to China that New 
 
SHANTUNG AND PROVINCES OF THE YANGTSE 257 
 
 York does to the United States. Its harbor is not so 
 good as that of New York, because the river is constantly 
 bringing down mud and filhng it up. Shanghai, Hke 
 most Chinese ports, does not He directly on the sea, but 
 fifty-four miles inland on a branch of the Yangtse-kiang. 
 Its situation closelv resembles that of New Orleans. 
 IMost great rivers form deltas at their mouths. At the 
 seaward margin of such deltas, sand bars and shoals 
 usually abound, and the land is so low that it is better to 
 put the cities inland a little. Even if a town is founded 
 directly upon the coast, so much sediment is likely to be 
 deposited in the sea that in a few hundreds of years the 
 town is separated from the water by a tract of flat 
 new land. Therefore Shanghai, New Orleans, Calcutta, 
 Hamburg, and many other important cities are not lo- 
 cated directly at the mouths of their rivers, but a short 
 distance upstream on the delta, beside one of the main 
 branches, or distributaries, of the stream. 
 
 Chinese Guilds. Shanghai is a good deal warmer than 
 Peking and north China, but the habits of its people are 
 very similar to those of other parts of the country. Its 
 narrow, ill-smelling 
 streets are full of 
 shops. In one street 
 all of the shoema- 
 kers are gathered 
 together, and one 
 can watch them 
 making shoes out 
 of cord They use 
 this material be- 
 cause leather is too 
 expensive by rea- 
 son of the scarcity 
 
 Chinese carpenters at work 
 
258 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 of animals. In another place the coppersmiths fill the 
 air with the din of hammering. Silk merchants occupy 
 another section, and dealers in spices another. Each 
 trade has its guild or union, and is responsible for the 
 care of the streets and the orderliness of its own section. 
 
 Beggars. One day an American was walking on the city 
 wall at evening, when he came upon a company of well- 
 dressed men drinking tea. They invited him to drink with 
 them, although he was a stranger. They did not expect 
 him to do it, but Chinese politeness obliges people 
 to give many invitations which they do not expect to 
 have accepted. The American accepted, however, and 
 sat down. As he sipped his tea with a sucking noise to 
 show that he enioyed it, he asked, "What is your 
 honorable profession?" "We are beggars," was the 
 answer. They had taken off their rags and the bloody 
 bandages which they wear and were enjoying money 
 which they had begged. 
 
 In so poor a country as China beggars are naturally 
 very numerous, especially after a drought or a flood. 
 Begging is a recognized profession, and each large 
 town has a beggars' guild or union. The head beggar 
 makes an agreement with the other beggars that they 
 are each to go to such and such places. They must 
 not go to any merchant oftener than once in so manv 
 days. They must not go to houses. If a shopkeeper 
 will not give a "cash" — a Chinese coin like a big cent 
 with a square hole in the middle and worth a tenth of a 
 cent, or even much less — the beggar waits a while, and 
 then gets some friends; they go to the merchant's shop 
 and make such a howling that no one will come to buy. 
 At last the merchant has to give to all the beggars in- 
 stead of onlv to one. If the headman of the beggars 
 learns that some one is going to give a feast to celebrate 
 
SHANTUNG AND PROVINCES OF THE YANGTSE 259 
 
 a wedding or a funeral, he sends around to get a share 
 of the good things. If the share is not given, the 
 beggars make such a commotion that the wedding or 
 the funeral cannot go on. 
 
 Chinese Funerals. It seems strange to talk of a feast 
 at a funeral, but that is what one finds in China. Feasts 
 are almost the only good times that the Chinese enjoy. 
 When a person is sick, no one thinks of leaving him alone. 
 His friends gather in the room and talk and laugh and 
 make a noise which would be almost enough to kill one 
 of us. If the sick man already has a coffin, he feels 
 happy, for he knows that he will have a good funeral. 
 When the funeral finally takes place, there is a great pro- 
 cession with as many people as possible. All are dressed 
 in white or wear white bands, instead of black, as with us. 
 As the coffin is carried through the streets there is much 
 tooting of horns and beating of drums. Members of the 
 procession keep throwing paper money into the air in 
 handfuls. This is for the demons, so that they may be 
 willing to keep away and not trouble the spirit of the 
 dead man. Large quantities of the paper are also 
 burned. It is supposed that the dead man will need 
 money and that he can use the burned paper. A funeral 
 is extremely expensive. Often a family spends every bit 
 of its money in order to have many lanterns, much paper 
 money, and a fine feast at a funeral. 
 
 Chinese Weddings : Ancestor Worship. Sometimes a 
 gay procession is seen in which are several sedan chairs 
 loaded with fancy cakes, clothes, and many fine things. 
 Behind these comes a bright-red sedan. A bride is in 
 the red sedan, and she is on her way to her husband's 
 house. Usually she is not happy. At home girls do not 
 as a rule have a very good time. Confucius taught 
 that a child should obey his parents in all things while 
 
26o 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 the parents are alive and should worship them when 
 they die. In all parts of China every house has its shrine 
 
 A CInncse bride in a gay sedan chair, on the way to 
 her husband's home 
 
 containing tablets or images of the ancestors of a family. 
 These are worshiped every few days with candles, 
 incense, and offerings of food. It is considered a great 
 misfortune if a family has no children to worship the 
 ancestors. Now, when a girl is married she goes to 
 the house of her husband's parents. She then becomes 
 a part of their family and obeys them and worships the 
 ancestors of her father-in-law. She is, as the Chinese 
 say, dead to her own family. A boy, on the other hand, 
 stays in his father's house, even after he is married. 
 So all fathers and mothers are very anxious to have 
 sons, who will stay in the house and worship their ances- 
 tors. When a girl is born her parents are usually sad. 
 A father who had four daughters was much disappointed 
 when a fifth girl was born. He did not like her and 
 named her "Enough Hawks," because he thought girls 
 
SHANTUNG AND PROVINCES OF THE YANGTSE 261 
 
 were like t?kwks, which eat much but are of no use. 
 Another father named his daughter "Ought-to-have- 
 been-a-boy." 
 
 Since the poor girls are so unwelcome, they are often 
 badly treated. They are generally obliged to stay in the 
 house and work until their poor, tightly-bound little feet 
 ache miserably. They rarely have any fun like the Japa- 
 nese girls. When there is a feast, they have to wait until 
 every one else has eaten. Sometimes they are taken to a 
 fair. Then they have a fine time, especially if there is 
 a theater. A Chinese theater is not at all like ours. It 
 is out of doors. The poor people commonly stand dur- 
 ing the performance or else sit on the ground. A few 
 who are rich have seats proidded for them. The per- 
 formance of a single piece lasts all day or perhaps two or 
 three days, and it is fearfully dull for foreigners. There 
 is no scenery. »If an actor wants the people to know 
 that he is in a palace, he merely says, "Now we are in a 
 palace in Peking," and the spectators are left to imagine 
 the rest. Still the Chinese enjoy it immensely, and the 
 girls never have a better time than at a theater. 
 
 When a girl is to be married, she does not know any- 
 thing about it beforehand. Sometimes she is engaged 
 when she is only a baby. Usually she is married by the 
 time she is fifteen years old. In many cases she is not 
 allowed to see the boy whom she is to marry, for that 
 would be considered immodest. He, too, knows nothing 
 about her, and is scarcely older than she. The parents 
 arrange everything, and the children do as they are told. 
 When the wedding day comes the poor girl has to say 
 good-by to all her friends and is taken among strangers 
 whom she has never seen. Her face is covered as she 
 rides in her red sedan, and when she reaches her hus- 
 band's house she is carried through the door pickaback 
 
262 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 by an old woman. Once inside the house, the cloth is 
 taken from her face, and her new relatives for the first 
 time take a good look at her. If they do not like her 
 appearance, they say mean things such as, "How ugly 
 she is!" "What big feet she has!" or "See how straight 
 her eyes are, just like those of a foreign devil!" In her 
 new home she must do exactly as her mother-in-law 
 says. The oldest person in the house rules all the rest, 
 and even a son is not allowed to do anything without 
 his father's permission, although the son may be a man 
 fifty years old. 
 
 Chinese Schools. Chinese boys are very much petted 
 at home. Those who are poor have to work from morn- 
 ing till night, gathering fuel, helping on the farm, or 
 tending the shop; but the parents are always proud of 
 
 A group of Chinese schoolboys 
 
SHANTUNG AND PROVINCES OF THE YANGTSE 263 
 
 them. When a boy goes to school he ceases to be 
 petted. Teachers are expected to be very severe and to 
 whip the boys a great deal. One day a foreigner was 
 riding horseback along a narrow Chinese street. As he 
 came opposite a door he heard a murmuring sound of 
 voices, and stopped to see what was going on within. 
 As he halted at the door, he saw thirty or forty Cliinese 
 boys sitting on benches. All were reading aloud. One boy 
 was in front on his knees with his back to the teacher, 
 who held a book and a rod. He was reciting his lesson 
 but squatted with his back to the teacher that he might 
 not by any possibility see the book. As the foreigner 
 came to the door, all the scholars stopped reading, and 
 the room became still. That made the teacher angry, 
 and he brought down his rod with a whack on the desk 
 and swore at the boys. At once every one of them began 
 to read away at the top of his voice. The stranger 
 stepped forward a little, and again there was dead silence. 
 The teacher became furious. He struck the nearest boys 
 with the rod, stamped on the floor, and swore horribly, 
 while the boys all shouted at the tops of their voices. 
 The teacher apologized to the American for having such 
 very ill-mannered scholars. It was their business to 
 learn page after page of the Chinese classics by heart. 
 They read the passages over and over again to learn them, 
 doing it out loud in order that the teacher might be sure 
 that they were at work. When they stopped reading, it 
 was as bad as if in an American school every boy and girl 
 should suddenly begin to whisper when a stranger 
 stepped in. 
 
 According to the old system of education, after the 
 boys had learned many books by heart and were able to 
 write the Chinese characters, they were taught to write 
 compositions an:l poetry. Those who were bright went 
 
264 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 at length to the city of their district to be examined. If 
 they passed the examination, they studied more and 
 tried a harder examination which lasted about three 
 days. If they passed this, they were allowed to wear a 
 special black button on their hats, and they had the 
 title of learned man or scholar. They also had a chance 
 to become officials. Before they could reach the higher 
 offices, however, they must pass one or two more 
 very difficult examinations. The higher examinations 
 took place in the provincial capitals and in Peking. 
 The candidates for examination all went to a great 
 building full of thousands of little bare cells furnished 
 with nothing but a seat, a brush for writing, some ink, 
 and some paper. Each candidate was searched to see 
 that he had no written papers or books with him. Then 
 he was given a subject on which to write. He must stay 
 until he had finished his task. If he wrote carelessly, 
 or erased even a single word, his examination was almost 
 sure to be a failure. 
 
 Only about one in ten of those who tried the examina- 
 tions passed, and often the number was much less. In 
 many cases the same man tried again and again for ten 
 or twenty years or even all his life. Sometimes a grand- 
 father, a father, and a son all took the same examina- 
 tions. Those who passed the highest examinations were 
 very much honored and received high positions in the 
 government. It was worth while to work hard to pass 
 them, and the Chinese have more industry and patience 
 in such work than have any other nation. 
 
 Formerly the subjects of examination were merely 
 ancient Chinese books, written hundreds or thousands of 
 years ago. The student with the best memory had the 
 best chance of passing. During recent years tlie system 
 of examinations has been a good deal changed. Boys 
 
SHANTUNG AND PROVINCES OF THE YANGTSE 265 
 
 and young men are now educated in subjects like those 
 studied in American colleges. The Chinese reverence 
 for education still persists, however. The people have 
 so much respect for it that they think it wicked to use 
 printed paper for any ordinary purpose. In Shanghai 
 and many other cities it is considered an act of merit to 
 pick up bits of written or printed paper and put them 
 in special baskets prepared for them. When the baskets 
 are full, the papers are carefully burned and the ashes 
 are scattered in the river. 
 
 Chinese Food. The Chinese have so many interesting 
 habits and customs that we have not the space to talk 
 about half of them. In the delta of the Yangtse-kiang 
 and all the way up the river for a thousand miles, the 
 people raise great quantities of rice, which grows much 
 better here than in the north. Most of the people in this 
 region and farther south live on rice, which they eat with 
 chopsticks. Many people think that the Chinese pick 
 up their rice with the chopsticks, but often that is not 
 the case. Usually they merely hold the bowl of rice up 
 to their mouths and shove the food in without lifting it. 
 
 Everyone has heard that the Chinese eat such animals 
 as cats, dogs, rats, and mice. This is partly true. 
 The poor people, eat them because they cannot get 
 any other kind of meat, but they are not the com- 
 mon food of the Chinese any more than woodchucks 
 and possums are the common food of Americans. Still, 
 the Chinese do eat things that seem to us very queer. 
 In the cities one often meets a man with a long pole over 
 his shoulder, from either end of which hang dozens of 
 fiat brown objects shaped like toy violins. They are 
 ducks that have been pressed flat and dried. The -shops 
 contain dainties such as lily bulbs, green algae from 
 the rice fields, shark's skin, deer's sinews kept till they 
 
266 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 are soft, eggs that we should call rotten, and birds' nests 
 from the islands of the sea. The birds' nests are made 
 of seaweed, which the birds gather on the shore. The 
 Chinese are like other nations which have a very dense 
 population. They have learned to eat almost every- 
 thing that can possibly be used as food. 
 
 The Use of Fish. One of the commonest kinds of food 
 is fish. Fish are carried about in tubs just as in Japan 
 and Chosen. Some are caught by cormorants, others in 
 nets, and some are raised in ponds. An Englishman 
 was very much surprised one day to see an old man 
 jump into a muddy pond as if he wanted to commit 
 suicide; but in a minute out came the Chinese with 
 two fish in his hands. The Chinese on the lower Yangtse 
 often gather fish eggs and place them in ponds. When 
 the fish have grown, they catch as many as possible 
 with nets. Then they let out most of the water, and 
 men, women, and children wade into the deep mud up 
 to their waists and catch the fish in their hands. 
 
 Along the Yangtse-kiang. In going up the Yangtse 
 River one passes the Grand Canal. It was built hun- 
 dreds of years ago, and extends nearly 500 miles to the 
 northwest, connecting the plains of Pechili with those 
 at the mouth of the Yangtse. It is one of the longest 
 canals in the world. Some miles above the mouth of 
 the canal lies Nanking, which means "Southern Capi- 
 tal," just as Peking means "Northern Capital." It 
 was the capital of China hundreds of years ago. 
 Farther upstream the Yangtse flows through three 
 great basins. In one of these lies the Lake of Poyang, 
 and in the next, the Lake of Tungting. The country 
 around the lakes consists of smooth plains, very thicklv 
 settled and threaded in every direction with canals and 
 streams. In summer when the monsoons cause floods, 
 
SHANTUNG AND PROVINCES OF THE YANGTSE 267 
 
 the plains become vast shallow lakes. For miles and 
 miles nothing can be seen except water with lines of 
 trees extending across it. 
 
 The Basin of Siichwan. The next basin, that of 
 Siichwan, or the Red Basin, is of quite a different sort. 
 It lies among the western plateaus as a huge hollow 
 To get to it, it is necessary to cross the mountains or 
 else to go up the rapids of the Yangtse through the gorges 
 of Ichang. Here the great river flows swiftly between 
 lofty precipices. Boats must be towed up by men on 
 the shore or in the water. On either side temples to the 
 spirits of the place are perched high on the rocks. 
 The gorges and rapids are due to the fact that the 
 river flows across granite rocks. Above the gorges one 
 enters the Red Basin, a hilly country and one of the 
 best parts of China. Lying in the region where the 
 winds are cooled as they rise to the great plateau of 
 Tibet farther west, Suchwan has plenty of rain. The 
 people have a proverb that in Siichwan there are so 
 many clouds that the dogs bark when they see the sun. 
 Thanks to its abundant rains the Red Basin has few 
 famines, and the people are not so poor as those of other 
 regions. 
 
 Chinese Names. The upper part of the gorge by 
 which the Yangtse passes from Siichwan to the plains 
 of the lower river is called "Yellow Cat," and the lower 
 part, "Moonshine." Most Chinese names seem to us odd 
 when translated. Stores and hotels have such names 
 as "Righteousness and Peace," "Kindness and Justice," 
 "Unselfish Generosity," or "Friendship and Fidelity." 
 A baby is often called by the name of the first thing that 
 its father happens to see after its birth. One man had 
 four children named Cart, Basket, Chicken, and Dog. 
 The next child was born when its grandmother was 
 
26S ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 seventy years old, and was called Seventy. The last 
 was simply called Number Six. In another family the 
 first boy was quite heavy, so he was called Stone; the 
 next, a girl, who was plump, was called Little Fat 
 One ; and still the next, being quite dark, was called Little 
 Black One. In one case a father and mother had four 
 girls, but no boy. At length a boy was born. They were 
 very much afraid the demons, in which they believe so 
 strongly, would harm the boy, so they called him Slave 
 Girl, in order to fool the demons into thinking that he 
 was a girl. All these are what are called "milk names." 
 When a child grows up, or rather when a girl is married 
 or a boy begins to wear a cue, they receive new names. 
 The commonest family names are Chang, Wang, Li, and 
 Chao. If a man's family name is Wang, he may be 
 called Wang Spring-flowers, and his brothers may 
 be Wang Spring-fragrance, Wang Spring-fields, and 
 Wang Spring-showers. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 SOUTHERN CHINA 
 
 The Mountainous Drowned Coast of South China. 
 
 South of Shanghai and the Yangtse River the great plains 
 of northern China come to an end. Their flat, monoto- 
 nous expanse gives place to beautiful mountains rising 
 boldly from the sea. Here, as in Asia Minor and many 
 other places, the land has at some time gone down a 
 little, so that the drowned coast is fringed with islands 
 and deeply indented with bays. The great city of 
 Foochow, halfway from Shanghai to Hong-kong, lies 
 on the drowned lower portion of the Min River, a few 
 miles inland. The Min has often been compared to the 
 Hudson where it passes through the Catskills ; but the Min 
 is more beautiful than the Hudson, because high moun- 
 tains rise close to, instead of far back from, the water. 
 
 A Chinese junk on the Min River at Foochow 
 269 
 
270 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Foochow and the Mountains of Fokien. As one looks 
 
 down upon Foochow from the surrounding hills, the view,' 
 like that of most Chinese cities, consists largely of 
 square miles of dull gray tiles, the roofs of innumerable 
 low houses between which run paved paths too narrow 
 to be called streets. Beyond the city blue mountains 
 rise in the distance, and the silvery river winds through 
 a richly-cultivated valley. On the shining stream 
 black dots can be seen. They are rafts of timber float- 
 ing down to be exported to all parts of China. The 
 mountains of Fokien, as the province of Foochow is 
 called, are one of the few parts of China where large 
 forests remain. The mountains are too rugged for 
 cultivation in many places, and as they have abundant 
 rain, forests grow luxuriantly. 
 
 The lower hills and the gently sloping portions of the 
 
 Picturesque Foochow. Looking across its many tiled roofs 
 to the mountains which rise in the distance 
 
SOUTHERN CHINA 
 
 2'Jl 
 
 mountains are covered with orchards, or are cut into 
 terraces whose beautiful pale-green color shows that 
 
 Irrigation of crops near Foochow. Raising water by treading 
 
 they are being used for rice. Everywhere the rice 
 grows in standing water green with scum. Men and, 
 buffaloes are busily at work turning endless chains fitted 
 with buckets which lift the water from terrace to terrace. 
 In southern China, where the monsoon rains begin earlier 
 than in the north, the first rains are usually very severe. 
 In April and May freshets often rush down the moun- 
 tains, sweeping away the rice and destroying the crops 
 of the season. 
 
 The Unwarlike Spirit of China. Foochow is one of the 
 few great cities of China which have Manchu garrisons. 
 When the Manchus conquered China, nearly three hun- 
 dred years ago, they put garrisons of their own soldiers in 
 various cities to prevent the Chinese from rebelling. Dur- 
 ing all the years since that time the Manchu soldiers have 
 lived a lazy life. They have done no work, because the 
 government has paid them for being soldiers. They 
 
272 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 have had to fight very little, because the Chinese are a 
 peaceful people and rarel)^ make war except when "famine 
 or trouble rouses them. Their character illustrates the 
 way in which prolonged isolation may cause a once war- 
 like people to become mild and fond of peace at any price. 
 The Chinese to-day regard the profession of soldier 
 as ignoble and unworthy of a man of high position. 
 
 In some ways the unwarlike character of the Chinese 
 is a serious defect. For ages they have been superior to 
 the nations around them. Long ago they fought and 
 conquered, but during the past two or three thousand 
 years or more they have rarely met an enemy. Invaders 
 have come into the northern parts of the country, to be 
 sure, but the vast majority of the Chinese have never 
 seen them and have only heard of them by rumor. 
 Shut away from the rest of the world and under no 
 necessity to fight, the Chinese have gradually lost the 
 warlike spirit. In itself this may be a good thing, but 
 with it there has gone a loss of ambition and of the 
 aggressive character which makes people undertake 
 hard tasks and delight in finishing them in spite of 
 difficulties. Formerly most nations were trained in this 
 spirit by fighting. In modern times, when fighting is 
 less admired, the same spirit is fostered by explor- 
 ing and settling new lands, by making inventions 
 and discoveries, by the expansion of commerce, or 
 by the spreading abroad of religious and scientific 
 ideas in the face of opposition. China has done none of 
 these things for many hundred years. Unless her' 
 people awaken to the necessity of greater ambition and 
 aggressiveness, the country is not likely to progress 
 rapidly. Japan has far outstripped her ancient teacher, 
 largely because the Japanese are one of the most aggres- 
 sive and ambitious of races. 
 
SOUTHERN CHINA 273 
 
 Chinese Amusements. The degenerate soldiers of the 
 Manchu garrison of Foochow are only one of many 
 evidences that in former times the Chinese were a more 
 energetic race than now. Another such evidence is seen 
 in the Dragon Festival, which is observed in the spring 
 throughout most of China. Foochow is as good a place as 
 any in which to see the festival. The river is covered 
 with long, narrow boats full of men. Sometimes there 
 are as many as sixty men in one boat, all paddling for 
 dear life. Some of the boats dart hither and thither. 
 Others race, while the crowds on the river banks yell and 
 cheer, as Americans do at a ball game. The boats are 
 supposed to be looking for a certain wise man who fell 
 into the river hundreds of years ago and was drowned. 
 
 Although the Chinese have other festivals, this is the 
 only one where they take any violent exercise. They 
 think it a very silly thing for Americans and Europeans 
 to play games like tennis and football, where they get 
 all tired out. Chinese men often fly kites, but they do 
 not like to do anything active. The children are much 
 like their parents and have very few games. Perhaps 
 the Chinese have so much work to do that they have 
 not much energy left for games. 
 
 The New Year's Festival. The greatest festival in 
 China is New Year's Day, which comes in February. 
 Everybody then takes two weeks' vacation. Every 
 family cooks the best food that it can afford, which 
 is often merely wheat cakes or dumplings of flour 
 flavored with meat. All who are able to do so put 
 on new clothes, and the others don their brightest old 
 clothes. Those who are away always try to get home, 
 even more than people do in America at Christmas 
 and Thanksgiving. 
 
 On the last evening of the old year the whole family 
 
274 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 goes through the ceremony of making offerings and 
 saying prayers to their ancestors. The next morning 
 
 New Year's Day in China. Two Chinese girls meeting on 
 the street are exchanging greetings 
 
 the men, not the boys and girls, touch off bunch after 
 bunch of firecrackers. Then they all go to the family 
 graveyard with offerings for the dead ; and after that the 
 men and boys of the younger generation call on all their 
 friends and relatives. At every place they are offered 
 something to eat. It is not polite to refuse, so they eat 
 far more than is good for them. 
 
 The Chinese, as we have seen, are the most indus- 
 trious people in the world, but at New Year's time they 
 give themselves up entirely to feasting and playing. As 
 they have few good amusements, many spend the time 
 in smoking opium and in gambling. Merchants do not 
 take down their shutters, but one can hear the clerks 
 noisily gambling inside. Innkeepers will not open their 
 doors, but landlord and servants are all gambling 
 together within. They will not stop to feed a traveler's 
 animals or to get him a meal. "Go away," they call, 
 
SOUTHERN CHINA 275 
 
 when the traveler pounds on the door. "This is no time 
 to travel. You ought to know better than to interfere' 
 with other people's pleasure!" 
 
 Opium Smoking. Gambling and opium smoking are 
 the two worst vices in China. Opium is made from a 
 species of large poppy with beautiful flowers of various 
 pale shades of red, pink, purple, and lavender, as well as 
 white. After the petals have fallen, the seed vessels 
 grow large and juicy. Men and women cut gashes in them 
 with little knives so that the juice runs out. It dries 
 into a sticky gum, from which opium is extracted. Those 
 who smoke the drug become absolutely stupid. If a man 
 once begins to smoke opium he grows very fond of 
 it, for it makes him forget his troubles; but he soon loses 
 all interest in his work. After a few years he becomes 
 even more useless and more to be pitied than a drunkard. 
 The Chinese government forbids the use of opium and 
 tries hard to prevent it. Little by little the people are 
 beginning to realize how much harm it does, 
 
 Debt-Paying. We ought to mention one other new- 
 year habit — a good one. On or before the last day 
 of the old year everyone is supposed to pay all his debts. 
 Most people do this, for the Chinese as a race are very 
 honest; but many are so poor, or so much in debt, that 
 they cannot pay everything. Early one New Year's 
 morning a Chinese was seen going about the streets with 
 a lighted lantern, "What are you doing with that lan- 
 tern?" asked an American who chanced to meet him. 
 "It is light enough to see without it. The sun is up," 
 
 "Oh," answered the Chinese, "Wan Lee owes me ten 
 dollars. Last night I went around to his house to get 
 it, but he knew I would come and so took care not to be 
 at home. I am going around this morning to catch him 
 by surprise, but I don't want to hurt his feelings. You 
 
276 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 know it is not proper to ask a man to pay a debt after 
 the New Year has come in, so I am carrying a lantern as 
 a sign that I think it is still last night." 
 
 The Chinese are very fond of pretending. They will 
 do almost anj'thing in order not to seem impolite. ' 
 
 Chinese Tea. Fokien is one of the best places in the 
 world for tea. Its climate is so warm that almost no 
 snow falls in winter, and the granite rocks of the 
 mountains furnish just the sort of soil that the tea bush 
 likes. The bush is something like that of the huckleberry. 
 The plants are set out in rows from three to five feet 
 apart each way. They are kept down to a height of 
 about a foot and a half, since small bushes have softer 
 leaves than large ones. In April, June, and September, 
 Chinese women, girls, boys, and sometimes men pick all 
 but the larger leaves and put them in piles where they 
 wilt in the sun for a day. Next they are placed in bam- 
 boo baskets and are trampled upon by barefooted men 
 to break the stems and stiff parts. Then they are rubbed 
 with the hands to make them roll up. Finally thej' are 
 dried completely. The most delicate kinds are dried only 
 in the sun, but most of the tea which comes to America is 
 dried in ovens. The best tea is made from the smallest 
 leaves and buds. 
 
 The people who pick tea are paid only ten to twenty 
 cents a day. A good picker can pick eight or ten pounds 
 of green leaves, which make only two or three pounds of 
 dry tea. If the pickers had to be paid one or two dollars 
 a day, as they would in America, tea would cost so much 
 that only the rich could drink it. It is well for tea 
 drinkers that the people of China, Japan, and India do 
 not receive such wages as those of America and Europe. 
 
 Travelers and Strange Sights. The men who travel 
 in Fokien to buy tea see some odd sights. In the 
 
SOUTHERN CHINA 277 
 
 mountains near Foochow one of them met some men 
 with wheelbarrows, which they had to hit over steep, 
 
 1^^ 
 
 U^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 Itinerant barbers on their tvay In Fnochow, plying their trade 
 by the roadside 
 
 rocky places in the path. Next came a man driving 
 black pigs with grass shoes on their feet. A little later, 
 in a pretty wooded valley beside a mountain brook, the 
 tea buyer stopped to talk with some men who were 
 carrying big baskets full of ducks. 
 
 "We are taking the ducks to feed in the rice fields near 
 Foochow," said one of the Chinese. "Up in the moun- 
 tains the fields are all dry. How briskly you walk for so 
 old a man. How old are you?" 
 
 "Thirty-two," said the tea buyer, who was an English- 
 man. "How old did you think?" 
 
 "I thought you must be a hundred," replied the Chi- 
 nese, "your hair is so white." 
 
 The Chinese like to be asked their age, so this ques- 
 tion was quite polite. The Englishman had very light 
 brown hair. As the Chinese all have straight black hair, 
 they thought the Englishman must once have had the 
 same kind and that now it had changed. 
 
278 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 A Buddhist Holy Man. When the Chinese understood 
 about the EngUshman's hair, they asked another ques- 
 tion : ' ' Have you seen the holy man who lives here on the 
 hillside? Long ago his soul lived in a dog. When 
 the dog died the soul went into an ox ; when that died, the 
 soul was born in a baby boy, who became a pirate when 
 he grew up. At last the pirate died and his soul was 
 born again in this man, who became a priest as soon as 
 he grew up. The priest was so sorry for the evil that he 
 had done in former lives that he had some friends 
 build a little room of rough stones around him, leaving 
 no door or window and only a few holes. There he has 
 lived for twenty-four years without coming out. He is 
 very holy. When he is born again he will be a saint." 
 
 The Englishman went to see the so-called holy man, 
 who proved to be very dirty and disagreeable. His 
 finger nails were three inches long and looked like great 
 claws. Each one was inclosed in a sheath of bamboo 
 to keep it from being broken. Many Chinese let their 
 nails grow as long as possible, to show that they do not 
 work ; for people who work are sure to break their nails. 
 Fashionable ladies often sheathe their nails in silver. 
 
 Buddhism. The holy man with the long nails was a 
 Buddhist. Long ago the Buddhist religion came to 
 China from India. It teaches many good things, but 
 it is mixed with a great deal that is not right or true. 
 It is one of the great religions of the world, and a devout 
 Buddhist is as noble and good as a man of any religion. 
 The practices of Buddhism, however, like the practices 
 of so many religions, are so distasteful to us that it is 
 hard for us to appreciate its truly admirable qualities. 
 Buddhism has many followers in China. The other 
 religions are Taoism, which teaches a belief in all manner 
 of evil spirits, and Confucianism, which teaches the 
 
SOUTHERN CHINA 
 
 279 
 
 worship of ancestors. Many Chinese believe in all three 
 religions. The Buddhists believe that when a person dies 
 
 Tablets before the shrine of a Chinese god, offered by grateful 
 worshipers in return for blessings granted 
 
 his soul goes into a new-born child or animal. One per- 
 son, they think, may lead a hundred lives or more, unless 
 he becomes good enough to become a Buddha or saint. 
 
 Sometimes people pray to be bom anew in a different 
 condition. At a temple in Ningpo a missionary saw 
 two or three thousand wonien praying. A bystander 
 explained to him that they were praying to be born 
 again as men. Their lives as women were so miserable 
 that they wanted to die. All Chinese women, however, 
 are not miserable, and some are much honored. At a 
 city gate one often sees arches or tablets erected by per- 
 mission of the Emperor in memory of virtuous widows. 
 
 The Vegetation of Southern China. South of Foochow 
 the climate is so warm that crops can be raised in winter 
 as well as in summer. Upon the terraced hillsides the 
 vivid green of rice fields alternates with the darker tint 
 of the sugar cane. On the slopes are tea plantations 
 
2So ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 and near them fields of cotton, bright with gay colored 
 blossoms, and orange trees standing in fragrant, fruitful 
 rows. Elsewhere splendid vistas are formed by the 
 slender trunks of palm trees, which yield fibers and 
 other useful products. Among the trees of southern 
 China some of the most peculiar species produce oil 
 and tallow from which candles are made. Everywhere 
 thickets of bamboos wave their feathery heads in the 
 winds, thirty feet above the ground. 
 
 The Bamboo. In southern China the rice plant is 
 the most useful of all the things that grow, because it 
 furnishes most of the food of the people. The next 
 plant in usefulness is the bamboo. If a man wants to 
 do so, he can have his whole house of bamboo, including 
 walls, roof, and the mats on the floor. At his meals he 
 may sit on a bamboo chair before a bamboo table. At 
 dinner he may eat, with bamboo chopsticks, soft, green 
 bamboo sprouts which were cooked over a bamboo fire, 
 and served in a bamboo bowl. Then a servant may 
 wash off the table with a bamboo cloth. Meanwhile, 
 the master is likely to fan himself with a bamboo fan. 
 Probably he will follow the common tropical custom 
 of lying down for a siesta during the hot part of the 
 day, from one o'clock to four, upon a bed and pillow 
 likely to be of bamboo. When he gets up, he may light 
 a bamboo pipe, and, taking a brush with a handle of the 
 same material, write on paper made of bamboo. Finally, 
 he may put on his bamboo sandals, take an umbrella 
 and basket — both of the same useful plant — and cross 
 a suspension bridge made of bamboo. 
 
 The Si-kiang. The Si-kiang, or West River, the great 
 stream of southern China, rises in the remote plateau 
 of Yunnan. There, as is so common in relatively 
 inaccessible regions, the people are of various races. 
 
SOUTHERN CHINA 
 
 2»I 
 
282 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Part are wild natives called Lolos and Miaotse, who 
 probably were driven into the mountains when the 
 Chinese invaded China thousands of years ago. Others 
 are a mixed race who profess Mohammedanism, and 
 still others, pure Chinese. Farther down the river all the 
 people are Chinese. Throughout most of its course the 
 Si-kiang flows among mountains. At its mouth, how- 
 ever, there is a delta plain like that of the Hwang-ho and 
 of the Yangtse-kiang. As might be expected here, the 
 population is very dense, and there are several great 
 cities. Of these the chief is easily Canton — the first of 
 all Chinese cities to be visited by Europeans. 
 
 The River People of Canton. Canton is such a crowded 
 place and there is so much business on the river that 
 nearly 300,000 people, or more than as many as are 
 found in Kansas City, live in boats on the water. There 
 are many people there who have never walked on the 
 land during their whole lives. It is said that the babies 
 bom on the boats can swim when first thrown into the 
 water — almost as'soon as they can walk. Their parents 
 always strap a joint of bamboo on their backs to keep 
 them afloat and to afford a good handle with which to 
 fish them up if they fall into the water. Some of the 
 boats at Canton are very beautiful. They have eyes 
 painted in front, for, as the Chinese say, "How can 
 a boat go straight if it has no eyes?" 
 
 A Nation Apart. China is full of strange and interest- 
 ing things, as we have already seen. Many of them are 
 due wholly, or in part, to the fertility of the plains and 
 basins watered by the abundant monsoon rains. Others 
 are caused by the mountains and plateaus and sea, which 
 till recently have shut China ofif from the rest of the 
 world. Many habits and characteristics of the Chinese 
 have arisen because of the great density of population 
 
SOUTHERN CHINA 283 
 
 and the frequent famines. These famines are caused 
 sometimes by floods, but more often by droughts. 
 Because of all these things the Chinese have always been 
 a nation apart from the rest of the world. Their cus- 
 toms, their language, and their mode of thinking are all 
 different from those of the Western World. 
 
 Dense populations and frequent famines cause great 
 poverty. Poverty causes ignorance, and ignorance tends 
 to encourage superstition. Superstition makes people 
 very unwilling to change their habits, and so the Chinese 
 have changed but little in a thousand years. On the 
 other hand, the difficulties of life have made the Chinese 
 very industrious, very economical, and very patient; 
 for otherwise they could not live. After ages of isolation, 
 China at last is in touch with the rest of the world. She 
 is beginning to learn new lessons after a long period of 
 stagnation. There are signs that, as more and more of 
 her people become enlightened, ambition will arise and 
 a spirit of worthy aggressiveness which will lead her to 
 get rid of famines, poverty, gambling, opium smoking, 
 and superstition. The process may be a long one, but 
 when it is finished the many good qualities of China may 
 make her equal to any nation in the world. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 INDO-CHINA AND THE MALAY PENINSULA 
 
 Position and People. The southeastern corner of Asia 
 does not properly belong to eastern or to southern 
 Asia. It is well called Indo-China, for it lies between 
 India and China without being a part of either. Its 
 people arc a mixture of the yellow-skinned Mongolian 
 race of eastern Asia and the olive-skinned Caucasian 
 race of northern India. To these has been added the 
 brown Malay race which gives its name to the long 
 southern peninsula. 
 
 The Races Which Have Come to Indo-China by Sea. 
 It is easy to reach Indo-China by sea on all sides save 
 the north. Centuries ago the Malays came in square- 
 rigged boats from the islands of Sumatra and Java and 
 occupied the southern peninsula. Hundreds of thou- 
 sands of Chinese have settled along the east coast, com- 
 ing partly by land but chiefly by sea. On the west coast 
 the English from India have advanced, step by step, and 
 have developed an enormous trade, which has caused 
 the growth of great cities such as Penang, or George Town, 
 and Singapore. More recently the French have come to 
 Indo-China, and are trying to do on the east coast what 
 England has done on the west. 
 
 The Races Which Have Come by Land. The British 
 on the west, the Malays on the south, and the Chinese 
 and French on the east have come to Indo-China by 
 sea or along the coast. The majority of the people, 
 however, came by land from the north. On that side 
 the great plateaus of Tibet and Yunnan extend down 
 into Indo-China. As we have seen in an earlier chapter, 
 
 284 
 
INDO-CHINA AND THE MALAY PENINSULA 285 
 
 the tremendous river gorges and lofty mountains which 
 diversify the plateaus form a barrier which separates 
 India from China. Nevertheless, tribe after tribe has 
 crossed this inhospitable region and has gradu- 
 ally pushed its way southward and eastward to the 
 warm fertile plains of the Songkoi, Mekong, Menam, and 
 Irawadi rivers. Even now when famine comes upon the 
 wild tribes of southwestern China, as it sometimes does 
 in very dry years, they move to new regions in the hope 
 of finding a better country. Sometimes, too, they are 
 driven out by enemies. They cannot find a living in 
 the mountains and plateaus of Tibet to the north, so 
 they go south into Indo-China. 
 
 For hundreds and thousands of years tribes have kept 
 coming into Indo-China, chiefly from China or Tibet but 
 partly from India. To-day the country is filled with their 
 mixed descendants, who form the races called Annamese 
 in the east, Siamese and Shans in the middle, and Bur- 
 mese in the west. Among all the native races of 
 Indo-China only the Siamese still remain independent. 
 They have tried to learn from Europeans and to reform 
 their government, and so they have not been absorbed 
 by England or France. Nevertheless, much of the 
 territory of Siam has been taken away The only part 
 which the native kings still rule entirely is the valley of 
 the Menam River. Even there the wealth of the 
 country is fast passing into the hands of the energetic 
 Chinese; for the Siamese, like the rest of the people of 
 Indo-China, are lazy and pleasure-loving. 
 
 Tropical Forests. With the exception of the southern 
 part of Arabia the countries which we have thus far 
 studied in Asia have all been situated in the Temperate 
 Belt. Indo-China lies in the Hot Belt. Its climate 
 is so warm and moist that trees and plants grow 
 
286 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 luxuriantly. The plains, which are flooded by rivers, 
 are covered with grass and reeds, while the rest of the 
 
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 KS. 
 
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 In a tropical forest where the ferns are thirty feet high 
 
 country is shrouded in dense forests. Sometimes the 
 forest consists of a jungle of bamboos so thick and 
 interlaced with creeping plants that one cannot advance 
 ten feet without stopping to cut a path. 
 
 In other places the forest consists of huge trees rising 
 a hundred feet or more. A person walking on the ground 
 sees nothing but a gloomy vista of smooth tree trunks 
 like the columns of a vast cathedral. Not a flicker of 
 sunshine can be detected, not a rustle of leaves, and 
 scarcely a sign of life or color. High above his head 
 lianas, twining like huge stems of the woodbine or wild 
 grape, hang from the lofty trunks in long festoons. 
 Rarely a delicate orchid is visible. For days one can 
 wander in such a forest and seem to be in a world 
 without life. But come to a clearing or climb to some 
 point where the upper parts of the trees are in sight, 
 
INDO-CHINA AND THli: MALAY PENINSULA 2S7 
 
 at once all is changed. Life seems to run riot. The 
 top of the forest is like a vast green mat. The trees 
 want light and air, and each strives to get above its 
 neighbors. Those that are in the shade are sure to die. 
 None can live except those which stretch their heads far 
 up toward the sky. In the tree tops flowers of brilliant 
 colors are blooming; songless parrots and other birds of 
 bright colors flit about; and chattering monkeys swing 
 from branch to branch. Here a palm raises its head 
 heavily loaded with cocoanuts. Elsewhere the teak tree 
 towers in stately grandeur. 
 
 Heavy Hardwood Trees. We shall see more of the teak 
 tree later. It is one of the hardwood trees for which 
 tropical countries are famous. Some of the teaks are so 
 hard that it is almost impossible to cut them with an 
 ordinary knife. They are very heavy, too. In Siam a 
 foreigner, with much difficulty, once cut some of these 
 trees and made a raft. He meant to float down the 
 Menam River ; but when he and his men pushed the raft 
 into the water, to his great surprise it at once sank to 
 the bottom. It was too heavy to float. The hardwood 
 of these heavy trees is very valuable for making hand- 
 some furniture. In order to float the teak down the 
 rivers, the natives make rafts of bamboo, which is so 
 light that it supports the heavy logs. 
 
 We are wont to think of tropical trees as being green 
 all the year round. This is not wholly true. The forest 
 as a whole has a green appearance most of the time, but 
 each tree sheds its leaves and takes a rest every year. 
 The leaves of some trees turn red or yellow or brown just 
 as they do with us. During the dry season many kinds 
 of trees are bare of leaves, and at this time many of them 
 blossom. It is a wonderful sight to see a leafless tree 
 covered with splendid red or yellow flowers like the most 
 
288 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 beautiful of those in our gardens. Many of the trees do 
 not shed the old leaves until the new ones come out. It 
 is this which makes the tropical forest appear green 
 at all seasons. 
 
 Tropical Animals. In all parts of the world the ani- 
 mals depend on the plants. If there are many plants, 
 there are sure to be many wild animals unless man has 
 killed them off. If the plants die down in winter or if 
 they are covered with snow, it is hard for the animals. 
 They can stand the cold weather of winter, but they can- 
 not stand hunger. Accordingly, the number of wild 
 animals grows steadily larger as one goes from cold or 
 dry regions to warm, moist ones. In Indo-China wild 
 creatures are found in great variety. The largest is 
 the elephant, the chief beast of burden. The hippo- 
 potamus and alligator live in the rivers. Tigers, leopards, 
 and a host of flesh eaters live in the jungle. They catch 
 the deer, antelope, and other grass-eating animals which 
 feed on the abundant plant life. Tigers often eat 
 people. If the natives think that one is near, they 
 build a fire to frighten him away, and pray to the 
 supposed spirit of the place to protect them. They 
 think that the tiger is possessed of an evil genius and 
 would be angry if he heard his name. So they speak 
 of him in whispers, and refer to him onl}^ as "it," or 
 "that fellow." 
 
 The tree tops are alive with monkeys, especially in the 
 Malay Peninsula. Sometimes they are tamed as pets. 
 One day a traveler in a Malay village wanted some 
 cocoanuts. The native chief, whose guest he was, called 
 to a big ape, "Go up that palm tree, and pick some 
 ripe cocoanuts." The animal climbed up and carefully 
 picked out three or four fine ripe ones and threw them 
 down, "Now some green ones," said the chief; and the 
 
INDO-CHINA AND THE MALAY PENINSULA 289 
 
 monkey threw down some that were almost ripe. The 
 Malay then cut a round hole in each unripe nut, and 
 poured out the milk, which has a pleasant, slightly 
 acid taste. When the milk had been drunk, he opened 
 the ripe cocoanuts for the meat. It takes a cocoanut 
 fourteen months to ripen, although our fruits take only 
 four or five. 
 
 Monkeys, as everyone knows, are very fond of teasing. 
 One day a crocodile lay on a sandy river bank in the sun 
 with his huge mouth wide open and his beady eyes almost 
 shut. Some monkeys came along and began to tease 
 him. One swung down from the trees and made little 
 snatches at his mouth, taking good care not to get 
 caught. Then they all wanted to do the same thing; for 
 what one does, all must do. In trying to outdo one 
 another, one monkey put his hand too far into the great 
 mouth. The crocodile, which had seemed to be asleep, 
 suddenly snapped his jaws together, caught the poor 
 monkey by the arm, and hurried off into the water with 
 him. Monkeys are a good deal like people; they often get 
 into trouble when they try to show off. 
 
 Difficulty of Farming among Tropical Forests. In 
 China, Persia, Turkey, and most of the countries of Asia 
 the inhabitants suffer from lack of trees. In Indo-China 
 exactly the opposite is the case. In the forested regions 
 when the natives want to plant rice or sugar cane, they 
 must first get rid of the trees. They cut them down and 
 leave them to dry for a few months. Then they kindle 
 a fire and thus clear a space for a farm. For two or 
 three years rice and other crops are raised, but by that 
 time bamboos have begun to grow. The natives have 
 no means of plowing deeply and are too lazy to keep the 
 fields weeded. The easiest plan is to abandon the old 
 clearing and make a fresh one, sometimes close at hand 
 
ago 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 and sometimes at a distance. Outside the plains the 
 whole country is dotted with clearings of this kind, 
 
 A native village. The houses near the river afe on bamboo stilts 
 
 grown up with bamboos. When the clearing fires are 
 burning, sounds like gunshots are often heard — the 
 noise of exploding bamboo stems. 
 
 The Method of Building Houses. One might think 
 that the natives of Indo-China would be sorry to change 
 the location of their fields so often. They do not mind 
 at all, however, not even if they have to build new 
 houses. It is an easy matter to build a house in Indo- 
 China, for there is an unlimited supply of wood close at 
 hand, and the fronds of a palm tree make a fine thatch. 
 The houses do not have to be warm. The only necessity 
 is that they afford shelter from the rain. 
 
 In moist, tropical countries malarial fevers prevail. 
 Even the natives suffer from them, and Europeans are 
 likely to die from them unless great care is used. When 
 one sleeps on or near the ground he is verj^ apt to get 
 the fever, especially during the floods of the rainy 
 seat;on. Moreover there is some danger that tigers will 
 
INDO-CHINA AND THE MALAY PENINSULA 291 
 
 come and kill people lying on the ground. Accordingly, 
 in Indo-China a large proportion of the houses are little 
 huts consisting chiefly of thick-thatched roofs with a 
 steep slope to shed the rain. These huts are raised to 
 a height of five feet or more, on stilts of bamboo stuck 
 into the earth. The walls ai^e scarcely more than mxats. 
 The floor is, in many cases, nothing but poles laid an 
 inch or two apart. All the waste materials from the 
 house are put through the cracks in the floor; pigs and 
 other animals are tied underneath, and the ground under 
 the houses is often filthy. 
 
 Bathing. The people, themselves, are clean. In most 
 parts of Indo-China they bathe a great deal, as people 
 who are well clothed must do in a warm country. In 
 the north the natives bathe freely in tlie rivers, not 
 caring who sees them. The inhabitants of the Malay 
 Peninsula, however, are Mohammedans and do not like 
 to be seen when they undress, so they build bathing 
 sheds just large enough for a single person. Around 
 these sheds they put fences to keep out crocodiles. 
 
 The Effect of a Warm Climate. It is easy to make a 
 living in Indo-China. The people who raise rice on the 
 plains or those who catch fish in the sea or those who 
 cultivate palm trees and bananas in the hills can all get 
 food enough for themselves and their families with very 
 little work. They do not have to store up much for the 
 future, for crops ripen at almost all times of the year. 
 The climate is so warm that no one feels like working. 
 All these things make the people of Indo-China lazy 
 and idle. They do not want to work; and they do not 
 care whether they have much or little to wear or to 
 look at, so long as they have enough to eat. 
 
 One would think that in a country so rich in food there 
 would be a very dense population, but this is not the case. 
 
292 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 So many natives die of fevers and epidemics, so many 
 are killed by wild beasts or by their human enemies, and 
 so many perish in slave raids that the population has 
 never become dense like that of China and northern 
 India. Many of these things are changing now. The 
 constant stream of Chinese coming into the country and 
 the influence of European trade and government are 
 beginning to check some evils — such as constant wars 
 and slavery — and the population is increasing. 
 
 Monsoon Rains. Although the climate of Indo-China 
 is alwaj'S warm, because the country lies so near the 
 equator, there are two distinct seasons. One is the time 
 of the northeast monsoon — a wind which blows very 
 steadily from the northeast, bringing rain to the coast 
 of Annam and to most parts of the Malay Peninsula. 
 West of the mountains of Annam, however, the wind 
 has lost its moisture and accordingly the winter months, 
 during which it blows, are a dry season. In spite of the 
 high temperature plants do not grow well during this 
 period. In the other season, from May to September, 
 the wind blows from the southwest or south. As the 
 wind goes toward the north and rises over the many 
 mountains, it grows cooler and cooler. Therefore, it 
 gives up the abundant moisture which it has gathered 
 in the Indian Ocean. Except on the east coast of 
 Annam, which is shut off by high mountains, heavy 
 rains fall in all parts of the country, and plants thrive 
 luxuriantly. 
 
 Contrast Between the Wet and Dry Seasons. A good 
 example of the difference between the dry season and the 
 wet season is seen in the plain or low plateau of Khorat, 
 lying a little northeast of Bangkok between the Menam 
 and Mekong rivers in Siam. A caravan was once cross- 
 ing this plain in summer with oxcarts. Every day rain 
 
INDO-CHINA AND THE MALAY PENINSULA 293 
 
 fell, as it does with us sometimes in summer when, as we 
 say, the water falls in sheets. The air was so damp that 
 one's clothes felt wet and sticky all the time, and shoes 
 or other articles shut up in a chest, in a day or two, 
 grew white with mold. In the best places the rough 
 road was ankle deep in mud, and in the bad 'places the 
 clumsy oxcarts sank to the hubs. Sometimes the travel- 
 ers came to a low plain three or four miles wide, and had 
 to wade across it in water up to the knees. Rivers rushed 
 along, carrying huge trunks of trees and spreading far 
 over their banks. Sometimes it was possible to wade 
 across them; at other times rafts had to be built. One 
 day a raft was built beside such a river. When it was 
 pushed out into the broad, muddy current, the raging 
 stream carried it away with a rush, breaking the ropes 
 that held it. The caravan went upstream to a place 
 where there was less current. That day the rain slack- 
 ened, and the next day it stopped. By the following 
 morning the water had gone down four feet, and the raft 
 was on dry land several miles down the river and a 
 quarter of a mile from the diminished stream. 
 
 Five months later, near the end of the dry season, the 
 same travelers passed that way again. They found their 
 raft, not beside a rushing river, but near a few filthy 
 pools of greenish water, in which pinkish-gray buffaloes 
 had been wallowing. In places where they waded to the 
 knees in water on the former journey, they now crossed 
 brown plains which had been green with grass a month 
 or two earlier. Now, too, the ankle-deep mud was 
 replaced by fine dust which filled the road and was blown 
 in clouds by the wind. Water was so scarce that on 
 some nights the animals went thirsty. 
 
 In the Malay Peninsula rain falls in fair abundance 
 at all seasons. In all other parts of Indo-China there is a 
 
294 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 wonderful contrast between the dry and the wet seasons! 
 In the mountains the water runs off rapidly. In the great 
 plains, where most of the people live, it cannot flow away 
 so fast and, therefore, floods the whole country. In Such 
 places it is easy to see that it is a good plan to build 
 houses on stilts, or to live in floating house boats, as 
 hundreds of thousands of people do at Bangkok. 
 
 Tongking and the French Colonies. We have spoken 
 of many ways in which all parts of Indo-China are much 
 alike. There are many other ways in which the various 
 parts differ. The French' colony of Tongking, in the 
 northeast, is much like southern China in the habits of 
 its people and in its climate and scenery. North of the 
 rich delta of the Songkoi River the coast is bordered by 
 a wonderful series of islands and drowned river mouths 
 forming bays. The islands are composed of limestone 
 which rises in steep cliffs to flat tops where green trees 
 can be seen peeping over the edge. Allong Bay, in 
 this region, is surrounded by great coal mines. One 
 layer of coal is about eighty feet thick, and has an 
 extent of hundreds of square miles. In America a, layer 
 of coal twelve feet thick is considered large. 
 
 The French have not been wise in some respects. 
 They have tried to keep other people away from their 
 colonies and to preserve all the trade for themselves 
 by charging heavy taxes on all foreign goods. This 
 has made it difficult for the colonies to grow. In 
 another way the French have been extremely wise. Thev 
 have constructed beautiful cities. Hanoi, the capital of 
 Tongking, is one of the finest cities in the East. Its 
 wide streets are well paved and its buildings are hand- 
 some. Everything has been done to keep it clean and to 
 prevent the fevers which are so deadly to Europeans 
 and Americans 
 
INDO-CHINA AND THE MALAY PENINSULA 295 
 
 Annam. The coast of Annam is in some ways like 
 the west coast of Asia Minor. Since the time, long ago, 
 when the border of the land in this region sank below the 
 sea, the short riv^ers running down from the mountains 
 have filled up the gulfs with mud. To-day the habit- 
 able part of Annam consists of a great many little deltas 
 forming a fringe of rich land between the sea and the bar- 
 ren hills. The strong northeast monsoon winds blowing 
 against the coast make navigation difficult. Turan is 
 the only good harbor. In some places the wind has 
 caused currents which have built up long sand bars, 
 behind which are pretty lagoons. Near Hue, the capi- 
 tal, a canal thirty miles long follows such lagoons. 
 
 The Annamese, with their big lips and high cheek bones, 
 are an ugly people in appearance. They have the repu- 
 tation of being surly and dishonest but fairly industrious 
 for a tropical race. A proverb current in Indo-China 
 shows how they are regarded. "A slave," runs the 
 proverb, "is valuable according to his honesty. A Lao 
 from the mountain districts is worth one hundred sixty 
 dollars, a Cambodian from the Mekong delta is worth 
 one hundred dollars, and an Annamese is such a liar 
 that he is worth only forty dollars." In Annam, as in 
 all parts of Indo-China except the Malay Peninsula, 
 the women do more work than the men, not only at 
 home but in public. In the markets women and girls 
 tend the shops. On the streets they go about bearing 
 on their shoulders long poles on the ends of which hang 
 pails of fish, bunches of vegetables, or baskets of ducks. 
 
 Cochin-China : The Mekong and the Cambodian Ruins. 
 In approaching the delta of the Mekong — the southern 
 part of the French possessions — the shore appears low, 
 flat, and uninteresting. The sea is bordered by somber 
 groves of the mangrove, which grows in salt water and 
 
296 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 sends down roots from the branches. Behind the 
 mangroves a strip of wet land supports a kind of palm 
 tree much used for thatching roofs. Then come broad 
 rice lands. Saigon, the capital, lies on a tributary of the 
 Mekong. Like many other cities lying on the deltas of 
 great rivers, it is some miles inland from the sea. It 
 is a strange, lazy city. As one approaches it, houses are 
 seen on stilts, with boats tethered under them. In the 
 suburbs some of the houses are set on pillars of brick, 
 while around them, surrounded by walls of cacti, rich 
 gardens contain orange trees, pomeloes, cocoa palms, 
 breadfruits, and bananas. 
 
 A large lake called Tale Sap lies two hundred miles 
 northwest of Saigon. When the Mekong River is in 
 flood during the rainy season, a branch flows into the 
 great lake, causing it to rise. During the dry season the 
 river falls rapidly, and the water from the lake begins to 
 
 View of the water front at Saigon 
 
INDO-CHINA AND THE MALAY PENINSULA 297 
 
 flow the other way, into the river. Thus the level of 
 the lake varies thirty or even forty feet from season to 
 season. It is three times as large in the early fall as in 
 the early spring. Many fishermen live on its banks in 
 houses perched high on bam.boo posts. When the lake 
 rises they take down their houses and move them back; 
 when it falls they move their houses forward, so that 
 they always live on the shore. 
 
 Many wonderful ruins are located north of the great 
 inland lake of Tale Sap. A thousand or more years ago 
 immigrants came into the country, probably from north- 
 ern India. They had much more energy than the present 
 inhabitants, for they had lived in a land where life was 
 less easy and the climate more bracing than in Cochin- 
 China. In honor of the Buddhist religion, which they 
 brought from their former home, the new settlers built 
 vast temples, which are still among the most wonderful 
 buildings in the world. One finds them even in the 
 midst of the uninhabited forest. Tropical trees now 
 grow where throngs of people once gathered to worship, 
 and climbing vines drape the walls and pull them to 
 pieces. From top to bottom the older and better 
 buildings are made of stone, including even the roofs, 
 which are so carefully hewed and fitted that the stones 
 still stand in place. The natives of Cambodia care little 
 now for their great buildings. Almost the only visitors 
 are foreigners. 
 
 Siam: The Tides of the Menam. Bangkok, a little 
 way inland from the mouth of the Menam River, is one 
 of the great cities of the East. Here the King of Siam 
 has his gaudy palace and his stables for the sacred white 
 elephants. Here too one finds beautiful modern streets 
 and many signs of progress, but most of the people 
 live in the fashion of their fathers, in houses perched 
 
298 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 • 
 
 on piles or in boats on the river. Some of the people 
 who live in boats pay rent for the places where they 
 cast anchor. If they are not satisfied with the landlord 
 or cannot pay the rent, they need only to pull up anchor 
 and row awav. Moving for them is a very easy matter. 
 
 The tides of the sea at Bangkok are very strange. In 
 almost every other part of the world two high tides 
 occur each day. At Bangkok at certain times there 
 is only one, because for some peculiar reason tides 
 coming from different directions meet and offset one 
 another. If a high tide occurs at noon, there is none at 
 midnight, as there would be in other places. After a 
 day or two a little tide begins to be felt halfway between 
 the noon tides. Day by day this increases and the 
 other decreases until the two are equal. Then after 
 ten or twelve days the tide which was formerly large 
 disappears, and the one which began twelve days before 
 is now the only tide. At Bangkok, as at most cities on 
 deltas near the mouths of rivers, the tides are of great 
 importance. A sand bar lies across the mouth of the 
 Menam which can be crossed by steamers only at high 
 tide. Many large ships have to be loaded outside the 
 bar by means of Chinese sailboats. 
 
 Elephants. Siam is often called the Land of the 
 White Elephant. White elephants are not really white 
 but only pale gray or spotted with white. They are 
 albinos. The Siamese believe that the soul of a king 
 lives in every white elephant, which therefore deserves 
 worship. Ordinary elephants are very useful in most 
 parts of Indo-China and also in India. Every year a 
 royal elephant hunt is conducted in Siam. Hundreds 
 of men go out into the jungle, and place themselves at 
 intervals of a few hundred feet so as to form a circle 
 many miles in circumference. At a set time all move 
 
INDO-CHINA AND THE MALAY PENINSULA 299 
 
 toward the center, driving all the elephants within the 
 circle inward to the vicinity of a great stockade. The 
 huge animals are finally driven into this stockade by men 
 mounted on the heads of tame elephants. Sometimes two 
 hundred elephants are driven in at once. The great 
 beasts are very wild and it is hard work to catch them. A 
 long bamboo rope is thrown around the foot of an animal 
 and the ends are fastened to two posts close together. 
 Then as the elephant struggles to get free, the rope is 
 gradually pulled in until the animal is fastened close to 
 the posts. Next a tame elephant is brought up and 
 is made to push the wild elephant over, after which 
 another leg is tied. 
 
 When an elephant has been kept hungry a few days, 
 it grows less wild, and after a little it learns to obey its 
 master and to work in various ways most cleverly. The 
 driver sits on the animal's great head and directs him 
 by pressing with one leg or the other behind the big 
 ears. When the elephant does not behave well, the 
 driver prods him with a sharp hook. Passengers are 
 carried on elephants' backs in big saddles called how- 
 dahs, which have on each side a little box to carry 
 one person. The elephant is the only animal which can 
 be used as a beast of burden in the thick jungle, espe- 
 cially in the wet season. When it comes to a tree blocking 
 the way, it puts its great head against it and pushes it 
 aside. If branches hang down where they would hit 
 the passengers, it breaks them oE with its trunk. 
 
 Teak, One of the greatest uses of elephants is in 
 piling the heavy logs of the teak tree. The logs are cut 
 in the highlands of upper Siam and Burma. First a 
 tree is girdled, that is the bark is cut off in a ring near 
 the bottom, which causes the tree to die. It is left for 
 two years to dry, after which it is cut down and then 
 
30O 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 carried by an elephant to a river, down which it floats on 
 a lumber raft to the sea. To get a teak tree to Bangkok 
 
 Copvtlght by Undprwoo^ k Ooderwowd 
 
 Elephants piling teak in a timber yard m Rangoon 
 
 takes four years from the time it is first girdled. When 
 the trees are to be piled up or loaded into vessels, the 
 elephants lift the logs very carefully and balance them 
 on their tusks. The intelligent animals carry them where 
 the driver bids, and place them in symmetrical piles. 
 
 The elephant is the largest and strongest of animals, 
 but it is afraid of many things. A trained elephant 
 often shies at the sight of a small dog. The great crea- 
 tures are said to be extremely afraid of mice. When they 
 see one, they lift up their trunks and trumpet in abject 
 terror for fear the mouse will run up their long nostrils. 
 Yet the same elephants are not at all afraid of tigers. 
 
 Burma: Rice. In all parts of Indo-China rice grows 
 abundantly. The Ir^wadi valley in Burma is perhaps the 
 best place for it. Rangoon is the greatest rice market 
 in the world. Rice grows in a husk like oats. The 
 husk, which sticks very closely to the grain, is removed 
 
I\DO-CHINA AND THE MALAA' PENINSULA 301 
 
 by pounding the kernels gently in a mill or by putting 
 the grains between millstones which are just far enough 
 apart to tear off the coat, and which often break the 
 kernels. The inner skin of rice contains much food and 
 ought to be eaten with the rest of the grain, but in 
 America and Europe people like to have their rice pure 
 white. To make it so, the husked rice is run through 
 a mill where it is thrown against soft leather again and 
 again, thus wearing off the surface and making the 
 grains white and polished, and at the same time greatly 
 injuring their taste and their value as food. 
 
 The Burmese. The Burmese are handsome people and 
 some of the women are beautiful. Both men and women 
 are very fond of pretty clothes and, like little children, 
 love to have people look at them and praise them. In 
 the mountains of Burma there are many wild tribes 
 who wear almost no clothing. Instead of putting on 
 gay garments, they prick figures in the skin and rub in 
 blue, red, or brown coloring matter, so that their naked 
 bodies are covered with designs like those of our wall 
 papers. They think that this tattooing, as it is called, 
 prevents them from becoming sick and makes it impos- 
 sible for their enemies to hurt them. 
 
 Religion and Education. The Burmese and Siamese 
 are Buddhists and are very religious people, and their 
 countries are full of pagodas and monasteries. The 
 monks who live in the monasteries wear long yellow 
 robes. They go around the country begging in order 
 to support the monasteries. Being forbidden to ask 
 people for money, they merely hold out their bowls 
 for the passer-by to put in whatever he chooses. All 
 Burmese and Siamese men are supposed to become 
 monks for some part of their lives, but do not do so. 
 All who want an education, however, must go to the 
 
302 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 monasteries, for there are no other schools except a few 
 which have been established recently. When parents 
 want their boys to study, they send them to a monas- 
 tery to stay two or three years. Unfortunately, the 
 monks teach them almost nothing except to read the 
 holy Buddhist books. Not many centuries ago our 
 own ancestors were educated in much the same way. 
 
 The Malays. AVhile Burmese women have more free- 
 dom than those of any other Asiatic country except 
 modern Japan, Mala}' women are kept shut up like 
 those of Turkey. They are never allowed to see any 
 men except their husbands, fathers, and brothers. If a 
 man accidentally touches a veiled woman in a crowded 
 street, it is considered a deadly insult. This is partly 
 because the Malays are Mohammedans and partly be- 
 cause they have fiery tempers. 
 
 The Malay Peninsula: Tin and Edible Bird's-nests. 
 The forests of the Malay Peninsula are the densest of 
 all those in Indo-China. All parts of the peninsula con- 
 tain tin, which is found, like gold, in beds of gravel, and 
 looks like black sand. One of the most unusual products 
 of this region is edible bird's-nests, which the Chinese 
 eat. They are found on islands off the east coast of 
 Indo-China from Annam to Singapore. They are made 
 by a species of swallow or swift which gathers a special 
 variety of seaweed and weaves it into a nest. The nests 
 are rather tasteless to Europeans. When cooked they 
 look like the kind of maccaroni called vermicelli. They 
 are so valuable that some of the Malay chiefs, who own 
 the islands, keep soldiers there to prevent the nests 
 from being stolen. The swifts build their nests on the 
 sides of cliffs in almost inaccessible places. The only 
 way to get them is by means of long poles or by letting 
 men down with ropes from the top of the cliff. 
 
INDO-CHINA AND THE MALAY PENINSULA 303 
 
 At the present time half the people of the Malay 
 Peninsula are Chinese. They work in the mines, raise 
 pepper, export wood, and engage in manjr kinds of 
 business. Many of them live in the two great cities of 
 Penang and Singapore. At the beginning of the 
 nineteenth century neither place had any inhabitants. 
 To-day they are two of the world's important cities. 
 Their growth is due to the extensive use of steamships 
 and to the freedom which England has granted to all 
 people to come to them and trade without paying 
 taxes or customs. These two places, small in area but 
 great in business, are of more importance to the world 
 than all the rest of the Malay Peninsula. —Trade worth 
 millions of dollars passes through them every year. 
 They show how great an influence England has had upon 
 the trade of the East. In the next chapter we shall see 
 how England is shaping the history of India and is 
 altering the life of the people of that great country. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 INDIA 
 
 The Diversity of India. People often speak of India 
 as if it were a single country inhabited by a single race. 
 Really it consists of various countries inhabited by 
 diverse races speaking many languages and professing 
 several religions. India is only half as large as the 
 United States, but it contains between three and four 
 times as many people. In place of the one language 
 which is spoken practically everywhere among us, India 
 has one hundred twenty languages. Hindi, used in 
 a large part of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, is spoken by as 
 many people as there are in the United States. Bengali, 
 
 Among the snow-crowned summits of the Himalayas in 
 north India 
 
 304 
 
India 305 
 
 which is used in the province of Bengal at the mouth 
 of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, is spoken by half as 
 
 k 
 
 ^ 
 
 i 
 
 L 
 
 
 
 i^^l^y^.^; 
 
 _--^mm 
 
 A home characteristic of the coast region of the TI atirn Gh its, 
 south India 
 
 many. Each of eighteen other languages is the tongue 
 of from one to twenty million people ; and of the remain- 
 ing hundred, each is spoken by from a thousand to a 
 million. 
 
 Imagine what the United States would be like if each 
 section were inhabited by a separate race with its own 
 language and habits. To illustrate: Suppose that Cali- 
 fornia were full of Chinese, and Oregon and Washington 
 of Japanese. Let the ancient Aztecs, who lived in cliff 
 dwellings, still inhabit Arizona and New Mexico. Put 
 Spaniards in Texas and Florida, and French in the inter- 
 vening states. Now imagine the rest of the southern 
 states to be inhabited by various tribes of negroes still 
 speaking the languages of Africa and worshiping Afri- 
 can fetishes. Lastly let Pennsylvania be inhabited by 
 Poles and Russians, New York by Dutch, New England 
 and the Mississippi Valley by English, and the moun- 
 tainous parts of the country by strong tribes of savage 
 
3o6 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Indians. Suppose that each of these races kept apart 
 by itself; then the United States would be somewhat 
 like India. 
 
 The Religions of India: The Hindus. "In America 
 we can rarely judge of a man's religion by his dress. 
 Most of us are Christians, either Protestant or Catholic, 
 and a few are Jews ; but that makes very little difference 
 in the ordinary business of life. If we go into a store 
 or a restaurant in the city, we have no idea whether 
 the clerks and waiters are of one religion or another. 
 We do not care much, provided we get what we want. 
 In India it is very different. A person who has lived 
 there long will look at a man and say, "That is a Hindu 
 of the goldsmiths' caste. I know him by the marks 
 that are painted on his forehead. ' ' Of another he will say, 
 "See that Parsi, with his black cap like a miter!" or, 
 "There goes a Brahman; see his brass bowl! Among 
 the Hindus he is a very holy man. If that goldsmith 
 should touch his food, the Brahman would throw it 
 away because he would consider it unclean. That 
 naked low-caste man over there, with nothing but a 
 cloth around his loins, dare not come within twent}' 
 feet of the holy man." 
 
 Everywhere in India religion is extremely important. 
 It regulates how a man shall eat and drink and sleep. It 
 decides what his business shall be. For the svstem 
 of caste compels a son to do exactly the same sort of 
 work that his father, grandfather, and great-grand- 
 father did before him. But strangely enough, religion 
 has very little to do with the way a man acts, as to what 
 is right and wrong. A Hindu believes that he can 
 commit all sorts of sins and still be a very good man. 
 He needs only to bathe in the Ganges River, or become 
 a beggar and perhaps keep his arm stretched out stiff 
 
INDIA 
 
 307 
 
 for year after year, and all his sins will be forgiven. 
 Two-thirds of all the people of India are Hindus, who 
 
 
 ^ , 
 
 
 ^K"^^Si8^P 
 
 '"•T . „ .. 
 
 ■■upripiiii^^HL.- '&t^§9^i£p^^™ 
 
 
 Le*^ 
 
 Hindu temple at the sanctuary of Wai, Bombay 
 
 worship idols and think that cows and oxen are holy. 
 They are divided into hundreds of castes, among which 
 the Brahmans are the most holy. We shall see more 
 of the Hindus later. 
 
 Mohammedans, Buddhists, and Animists. Among 
 the people of India who are not Hindus about sixty 
 million are Mohammedans, who pray with their faces 
 toward Mecca and swear by the beard of Mohammed. 
 The King of England, who is also the Emperor of India, 
 has twice as many Mohammedan subjects as has the 
 Sultan of Turkey. The remainder of the people of India 
 profess various religions. Some are mild Buddhists like 
 the Chinese and Burmese. Others, called Animists, 
 are mere savages who believe that every rock, tree, river, 
 and hill is the home of a spirit. If the spirits become 
 angry, they are supposed to bring sickness or accident 
 
3o8 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 or death upon the people who wrong them. When a 
 savage wants to dig a hole in the ground or to make 
 a little clearing in the dense forest, he sets out a small 
 bowl of rice or of palm wine for the spirits of the place. 
 The poor ignorant man thinks that the supposed spirits 
 are like men and that they will be so pleased with 
 the offering that they will not object to having their 
 homes disturbed. 
 
 The Sikhs. One of the most interesting religions 
 in India is that of the Sikhs — a strong, sturdy people 
 from the foothills of the Himalayas, They revere the 
 holy Brahman caste of the Hindus but do not wor- 
 ship idols. Their religious services are much like those 
 of Protestants. They meet in temples which are free 
 from images and pictures. There they sing hymns, 
 pray, read from the "Granth" — their holy book, — and 
 listen sometimes to preaching. The Sikhs are soldiers 
 by profession and have been so for hundreds of 3'ears. 
 Many serve in the part of the British army which is 
 composed of natives of India. Others become policemen 
 and watchmen in all the British possessions from Hong- 
 kong to Aden. The\' will do no other work, for although 
 not Hindus they are bound by caste, and sons must 
 follow the profession of their fathers. 
 
 The Jains: Indian Art. The Jains, who have been 
 called the Quakers of India, have a religion which 
 resembles Hinduism, but is free from most of the worst 
 practices of that faith. Like all Hindus, the Jains 
 believe that the souls of animals pass into men. There- 
 fore, they will not kill any living creature, not even a 
 fly or a mosquito. They actually have hospitals for 
 animals. For instance at Ahmadabad, north of Bombay, 
 their hospital contains eight hundred old or sick animals 
 which are fed as long as they live. In the streets of 
 
SOS 
 
INDIA 309 
 
 towns and in the country the Jains set up little bird 
 houses on poles and place bird food in them daily, all 
 as part of their religion. The Jains live in many parts 
 of India but chiefly in Rajputana. They are largely 
 merchants and they are often very rich. One of the 
 things in which they deal is expensive cloth, some of 
 which is made of silver and gold thread. An Indian 
 jeweler, with only the clumsiest tools, can sit in his tiny 
 box of a shop and, taking a silver dollar, draw it out so 
 thin that it makes a mile of fine, soft thread. Some of 
 the cloth made of gold and silver is worth a thousand 
 or even five thousand dollars a yard. It is not worn by 
 women, as one would expect, but by men, the native 
 princes of India. The women in most parts of the 
 country are kept in seclusion and are obliged to veil 
 their faces in public. 
 
 The Parsis. Though the Jains are good merchants, 
 they are excelled by the Parsis of Bombay, who belong 
 to quite a dift'erent race and religion. Parsi is the same 
 word as Persian. Long ago the ancestors of the Parsis 
 were so persecuted by the Mohammedans of Persia 
 that they left their own country and came to India. 
 They carefully brought with them the sacred fire which 
 they worship. It is never allowed to go out. In the 
 morning on the seashore at Bombay one often sees 
 Parsis bowing down in worship to the rising sun, the 
 source of all life, as they think. To them the earth is 
 holy, so the bodies of the dead cannot be buried in it. 
 Fire too is holy, so bodies cannot be burned, as is the 
 custom of the Hindus. Therefore, in the famous white 
 Towers of Silence at Bombay the Parsis expose the 
 bodies of their dead in the open air for ugly birds called 
 vultures to devour. Aside from the British, the Parsis 
 are the most progressive people in India. Most of the 
 
3IO ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 races of India are immigrants who have come to the 
 country at various times from the north or west. The 
 latest who came as conquerors were the famous Moguls 
 from central Asia, who founded a great kingdom and 
 built wonderful palaces and mosques. Other races, 
 like the Parsis, came as exiles; and the latest great 
 invaders, the British, came as merchants. 
 
 Causes of the Diversity of India. India is a land of 
 contrasts. We have seen how the inhabitants of the 
 country vary in race, language, and religion. They 
 vary equally in habits. All the variations are due to 
 two great causes. In the first place, unnumbered tribes 
 and races have invaded India, bringing with them their 
 own habits. In the second place, the mountains, plains, 
 climate, plants, and animals of India vary greatlv from 
 place to place. Because of this, people are bound to live 
 in very different ways in different parts of the country. 
 Until the English introduced railroads, it was hard to 
 travel from one part of India to another, harder even 
 than in many other parts of Asia. There were rivers and 
 mountains to cross, and jungles full of savage tigers and 
 deadly snakes to be traversed. Each race was under its 
 own government, which was very suspicious of strangers; 
 and every Hindu traveler was much afraid that he 
 would do something which would defile him and make 
 him lose his caste. Naturally, then, the people of the 
 various parts of India have had very little to do with 
 one another and are very diverse. Let us see how great 
 the contrasts are. 
 
 The Contrast between Sind and Bengal. On the map 
 of India it appears at first sight as if the provinces 
 called Sind and Bengal ought to be much alike. Sind 
 is a great plain lying in the west of India along the lower 
 course of the Indus River, a little north of the Tropic of 
 
INDIA 311 
 
 Cancer. Bengal is a similar plain lying in the east of 
 India along the lower courses of the Ganges and Brahma- 
 putra rivers, partly north and partly south of the Tropic 
 of Cancer. When we look closely at a large map, we 
 begin to notice differences. Bengal is crisscrossed with 
 railroads, while Sind has very few. Many lines of 
 steamboats are marked as coming to Calcutta in Bengal, 
 and only one or two as coming to Karachi in Sind. 
 Calcutta, as everyone knows, is the capital of India and 
 one of the largest cities in the world, while Karachi is a 
 new city, the location of which is actually unknown to 
 many intelligent people. Another noticeable fact is 
 that on a large map the country of Bengal is covered 
 with the names of towns and cities, while in Sind the 
 names are few and unimportant. When we inquire, we 
 are told that Bengal has about five hundred fifty 
 inhabitants for every square mile, while Sind has only 
 sixty-eight. Scores of books contain descriptions of 
 Bengal and its clever, cowardly people, short, well- 
 fed, and plump. Only a few have anything to say about 
 the tall, warlike people of Sind. 
 
 Description of Bengal. In Bengal the plain is broad 
 and green. Fertile rice fields are fringed with an ever- 
 green border of bamboo, and cocoanut, areca, and other 
 palms. Here and there a single huge banyan, or sacred 
 fig tree, looks like a small grove festooned with great 
 creeping vines full of gorgeous flowers. The roads 
 swarm with swarthy people, scantily dressed in dirty 
 sheets of white cotton wound gracefully around their 
 smooth bodies. Occasionally a wealthy landowner is 
 seen riding pompously in a springless two-wheeled cart 
 drawn by one horse. His head is covered by a snow-- 
 white turban banded with gold. Earrings of pearl and 
 gold hang from his olive ears, and around his neck 
 
312 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 a chain of amethysts and emeralds rests on a robe of 
 rose-colored satin. In contrast to this magnificence it is 
 most surprising to see that his lower garment is a pair of 
 cheap, frayed pajamas of white cotton ; his legs below the 
 knee are bare; and his feet are stuck into old carpet 
 slippers. Such contrasts of beauty and shabbiness are 
 common in India. 
 
 At first sight one wonders where the people live, for 
 not a farmhouse is in sight. It is evident that the 
 population is dense, for moist, green rice fields stretch 
 as far as the eye can see. In some fields the grain is tall 
 and in others short, for there are many kinds of rice, and 
 we are told that three hundred varieties are raised in the 
 province. Soon the road approaches a clump of palms 
 and bamboos, and as we draw near we see that the trees 
 conceal a village. Little mud houses with conical roofs 
 of thatch stand crowded close together, looking like 
 beehives. Ponds, or "tanks," of green stagnant water 
 fill hollows where mud has been dug up for the houses. 
 The village itself stands on a little elevation, for in the 
 rainy season the waters of the Ganges and Brahmaputra 
 sometimes flood the country for miles and miles. Beside 
 the quaint village flows a small branch of the river. It 
 is covered with boats which sail up and down, carrying 
 vegetables and grain for Calcutta and the other cities. 
 
 Like bees the brown-skinned, cheerful people swarm in 
 the village streets. In one part of the village people 
 can be seen threshing rice by driving oxen around upon 
 it. Others are throwing the broken, threshed straw up 
 into the wind to winnow out the grain. Women in 
 sheds are husking the rice by working a beam which 
 rises and falls, pounding the kernels. In other sheds 
 o.xen are walking round and round, turning a stone mill 
 which presses linseed oil from the seed of flax. Another 
 
' INDIA 313 
 
 mill, perhaps standing out of doors, is pressing out the 
 juice of the sugar cane, which is put into large pans 
 and boiled down to sugar. The people are very poor, 
 but they seem happy and contented. Wherever one 
 goes he finds the Bengalis, as the inhabitants are called, 
 talking constantly; and their talk is ever of money and 
 the price of rice and butter. 
 
 Description of Sind. Far away on the other side of 
 India, in Sind, the scene is very different. The hot air, 
 heavy with dusty haze, shimmers over a plain of vellow 
 sand. In many places great dunes rise to a height of 
 from fifty to one hundred feet. Inch b}' inch they are 
 driven forward by strong winds from the west. The 
 traveler by train shuts all the windows to keep out the 
 dust. The traveler on horseback or by camel longs for 
 the night, when the glare of the sun will give place to the 
 beautiful evening tints of pink, yellow, and brown, and 
 when he and his weary %,nimals can rest in an oasis 
 watered by the great Indus. 
 
 There in the oasis all is life and activity. The tall 
 men of Sind, in their voluminous headdresses, are 
 busy watering fields of rice and wheat or thrift}' orchards 
 of figs and other luscious fruits. The roads are dusty and 
 so are the trees, but there are many signs of prosperity. 
 Yet, through it all one sees that the people are very poor. 
 The majority have enough to eat and that is all. They 
 talk of the famine which came last year and bless the 
 English for having built canals, which now bring abun- 
 dant water to every man's fields. They wonder, too, how 
 the Baluchis are getting on and whether they will be 
 peaceable if the crops are bad. All the grown men 
 remember the old days when they used to fight with 
 plundering neighbors. They still have the spirit of 
 soldiers, and one of them is worth half a dozen Bengalis 
 
314 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 in a time of danger, although the Bengali is vastly 
 cleverer than they when it comes to talking or studying. 
 
 The Monsoon Rains. The difference between Bengal 
 and Sind is much greater than that between Florida and 
 New Mexico. It is as great as that between Italy and the 
 desert of northern Africa. In Sind the rainfall amounts 
 to only about four inches in a year. How small this 
 amount is may be judged from the fact that in a single 
 month most parts of the eastern United States receive 
 a greater quantity. Without irrigation the country 
 is as dry and barren as the Sahara. With irrigation it 
 becomes as fertile as Egypt. Bengal on the contrary 
 is very rainy. In India, as in Eastern Asia, the rain de- 
 pends almost wholly on the monsoon winds which blow 
 from the northeast in winter and from the southwest in 
 summer. The northeast winds blow across the Bay of 
 Bengal and, rising gently over the low irregular range of 
 the Eastern Ghats, shed rain*in the eastern part of the 
 Indian Peninsula and in Ceylon in winter. The remainder 
 of the country is then quite dry, although a little rain 
 falls in Bengal and it storms occasionally in the north. 
 
 In summer when the winds blow from the southwest, 
 almost all parts of India receive some rain. On the 
 westerri shore, from Bombay southward, the Western 
 Ghats cause the air to rise so rapidly that ver}^ heavy 
 rains fall. A little farther east, beyond the crest of the 
 Ghats, the rainfall is much less. In ordinary years, how- 
 ever, it is enough for crops. In the southern part of the 
 peninsula, in the neighborhood of Madras and Mj^sore, 
 rain falls more or less at all times of the year, since both 
 monsoons come from the ocean. North of Bombay on 
 the west coast the rainfall diminishes, because the south- 
 west winds are less regular and because the height of 
 the mountains diminishes. In Sind the country is so low 
 
INDIA 31S 
 
 and flat that the air of the monsoons is scarcely obliged 
 to rise at all in passing over it. As the land is usually- 
 warmer than the ocean, there is nothing to cool the air. 
 Hence almost no rain falls in Sind. Where there are 
 mountains, for example the Aravalli Hills to the east 
 and the Vindhya Range to the southeast, there is enough 
 rain to make it possible to raise crops without irriga- 
 tion. Farther north in the Punjab and in all the region 
 from the upper Indus to Bengal, the Indo-Gangetic 
 Plain lies at the base of the Himalayas. It therefore 
 receives a fairly large rainfall, which makes it possible 
 for northern India to support a vast population. In 
 Bengal the rains are still heavier than in the region to the 
 northwest, because the eastern Himalayas are not far 
 from the sea. 
 
 Assam, in the valley of the Brahmaputra at the base of 
 the Himalayas northeast of Bengal, is the rainiest place 
 in the world. In a single year nearly 500 inches of rain 
 often falls. That is, if none of the rain ran off from the 
 place where it fell and none were lost by evaporation, 
 the water would be more than forty feet deep at the end 
 of the year. In a single day forty or fifty inches have been 
 known to fall. In other words this part of Assam some- 
 times receives as much rain in one day as the eastern 
 United States receives in a year. The drier parts of the 
 United States, such as Arizona, do not receive as much 
 rain in five years as Assam does in twenty-four hours. 
 Naturally, Assam abounds in great streams, that land 
 possessing large rivers where we possess mere creeks. 
 Because of the heavy downpour of water the soil is 
 washed away completely from all parts of the mountains 
 where the slope is at all steep, and nothing but bare rock 
 remains. Elsewhere the forest grows most luxuriantly. 
 Those who have been in this region in the rainy season 
 
3i6 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 say that the climate is not so disagreeable as might be 
 expected, for the mornings are generally sunny, so that 
 clothes and houses have a chance to dry. 
 
 The moisture of the southern part of Bengal, around 
 Calcutta, is much more trying than that of Assam. 
 There, the air is hot and muggy all the time in summer. 
 Clothes that are put in a closet mold in two or three 
 days. Foreigners who stay through the summer have 
 special servants who take out all the clothes every day 
 and air them. Otherwise everything would be spoiled. 
 In winter Calcutta is decidedly warm, but the tempera- 
 ture is no higher than that which prevails in most parts 
 of America in summer. In summer Calcutta is not 
 much warmer than in winter, but the climate is so 
 damp as to be almost unendurable. There, and in most 
 parts of India except the mountains and the far north, 
 Europeans are quite sure to grow ill if they remain 
 3'ear after year. English children, after they are five or 
 six years old, have to be" sent home to England, or else 
 they grow pale and thin. 
 
 The Three Great Divisions of India. Sind and Bengal 
 do not represent the greatest contrast that may be found 
 in India. These two regions differ primarily in climate 
 alone, although this of course gives rise to other differ- 
 ences. Other places differ not only in climate but in 
 the height of the land above the sea, the extent to which 
 it has been cut up into mountains and valleys, the 
 distance from the sea, the nature of the soil and 
 minerals, and the presence or absence of easy routes of 
 travel. 
 
 India is naturally divided into three main divisions. 
 On the north lie the great mountains extending north- 
 eastward from southern Baluchistan to the Pamirs and 
 then southeastward along the line of the Himalayas 
 
INDIA 
 
 317 
 
 to the Burmese ranges. This vast barrier protects 
 India from invasion by the people of the east and 
 
 Traveling in the Deccan 
 
 north and from the cold winds of central Asia. It also 
 furnishes life to the country at its base. 
 
 Without the mountains the second great division of 
 the country would be almost waterless. From the 
 mouth of the Indus, in Sind, a vast plain of the finest, 
 most fertile soil extends up the Indus to the great prov- 
 ince of the Punjab, or "land of the five rivers." It 
 then follows the Ganges down through the rich and 
 enormously populous provinces of Agra and Oudh to 
 Bengal and Assam. In these great plains — the second 
 main division of India — live twice as many people as in 
 the United States. Except the plains of China no other 
 large area of the earth's surface can compare with 
 them in density of population. 
 
 The great peninsula extending from the Aravalli 
 Hills and Vindhya Range southward to Ceylon is 
 
3i8 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 the third great division, and comprises the rest of India. 
 In the north it consists of low mountains ; in the center, 
 of the low plateau known as the Deccan; and again 
 in the south, of mountains. It contains a population 
 as great as that of the United States, but the people 
 have not much energy, and have done very little to 
 make themselves important in the world. 
 
 The Himalayas. It is hard to realize the beauty and 
 majesty of the Himalayas. At their foot lies a val- 
 ley, the Terai, so warm and damp and low that it is 
 almost uninhabitable. Dense jungles of bamboo and 
 all manner of tropical trees form the haunt of strange 
 beasts and birds and of a few poor ignorant savages. 
 Yet even for the hunter the Terai is not a good place. It 
 is too full of mosquitoes and other stinging creatures, 
 and its climate is such that fevers are prevalent. 
 Snakes are very numerous, and the danger of death 
 is always present. As long as the mountains pour 
 down their floods and the tropical sun beats hot, the 
 Terai can scarcely become the home of civilized man. 
 
 Beyond the Terai the mountains begin to rise. At first 
 they are covered with tropical trees. Monkeys swing 
 in the tree tops, and white ants eat houses and every 
 other sort of dead wood. A little higher the scenery 
 changes. The plants of the Temperate Zone begin to 
 make their appearance, and tea plantations cover the 
 fair slopes. The European begins to revive in the fresh 
 air, which feels to him far better than the coolest evening 
 breeze feels to us after a hot day. Higher yet, ever- 
 greens, like the pine and cedar, cover the slopes, and the 
 deodar with cones like brown Christmas candles appears. 
 Here at last is a country in which the white man can 
 live. There is not much of it, however. Quickly the 
 mountains tower higher; bare rocks replace forests; and 
 
INDIA 
 
 319 
 
 high above the rugged slopes cold mountain peaks gleam 
 with snow which never melts. Even in summer the ther- 
 mometer goes down to zero on the higher ranges. Here 
 stands Everest, the highest of mountains, great K^nchan- 
 jang^, and a score of others more than five miles high. 
 
 Traveling in these mountains is not an easy matter. 
 No horse can climb to the lofty passes through the 
 deep snow. Yaks, perhaps, can be used — great, clumsy- 
 looking beasts like oxen, with long shaggy hair coming 
 down to their knees. Slowly and carefully they feel 
 among the stones, or in the snow on the steep slopes, to 
 find a foothold for their long, double-pointed-hoofs; then, 
 having placed their feet, they clamber upward , never hur- 
 rying and always safe. As they climb, they grunt like 
 huge pigs and grind their teeth most unpleasantly. 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 ^h 
 
 ^jjjftjto-x ^ J^y^^RSSt^ 
 
 h^SkhB^Sshbh^^I^I 
 
 bl^ 
 
 ^H^" f^^^Wi 
 
 ^^^^fm 
 
 hhh^^ 
 
 W^^^^^" y ^^tM 
 
 y yj^^^^s 
 
 |yUj||Upp 
 
 ),,^^. "^^rij^^ 
 
 ^' ^'^^^B 
 
 S'^^**^ 
 
 ^^^^^^§ 
 
 ^^^^^^^ 
 
 * ^ 
 
 
 
 "' " *'4 
 
 :- ^w^^ 
 
 ^^^^1^^^^^ ** '**" 
 
 j€ & 
 
 A valley amon^ the hte,h steep slopes of the Himalayas 
 
320 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Some of the passes are too difficult even for yaks; 
 only men can climb them. The traveler must hire 
 
 Transportation in the Himdlayas 
 
 coolies who put loads of food, beds, tents, and every- 
 thing that will be needed for weeks, upon their backs. 
 Each man is supposed to carry sixty pounds, which is 
 no easy matter. In the high mountains far above the 
 clouds one's heart beats like the blows of a hammer, 
 shaking the whole body. A walk of a hundred yards 
 up a very gentle slope makes one feel as if he had run a 
 hard race. Every few minutes the climber must sit 
 down for a rest. Often the rarity of the air is such that 
 the pressure of the blood in the body bursts some thin 
 membrane, and people bleed at the ears and nose. 
 
 As the mountaineer wends his way over the snow on 
 a sunny day after a storm, a roar like distant thunder 
 strikes his ear. It grows louder, the coolies point 
 upward and, throwing off their loads, begin to run. Far 
 up on the side of a glistening white peak something 
 
INDIA 321, 
 
 is moving. It is an avalanche which every second grows 
 in size. It is coming straight for the path where the 
 caravan stands. The only thing to do is to run to one 
 side where, perhaps, it will be possible to escape from 
 being buried fifty feet deep under the rushing snow. 
 The coolies and the travelers save themselves, but all 
 the loads are lost, and it is necessary to go back and 
 begin again. 
 
 One of the finest things in the Himalayas is the huge 
 glaciers from five to thirty miles long. Like great white 
 tongues they wind down the valleys, carrying with them 
 thousands of tons of rock and gravel torn from the 
 bottoms of the valleys and the sides of the mountains. 
 From a distance they look smooth and soft. Close at 
 hand they are seen to be broken into huge cracks large 
 enough to engulf a hundred men. At the end of each 
 glacier acres and acres are covered by a moraine, a 
 great jumble of rocks of all shapes and sizes brought 
 down by the ice. From each moraine a milky river 
 springs forth, full fledged, from the melting snow of the 
 glacier. The hotter the sun, the faster the ice and 
 snow melt upon the mountains, and the larger the rivers. 
 It is easy now to see the origin of the floods which 
 descend to the plains and form the great rivers. India 
 may well be grateful to the mountains which give rise 
 to such rivers, for the water brings life to millions of 
 acres of good land. 
 
 Mtoasarowar, the Sacred Lake. North of the great 
 Himalayas a slight descent brings the traveler to the 
 lofty plateau of Tibet. Here lies the sacred lake of 
 Manasarowar, three miles above the sea. Every year 
 hundreds of Hindu pilgrims laboriously cross the snowy 
 passes to worship at this sacred spot. In their thin cot- 
 ton garments they shiver and shake with cold. They are 
 
32 2 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 lean, slender men well fitted to live in a hot country, but 
 not in one like Tibet. They suffer terribly in places 
 where the plump, fat Tibetans would be perfectly 
 warm and comfortable. Yet in spite of the cold they 
 bathe in the chill waters of the sacred lake, for such 
 is the command of their unsatisfying religion. 
 
 The Debt of India to the Himalayas. It almost seems 
 as if the pilgrims realized that the great mountains and 
 the rivers which center there furnish life to India. Near 
 Lake Manasarowar four great rivers take their rise and 
 cross the Himalayas into India. The Indus and its 
 chief tributary, the Sutlej, flow to the west and south- 
 west. The Brahmaputra and the Gogra, the principal 
 tributaries of the Ganges, flow to the east and southeast. 
 These streams and others from the southern side of the 
 Himalayas have built up the entire great plain of north- 
 ern India. They have carried away the rocks of the 
 mountains and have deposited them in the form of 
 the finest, richest soil, making a plain where one can 
 travel two thousand miles, from the mouth of the Indus 
 up to the Punjab and then down to the mouth of the 
 Ganges, without being able to find a single pebble. 
 Without the mountains there would be no plain of 
 northern India. And without the rain and rivers, to 
 which the mountains give rise, most of the plain would 
 be a desert like Sind. In our thought of India the 
 rugged snow-capped mountains with their clouds, rains, 
 snows, and glaciers must always be connected with the 
 smooth, warm plains with their abundant trees and 
 plants and their swarms of dusky, busy, superstitious 
 people. 
 
 The Indo-Gangetic Plain. We have seen something 
 of the two ends of the Indo-Gangetic Plain: Sind, 
 too dry and sterile to foster civilization, and Bengal, too 
 
INDIA 
 
 323 
 
 damp and muggy. Between the two and a little farther 
 north lies the best part of India: the provinces of the 
 Punjab, Agra, and Oudh. Here the great Indian nations 
 of the past have had their centers, and here the civiliza- 
 tion, industry, and wealth of the country center to-day. 
 From the low banks of the rivers the plains slope gently 
 away, dotted with villages and adorned with noble trees. 
 The houses of each village cluster thickly, and the brown 
 masses of flat-roofed mud buildings look cool and clean 
 in the purple shadows of the trees. Stretching from 
 village to village across the length of the land runs the 
 great white highway of the Sircar — the Road of the 
 Viceroy, the people call it. Its long avenues of trees give 
 
 Bullock carts and their drivers in the Indo-Gangetic Plain 
 
 welcome shade to creaking bullock carts and to the 
 white-robed, dust-covered figures of passing wayfarers. 
 Beyond the road and the villages the fields of the peas- 
 ants stretch away to the level horizon. In the winter-, 
 which is cool and bracing but not cold, they are green 
 with wheat and mustard. In the spring and early sum- 
 mer, when nature is at its best with us, they stretch away 
 
324 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 bare and brown under the yellow haze of a cloudless sky. 
 Day after day the merciless sun scorches the land with 
 an intensity unknown in more northern countries, and 
 all things long for rain. Then in June the southwest 
 monsoons begin to blov/ and the rains come; the air 
 grows cooler and damper, and the fields grow beautiful 
 with crops of millet, sugar cane, corn, and poppies. 
 
 Famines. As the villagers gather to gossip under the 
 trees in the cool of the evening, their talk, like that of the 
 Bengalis, is of the prices of food in the nearest bazaar. 
 Some sit on the steps around a sacred tank of dirty, 
 greenish water in front of the Hindu temple. Others 
 squat around the ugly figure of the kind god, Ganesa, 
 daubed with vermilion paint. Their prayer is ever for 
 rain. If the rains come at the right time and in the 
 
 Indian children rescued from famine, southern India 
 
INDIA 32s 
 
 necessary quantities, they are safe. If not, millions may 
 die. India, even more than China, is a land of famine. 
 
 In the old days the people used to die in hundreds 
 whenever the rainfall was scanty. Those who did not 
 die of hunger perished of pestilence and plague. Many 
 wandered away to other parts of the country and gave 
 themselves up to a life of stealing. Probably in this way 
 certain small castes were formed whose business it is to 
 steal. During the rainy season when the crops must be 
 raised, they work peaceably at home. In the dry season 
 they wander to far parts of the country on business, as 
 they would call it. They do not think it wrong to steal. 
 It is part of their religious duty. Their fathers did 
 it, and they must do it or else be put out of their caste. 
 
 Railroads. During the last hundred years of English 
 rule in India the ravages of famine have become much 
 less than formerly. The government has many times 
 fed hundreds of thousands of people who had not a morsel 
 of bread of their own. It has given work to other hun- 
 dreds of thousands. It has built railroads, so that food 
 can be brought from one part of the country to another. 
 
 We scarcely realize how much we depend upon rail- 
 roads. Suppose all the railroads leading to New York 
 should be destroyed. Soon the people of the great city 
 would begin to find it hard to get food. The price of 
 everything would go up. A loaf of bread that had been 
 five cents would be ten, then fifteen, and at last twenty, 
 thirty, and fifty. Poor people would very soon not be 
 able to buy enough to feed themselves and their families. 
 The weaker children would grow sick, and finally 
 hundreds and thousands of people would die. 
 
 In the old days India was like this. There might be 
 more than enough food in Bengal, while in Agra whole 
 villages would die of hunger because there was no way 
 
326 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 of carrying the food to them. Now all this has been 
 changed by the building of railroads by the English. 
 
 Irrigation. A still more important thing which the 
 English have done is to build great canals to carry the 
 water of the rivers to the fields. In regions watered by 
 the canals the farmers no longer depend entirely on the 
 rain. If the rain is late or scanty, they simply turn on 
 some water from a canal and plant the seed, knowing 
 that the crop will be good. vSome of the canals are great 
 rivers a hundred yards wide. Sometimes they are car- 
 ried over other streams and sometimes under. In the 
 Punjab great tracts which were formerly scrubby waste 
 land, too dry for anything but pasture, now form some 
 of the richest farms in the country. 
 
 When the Chenab Canal was built, its water was carried 
 to a region of this kind where nobody lived. British 
 officials laid out towns and farms. They decided on sites 
 for post offices, stores, roads, railroads, and everything 
 which a community would need. Then when all was 
 ready; the water was turned into the canals, and the whole 
 river was carried to the new coimtry. Poor people who 
 had suffered from famine and distress in other places were 
 allowed to buy the land very cheaply. In ten or twelve 
 years a million people had settled on land which once 
 was a desert. It was as if the state of Connecticut were 
 all a desert with nobody living in it, and the government 
 should spread the water of the Connecticut River over a 
 large part of the state, and the whole state should be 
 settled in a dozen years. 
 
 In spite of all that the English have done to improve 
 conditions, famines still occur. People who are thrifty 
 need not suffer from them now, but the unthriftv have 
 nothing laid by to use in buying food when their crops 
 are poor and prices are high. There are millions of such 
 
INDIA 327 
 
 people in India, and they will always suffer when the 
 rains fail, for irrigation is not possible everywhere. 
 
 The people of India have gladly adopted some new 
 things, such as railroads and irrigation canals which help 
 to prevent famines, but they prefer to do most things in 
 the old way. Many missionaries have tried to convert 
 the Hindus and the people of other religions, but only a 
 few hundred thousand have yet changed their faith. 
 The remainder of the people, to the number of three 
 hundred million, still believe in the old gods. 
 
 The Brahmans. The European traveler on the rail- 
 road is likely to be in a first-class car with windows well 
 curtained to keep out the sun, berths in which to sleep, 
 and a bathroom where he can frequently bathe or get a 
 drink of ice water. The poor native travels in a third- 
 class car, where people are crowded together like sheep 
 in a pen. Even when the natives are not compelled to 
 be so crowded, they seem to like it. 
 
 At almost every station scores of people come out of 
 the cars for a drink of water. On the platform stand 
 ragged, dirty men carrying sheepskin bags of water on 
 their backs and brass bowls wrapped in the girdles 
 around their waists. The thirsty crowd swarms around 
 them, but does not touch them. To one man the water 
 carrier hands a little bowl of water. The next does not 
 seem to expect a bowl. He holds his hands together like 
 a cup, close to his face, and the water carrier pours water 
 into them, while the thirsty passenger eagerly drinks. It 
 seems a- queer way to do, until one understands the 
 caste system of the Hindus. The water carrier is a Brah- 
 man, a member of the highest of all castes. The man 
 to whom he gave a bowl is also a Brahman; the other is 
 a member of a lower caste, whose touch would defile 
 the Brahman's bowl and oblige him to throw it away. 
 
328 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Brahmans cannot eat food which persons of a lower caste 
 have touched or drink water from a well or dish which 
 has been used by other castes. 
 
 A Brahman may be the most dirty, wretched, and 
 wicked of men, t>ut he is holy, and all men revere him 
 and give him presents and ask him to pray for them — 
 simply because his ancestors happen to have belonged 
 to what was once the caste of priests. If a Brahman 
 eats and drinks with people of a lower caste, he is 
 supposed to be defiled. He loses his holy character and 
 becomes an outcast. Thenceforth, unless he has plenty 
 of money to buy forgiveness, he is not a member of any 
 caste and is despised and illtreated by everyone. 
 
 Caste. Every Hindu belongs to one particular caste, 
 with its own customs and its own particular occupation. 
 A man can always take food from a person of a higher 
 caste, but not from one of a lower. All persons must 
 marry within their own caste. The grocers form one 
 caste, the druggists another, the shoemakers a third, and 
 so on. If Mr. Grocer travels, he takes food with him; 
 for he may be obliged to go to a village of tanners, whom 
 he would consider unclean. He could not stay in the 
 village long, for he would be almost sure to defile himself 
 in some way. Of course if there were a Brahman there, 
 he might get the holy man to cook for him, and this 
 would enable him to escape pollution. If Mr. Grocer's 
 son wants to become a dry-goods clerk, all his friends 
 and neighbors hold up their hands in horror, and say: 
 "The young man is an infidel. The gods will punish 
 those who act so wickedly!" 
 
 Marriage. If the young man settles down and 
 becomes a good grocer, we might think that he would 
 have trouble again because he would want to marry the 
 druggist's pretty daughter. Not a bit of it. When he 
 
INDIA 
 
 6^9 
 
 was tea years old, he was betrothed by his parents to 
 another grocer's Httle girl of six. They were married 
 when she was 
 twelve and he was 
 sixteen. Since then 
 she has led a stupid 
 life of hard work. 
 She does not mind 
 the washing and 
 cooking and sewing 
 and the care of the 
 children. The hard 
 part of life for a 
 Hindu woman is 
 that she is always 
 shut up and can 
 never go around 
 freely as men do. 
 Her ears are hung 
 with heavy ear- 
 rings. There is a A native doctor and his daughter 
 great silver button fastened into the left side of her 
 brown nose, and her bare round arms and legs are loaded 
 with beautiful rings of gold and silver, delicately carved 
 and set with precious stones. Around her waist is a 
 broad girdle of silver hung with coins and bangles. As 
 she walks her load of jewelry tinkles musically. Her 
 husband must be very fond of her to give her all those 
 expensive ornaments, one thinks. Perhaps he is fond 
 of her, but that is not why he bought the ornaments.. 
 He has done well in business and has some money 
 to invest. There are no native savings banks in India 
 and few good places to invest money. The best thing 
 to do with his savings, he thinks, is to buy jewelry; 
 
33° ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 and the safest place to keep the jewelry is on his wife or 
 himself. Sometimes one sees a coolie laborer wearing 
 nothing but a little loin cloth and a splendid silver girdle 
 encircling his naked body. He has saved something for 
 the day of famine. 
 
 Oftentimes girls in India are given in marriage when 
 they are scarcely more than babies. Their husbands 
 may be many, many years older than they, and may die 
 before the child wives grow up. Such little widows have 
 the saddest lives that can be imagined. According to 
 Hindu law they cannot be married again. If they stay 
 in the houses of their dead husbands, every one abuses 
 them. They cannot go out and earn a living by teach- 
 ing school or working in a store or office or factory. 
 Women do not do those things in India, except in a few 
 large cities like Cawnpur and Bombay, where large fac- 
 tories have lately been established. So hundreds of 
 thousands of them lead lives of utter misery. It is not 
 good to be a girl in India. 
 
 Religious Festivals: The Rites of Hinduism. The 
 happiest times for Hindus, and especially for the women, 
 are the great religious festivals. Every year hundreds 
 of thousands of men and women make pilgrimages to 
 Benares or some other sacred place. At Benares a great 
 city is almost entirely given up to temples and pilgrims. 
 The most important temples are along the banks of the 
 Ganges. In one temple stands the ugly figure of the 
 monkey god, and in the trees round about hundreds of 
 grinning monkeys quarrel and scold or drop down to 
 snatch some good thing from the worshiper's hands. 
 
 In the market place piles of fruit and vegetables are 
 spread out for sale. Among the crowds of eager pilgrims a 
 great bull is seen walking quietly along till he comes to 
 some fresh cabbages and stops to take a few bites. No one 
 
INDIA 
 
 331 
 
 seems to pay any attention to him. Although the shop- 
 keeper certainly sees him, he makes no attempt to drive 
 
 A Hindu temple 
 
 him away. Soon the bull goes on to another shop and 
 eats a little rice. Then another bull is seen with his 
 nose in a basket of figs. The bulls are holy animals. 
 Their homes are in the temples where the Hindus worship 
 them. The shopkeeper whose figs were eaten feels grate- 
 ful because he has won credit for himself in heaven, so 
 he believes, by giving something to the holy animal in 
 which is the spirit of some saint. Everywhere among 
 Hindus oxen and cows are revered. The milk of cows 
 is used, but the flesh is never eaten and the animals 
 are never killed. This is partly because cattle are so 
 very necessary to plow the fields, and there is not room 
 to keep many of them where there are so many people. 
 It is also partly because in a warm country like India^ 
 people do not feel the need of meat. Usually they 
 prefer millet, rice, wheat, vegetables, and fruit with 
 sugar and oil. 
 
332 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Along the Ganges River at Benares strange sights are 
 seen. On either side broad flights of steps lead from the 
 water's edge to tawdry temples topped with silver 
 domes. In one place sits a man with his body smeared 
 with oil and ashes. His left hand is raised to the back 
 of his head, and he never moves it. For years he has 
 kept it in that one position, until now he could not move 
 it if he would. By his side is a little brass bowl into 
 which a pilgrim now and then drops a little coin. The 
 man is a Brahman fakir, who pretends to be very holy 
 and who really believes that the gods are pleased to 
 have him spend his life in doing nothing but beg. 
 
 Near at hand squats a fakir of another kind, a con- 
 jurer. From the scanty rags which cover his nakedness 
 he pulls out a snake of the most poisonous kind and 
 wraps it around his neck. We think that its fangs have 
 been removed, but that is not true. It could kill a man 
 if it wished, but the fakir somehow knows how to keep it 
 quiet. Putting the snake into a covered basket, he 
 proceeds to astonish a crowd of pilgrims. In his hand 
 he takes a seed and plants it in the ground. In a few 
 minutes a little shoot appears; then a green leaf unrolls. 
 The plant grows before our eyes, inch by inch. Soon it 
 is a little tree, and on it appears a blossom, and at last 
 a fruit which the fakir takes off and hands to a pilgrim. 
 It is a fig. How the fakir works his tricks no one knows. 
 People have tried again and again to find out the secrets 
 of the Hindu jugglers, but without success. Perhaps 
 the fakir merely causes people to think that they see the 
 things which he wants them to see. 
 
 Brahmans and fakirs are not the only interesting 
 people on the river bank. Here come half a dozen men, 
 stumbling hastily along with an old man in their arms. 
 He is evidently very sick, for he groans piteously. It 
 
INDIA 333 
 
 hurts him to be carried, and yet he urges his bearers 
 to hasten. They carry him to the water's edge and lay 
 him down with his feet in the stream. As his feet 
 touch the water, a happy look comes over his face. He is 
 dying, and, like all Hindus, he believes that if he can 
 die with his feet in the sacred waters of the Ganges his 
 soul will secure millions of years of happiness. 
 
 Near him the body of a man who died far away is being 
 washed in the sacred river. He could not come to die by 
 the riverside, but his friends have brought his body. 
 When it is washed, it is wrapped in a white cloth and 
 carried to a pile of wood, on the top of which it is care- 
 fully placed. A group of Brahmans stand around and 
 recite prayers. One brings a torch and sets fire to the 
 pile, which bums until the body is consumed. Then the 
 ashes are thrown into the river, and a new pile of wood 
 is prepared for the next body. The Hindus have the 
 sensible practice of burning the bodies of the dead. 
 They do many things which are very unsanitary, but 
 this particular custom is wise. 
 
 The thing that impresses one most in Benares is the 
 great throng of bathers. Crowds of men in one place 
 and of women in another, not far off, stand in the water 
 daily. They throw it over their shoulders and drink it 
 till they can drink no more. Bottles are filled with the 
 holy fluid to be carried far away to bring blessings to 
 friends at home. No one cares if a dead body is being 
 washed just above him or if cattle are wallowing in the 
 dirty, muddy stream. It is the Ganges, and to every 
 true Hindu the water of the Ganges is precious, no matter 
 how dirty it may be. 
 
 Mohammedan Buildings: The Taj Mahal. The Mo- 
 hammedans, unlike the Hindus, possess few holy places 
 in India. Certain cities, however, such as Delhi and 
 
334 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Agra, fill them with the utmost pride. Three or four 
 hundred years ago India was conquered and ruled by 
 some Mohammedan emperors called the Moguls, a race 
 of Tartars from Turkistan, who came down through 
 Afghanistan. They built some of the most splendid 
 palaces and mosques in the world. Best of all their 
 works is the Taj Mahal at Agra. The emperor. Shah 
 Jehan, grieving greatly over the death of his wife, Arj- 
 mand Banu Begam, decided to build for her a tomb more 
 « beautiful than any ever before seen. From various parts 
 of Asia and even from Europe he procured artists. For 
 twenty-two years, so it is said, he kept twenty thousand 
 men at work without pay on his wife's memorial. For 
 the materials he paid the huge sum of twenty million 
 dollars. No tomb ever cost so much, and none was ever 
 so well worth building. There it stands to-day in the 
 
 The Taj Mahal at Agra 
 
INDIA 335 
 
 midst of beautiful gardens. It is not a tomb in the 
 ordinar}' sense of the word, but a large domed building, 
 two hundi-ed fifty feet high, with slender spires on each 
 of the four comers. 
 
 From top to bottom it is made of pure white mar- 
 ble; not a particle of iron or wood is used, nothing 
 but mortar and stone. Everywhere the marble is inlaid 
 with precious stones in the form of flowers, leaves, 
 and branches. Here is a purple flower like an aster, 
 there a red rose or a delicate green leaf. Each is 
 fashioned with infinite care, so that every little petal 
 and even the stamens are carefully worked out in bits 
 of inlaid stone of the right shade or color. On 
 the outside the figures are large and comparatively 
 coarse, so that they appear well from a distance. On 
 the inside they are smaller. 
 
 The most delicate work has been bestowed upon two 
 sarcophagi, or caskets of white marble, which are 
 supposed to contain the bodies of Shah Jehan and 
 his wife. They stand within a wonderful screen of 
 the purest white stone. The blending of delicate 
 colors in the hard, cold stone of the sarcophagi seems to 
 be the very perfection of human work. 
 
 Yet it is not they, nor the beautiful marble screen, which 
 most impresses the visitor. The chief wonder of the Taj 
 Mahal is the stately white building itself. It cannot be 
 described. No one who has seen it can ever forget the 
 graceful beauty of its fair white walls and perfectly pro- 
 portioned domes. 
 
 The Indian Peninsula : Rdjputdna. South of the great 
 plains the low mountains of the peninsula of India 
 begin. Half among the low AravalH Hills and half in the 
 desert plain north of Sind lies Rajput^na. It is a dry 
 land where a slight failure of the monsoon rains brings 
 
336 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 famine. Yet the people are prosperous. The air is 
 clear and sweet and invigorating. The heat of summer 
 is great but is not enervating like that of Bengal, 
 and the winters are fairly cool. The climate is like that 
 of Palestine or of the best parts of Arabia. In such a 
 land, as might be expected, the inhabitants are vigorous 
 and progressive compared with those of many o-bher parts 
 of the country. No race in India has more reason to be 
 proud than have the Rajputs, as the ruling race of 
 Rajputana is called. Next to the Brahmans they are 
 the highest caste in India. They take great pride in 
 boasting that they are descended from the sun, while 
 the Brahmans are descended from the moon. 
 
 One of the characteristic cities of Rajputana is Jaipur, 
 a spot of verdant cultivation set in the midst of sandy 
 wastes and barren hills. Not far away lies the salt lake 
 of Sambhar, white-edged with salt efflorescence and 
 rose-tinted with pink crystals. Around its shores 
 sweeping lines of pink and white flamingos move in 
 ordered companies against the clear blue sky. Pink 
 is a favorite color. In the city of Jaipur, itself, the 
 houses are "pink-washed" instead of being "white- 
 washed," because the materials used for making the 
 wash contain something pink. The houses are very 
 pretty from a distance, but close at hand they are taw- 
 dry. Each has its little portico, and the broad, sunny 
 streets are lined with shady arcades. Everything is 
 gaudy in Jaipur. The pink walls of the houses are 
 often painted with animals in bright colors and the 
 people, those who do not go half-naked, wear gowns of 
 brilliant red, yellow, or green. In the streets the creak- 
 ing bullock carts are gaily painted; camels and horses 
 have bright trappings; and the trunks and foreheads of 
 elephants are often painted in colored patterns. In a 
 
INDIA 
 
 337 
 
 moist land like Bengal such decorations would soon be 
 spoiled, but in dry Rajputana they long remain brilliant. 
 
 Bombay. After 
 Calcutta Bombay is 
 the greatest city of 
 India. The foreigner 
 finds it most interest- 
 ing, with its splendid 
 harbor , its great trade , 
 its many races , and its 
 strange sights. It is 
 here the majority of 
 foreigners first enter 
 India, and in its 
 streets they can see 
 examples of many of 
 the most remarkable 
 things in the country. 
 Along the shore a 
 magnificent boulevard 
 leads past the splen- 
 did buildings which the British have erected during 
 the last fifty or sixty years. Elsewhere sacred bulls are 
 wreathed with flowers by girls devoted to the service 
 of the gods. On the island of Elephanta, a few miles 
 from the city, ancient temples and statues carved in the 
 solid rock show that long ago the people of India were 
 highly accomplished. 
 
 Madras and the Far South. Farther south, on the east 
 coast, the city of Madras spreads itself abroad like a 
 series of large villages. Here is the land of palm trees. 
 Here, too, the people seem really to belong to the Hot 
 Belt. Most of them are Telugus and Tamils, dark, 
 graceful people, dressed in bright cotton sheets thrown 
 
 Buddhist cave temples that have 
 been carved in rock 
 
338 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 carelessly over the shoulder and around the body. They 
 belong to races which lived in India ages before the 
 Rajputs and the Brahmans came to the country. Large 
 ruins show that at some time the people of southern 
 India had more energy than they now have. Yet even 
 here some places are quite progressive; for instance, 
 Mysore with its gold mines and its great electrical 
 works at the falls of the Cauvery River. 
 
 The Aborigines. The peninsula of India contains 
 many regions where the people are still savages. When 
 one race after another came into the country from the 
 north, the tribes that were conquered retired into the 
 mountains. To-day their descendants still live there, 
 knowing nothing of the changes that have taken place 
 in the world. Around them on all sides lies dense jungle, 
 through which it is hard to pass. The white man who 
 tries to come among them is stricken with fever. So 
 these primitive races live on in their mountain homes, 
 hunting wild animals with bows and arrows and spears. 
 They make offerings to the spirits of the woods, and 
 burn little patches of jungle in order to plant millet and 
 sugar cane for a few years until new jungle springs up 
 
 Wild Animals. Here, as in Siam, the natives are 
 much afraid of wild animals, especially tigers. When a 
 tiger is young and its claws are sharp and its legs are 
 strong for running, it usually runs away from men; for 
 it can catch less dangerous prey. When it grows old, 
 however, and finds it harder to catch the swift, wild 
 animals of the jungle, it begins to catch men, who do 
 not run away so fast. Commonly, tigers do not attack 
 grown men unless they are asleep. The crafty animals 
 are far more likely to catch children. When a tiger 
 once begins to eat human beings, he seems to grow fond 
 of them and hangs around a village, killing person after 
 
INDIA 339 
 
 person. One tiger is known to have killed one hundred 
 four people in three years, and another, in a somewhat 
 longer time, killed more than one hundred twenty-five. 
 Usually the Hindu villagers do not kill wild animals, 
 but they are glad enough to have a foreigner, with a 
 good gun, come and shoot a man-eating tiger. 
 
 Snakes. Tigers are bad , but not nearly so bad as snakes , 
 and no country has so many snakes as India. Some are 
 small and harmless. Others, such as the hooded cobra, 
 are deadly although small; and still others, like the 
 p}'thon, are sometimes twenty-five feet long. Every 
 year about twenty-five thousand people and one hundred 
 thousand cattle are killed by snakes and wild animals, 
 and of these about seven-eighths are killed by snakes. 
 The government pays a dollar for every snake's skin 
 that is brought in and five dollars for every tiger that 
 is killed. Yet in spite of this, the people are slow to 
 kill snakes. If a man is bitten by a snake and dies, 
 his friends build a little shrine for him, and say that the 
 gods were especially fond of that man and so sent a 
 snake to kill him. It seems a queer way to account for 
 it, but it is the way the Hindus have done for a thousand 
 years, and therefore it seems to them sensible 
 
 British Rule in India. Perhaps the strangest of all 
 the strange things about India is the fact that it is ruled 
 by England. Think of what it means. The people of 
 the United Kingdom, including England, Scotland, and 
 Ireland, number only about forty million. The people 
 of India number seven or eight times as many, and yet 
 they let the British rule them. In all India there are 
 less than one hundred thousand English, or scarcely 
 one Englishman for three thousand natives. Of the 
 one hundred thousand English, only twelve hundred 
 are government officials. These few Englishmen — one 
 
340 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 only for every two hundred fifty thousand natives — 
 rule the whole country; and the great majority of the 
 people are contented to have them rule. To be sure, 
 the English have allowed part of the work of the 
 government to be carried on by natives of India, and 
 some of the more enlightened Indians are vigorously 
 demanding more power for themselves. Nevertheless, 
 the English are still the real governors of the land. 
 Suppose Japan were to rule all Europe. Suppose [that 
 she had an army of only sixty thousand Japanese, 
 stationed mostly in Austria and the Balkan States. 
 Besides this, let her have about one hundred forty 
 thousand troops enlisted from among English, Germans, 
 and Swiss and commanded by Japanese officers. That 
 would make an army about one-third as large as that 
 which Germany alone now has. How long could Japan 
 rule Europe under such conditions? Yet, under pre- 
 cisely similar conditions, England has ruled India for 
 more than a century. 
 
 The reason for this strange state of affairs is found in 
 the geography of India and in the nature of the 
 Indian and of the English people. As we have seen, 
 India is not a single country. It is divided into a large 
 number of countries inhabited by a great mixture of 
 races. No native leader could ever make all these 
 diverse peoples follow him. If England went away, 
 the different races would soon begin to fight with one 
 another. They do not know how to rule themselves. 
 Some day, perhaps, they will learn; but that day seems 
 to be far away. 
 
 Besides the divided character of India, another thing 
 which makes it possible for the English to rule the 
 country is the submissive character of the people. A 
 large part of the farming classes, who compose 
 
INDIA 34* 
 
 most of the population of India, do not care who rules 
 them. They object if they are heavily taxed or are 
 treated unjustly, but aside from that they have no 
 thought of their rulers. India is so warm that the 
 people have not much energy for matters outside their 
 little round of daily work. They are satisfied if they can 
 raise food enough to have a comfortable living, and 
 can save a little to ward off famine or to pay the 
 expenses of their daughters' weddings. 
 
 Another reason why English rule continues in India 
 is that the native people of India believe that the Eng- 
 lish are absolutely honest. A merchant in India said to 
 a traveler: "I have known you three days. I do not 
 know much about your life, but if I had to trust all my 
 property to some one, I would rather trust it to you than 
 to my own brother. With us it is not the habit to be 
 honest. You are an Englishman, and it is the habit of 
 the English to be honest." It is English honesty and 
 justice, most of all, which preserve the dominion of Eng- 
 land in India. The people know that the English mean 
 to do right. They also know that if their own people 
 ruled them they would be oppressed far more than is 
 now the case. 
 
 The work of England in India is not easy. For the 
 sake of keeping her dominion over India and over 
 its trade, England every year sends out many of her 
 best young men as government officials or, as officers 
 in the army. In a way their life seems easy. They 
 are surrounded by servants. Everybody who lives in 
 the East has many servants. Each one costs very little, 
 say from three to fifteen dollars a month; and each 
 does very little work. If a man owns two horses, he 
 must keep a servant to look after each horse. Another 
 servant must be employed to buy all that is needed for 
 
342 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 the house; another to cook; and still others for every sort 
 of work. The man who is employed to take care of the 
 horses is angry if he is asked to weed the garden. It is 
 not his work, he says. It belongs to a man of some other 
 caste. The foreigner in India cannot do all these things 
 himself. In the first place he has not time; and in the 
 second place he cannot stand it. For the first year or 
 two, a European can work as hard in India as at home. 
 Then a change comes, and he finds that he is tired all the 
 time. His head aches, and perhaps he has a fever. The 
 
 CopTr'tllit lij Undi! viooA it rnderwood. 
 
 Simla, among the Himalayas, the summer capital of India 
 
INDIA 343 
 
 doctor tells him that he must get away to the "Hills," 
 by which he means the mountains. Many a man goes 
 to India and ruins his health while he is still compara- 
 tively young. India is not the place for white men. 
 
 The location of the capital of India is an interesting 
 example of the effect of the climate on Europeans. For- 
 merly the great city of Calcutta, at the mouth of the 
 Ganges, was the capital, but when the King of England 
 visited India in 191 1 he announced that the capital 
 would be changed to Delhi on the Jumna River, one of 
 the main tributaries of the Ganges. Delhi is situated 
 almost in the center of the great Indo-Gangetic Plain and 
 is more easily reached from the country as a whole than is 
 Calcutta. Also, it was the former capital of India in 
 the days when the famous Mogul emperors came down 
 from central Asia, three or four centuries ago, and estab- 
 lished the most extensive empire that ever existed in the 
 country before the coming of the English. Moreover, 
 the people of the Punjab province, in which Delhi is 
 located, are not so opposed to foreign rule as are those of 
 Bengal, where Calcutta is situated. All these reasons 
 bore a part in causing the British government to change 
 the location of the capital, but the debilitating climate 
 of Calcutta was more important than any of them. In 
 srmimer Delhi is hotter than Calcutta but the climate 
 is not so moist and enervating, and in winter it is quite 
 cool and comfortable. Even Delhi, however, is not 
 blessed with a summer climate that is healthful for Euro- 
 peans. Accordingly, in the spring the government offi- 
 cials and thousands of other people move to Simla, high 
 among the Himalayas, and there they stay until fall. 
 Up at Simla a large number of government buildings 
 have been erected, and all the work of the government 
 goes on just as in the capital. Each of the great provinces 
 
344 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 of India has its own "Hill Station," or siimmer 
 place, in the mountains. Missionaries, merchants, sol- 
 diers, and all foreigners who can possibly do so, go to the 
 mountains dviring the rainy season. It is very expensive, 
 but less expensive than to be sick or to come home to 
 America or Europe. Three hundred years ago the Eng- 
 lish first went to India, but still they are foreigners. 
 And so they must always be. As the mountains give 
 life to northern India by furnishing the soil for the great 
 plains and by causing the warm rain to fall and the rivers 
 to flow, so too the mountains furnish life to the English 
 in India, and help to make it possible for England to 
 continue her rule. Without the Himalayas, the greatest 
 of mountains, the English would find it far harder than 
 they now do to maintain the great Indian Empire as part 
 of the still greater British Empire. 
 
 I 
 
THE INDEX 
 
 All figures refer to pages; stars indicate illustrations and maps. 
 
 Abana Biver, 69. 
 
 Aborigines, Afghanistan, 118; Burma, 
 301; Cliina, 233, 285; India, 285, 
 338. 
 
 Aden, 308; a British warship lying 
 at anchor at Back Bay Harbor at, 45*. 
 
 ^gean Sea, 73. 
 
 Afghanistan, 28, 100, 102, 112-120, 
 334; boundary troubles, 113-114; 
 the "buffer state," 114; climate, 
 115; commerce, 112; digging a well 
 on the border of, 117*; farming 
 country, 116; food, 115; homes, 
 115; irrigation, 116; plateaus, 11.5- 
 16; population, 112; products, 115, 
 116; raids, 117-118; rainfall, 115, 
 116; religions, 118; route from 
 Europe to India, 118; Siah-Posh 
 tribes, 118; women making bread, 
 115*. 
 
 Africa, 51, 205, 305, 314. 
 
 Agra, 317, 323, 325, 334. 
 
 Ahmadabad, 308. 
 
 Alabama, 249. 
 
 Alaslia, 33. 
 
 Alligators, 288. 
 
 Allong Bay, 294. 
 
 Alphabet, Phoenicia, 68. 
 
 Alps, 195. 
 
 Altai, 157. 
 
 America, 1, 11, 45, 61, 66, 92, 101, 
 103, 123, 133, 135, 153, 162, 182, 
 192, 200, 210, 212, 213, 220, 221, 
 223, 226, 229, 254, 273, 276, 294, 
 301, 306, 316, 344. 
 
 Amu Biver, 32. 
 
 Amur Biver, 138, 172. 
 
 Amusements, China, 273-275; Cho- 
 sen, 190; Japan, 199*, 218-219. 
 
 Anatolia f.^sia Minor), 1-12, 28, 29, 
 73-83, 87, 185, 187, 269, 295; cli- 
 mate, 3; coast, 73, 74, 76; dogs, 79; 
 famine, 12; fruit, 8, 76; harbors, 75, 
 76 ; hospitality, 1 1 ; houses, 77 ; inhabi- 
 tants, 79; irrigation, 9; nomads, 
 79-81; plateau, 76-79, 84; political 
 condition, 9; products, 8, 9, 10; 
 railroads, 76, 77; rainfall, 9, 77, 
 78, 80; rivers, 74; shepherd bo.vs, 
 80-81; surface, 73, 74-76; town, 
 typical, 78*; trade routes, 75; trans- 
 portation, 1, 2, 3; trees, 78; a 
 Turk sowing wheat in, 80*; Turkish 
 children carrying grain from the 
 fields in, 74*; a Turkish dinner in, 
 81-83; vegetables, 8; vegetation, 
 77; a village of mud and stone in, 
 7*; villages, 10,77-79; wheat, 10, 7.9. 
 
 Ancestor worship, China, 16, 222, 
 259-262; Chosen, 191, 222; Japan, 
 222; Siam, 222. 
 
 Animals, domestic, Arabia, 49, 50; 
 Arctic regions, 19; Armenia, 87, 89*; 
 Caucasia, 91; China, 242, 250, 271; 
 Damascus, 69; India, 300, 307, 3 IC, 
 320, 331, 336; Japan, 206; Man- 
 churia, 179 ; Mesopotamia, 72 ; North- 
 ern Asia, 19, 31; Palestine, 58-59, 
 61, 62; Persia, 102, 103, 106, 110; 
 Russian Turkistan, 128; Siam, 297, 
 298-300, 300*; Siberia, 142, 146, 
 147; Tian Shan, 159, 161, 162; 
 Tibet, 22, 23, 154; Transcaspia, 
 128; tundras, 145. 
 
 Animals, wild, America, 135; Anato- 
 lia, 81; Arctic regions, 19; Chosen, 
 183; India, 36, 310, 318, 336, 338- 
 339; Indo-China, 287, 288; Malay 
 Peninsula, 288-289, 291; Manchuria, 
 178; Palestine, 61; Persia, 110; Siam, 
 293, 298-299; Siberia, 135; Southern 
 Asia, 36. 
 
 Anlmists, 307. 
 
 Annam, 33, 292, 295, 302. 
 
 Antelope, 288. 
 
 Anti-Lebanon, 67, 70. 
 
 Ants, 318. 
 
 Appalachian Highland, 135, 153. 
 
 Appalacliians, 67. 135, 195. 
 
 Apples, Armenia, 87; Asia Minor, 8; 
 Persia, 99. 
 
 Apricots, Armenia, 87; .^sia Minor, 8; 
 Lop Basin, 166; Persia, 99; Trans- 
 caspia, 124. 
 
 Arabia, 28, 38, 44-51, 53, 63, 170, 
 285,336; Arabs with tents and cam- 
 els halting in the desert, 47*; boys, 
 Arab, in Palestine, 50*; climate, 44- 
 45, 51, 53 ; commerce, 44 ; farming, 46 ; 
 inhabitants, 46 ; oases, 46 ; population, 
 44; raids, 48-51; religion, 44; sur- 
 face, 46; vegetation, 44, 45; winds 
 and rainfall, 46; women carrying 
 water from a spring in old kerosene 
 cans, 48*. 
 
 Arabia Felix, 46. 
 
 Arabian Peninsula, 44. 
 
 Arab traveler in an oasis ready to join 
 a caravan for a journey in the 
 desert, 40*. 
 
 Aral, Lake, 32, 58. 
 
 Ararat, Mount, 84. 
 
 Aras Biver, 28. 
 
 Aravalli Hills, 315, 317, 335. 
 
 Arctic current, 196 
 
 Arctic Ocean, 33, 125, 138, 145, 146. 
 
 (xv) 
 
XVI 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Arctic regions, climate, 18; hunting 
 and trapping, 19; nomads, 18; rain- 
 fall, 20. 
 
 Areca palms, 311. 
 
 Arizona, 305, 315. 
 
 Arjmand Banu Beeam, 334, 
 
 Arkansas River, 249. 
 
 Armenian Plateau, 28, 84-89. 90 
 92, 100, 101; basin-plains, 85-87 
 food, 88; fruits, 87, 88; highlands, 87 
 houses, 86, 87; irrigation, 86 ; Kurd- 
 ish raids, 88-89; nomads, 87; races, 
 87-89; river transportation, 85; river 
 valleys, 84, 85; sheep, 87, 89*; sur- 
 face features, 84, 85; villages, 86*, 
 87; volcanoes, 84; wheat, 87. 
 
 Asama-yama, lava covered with ashes 
 at the top of the volcano, 197*; the 
 valley through which the ascent of 
 the volcano is made, 196*. 
 
 Ashkabad, 126. 
 
 Asia, 26, 27, 58, 84, 96, 107, 184, 192, 
 193, 196, 228, 310, 317, 334; central. 
 90, 310, 343; divisions of, 25-37; In- 
 habitants of the high, cold plateaus 
 of central, 22*; physical, between 
 pp. 26, and 27*; plants, principal, 
 facing p. 59*; political, between pp. 
 8 and 9*; population, density of, 
 facing p. 1.53*; products, commercial, 
 between pp. 134 and 135*; races of 
 man, facing p. 308*; rainfall, mean 
 annual, facing p. 8*; rainfall, seasonal 
 distribution of, facing p. 9*; relation 
 of customs and geographic conditions 
 in, 23-24; religions, facing p. 39*; 
 temperature, mean annual range, 
 facing p. 134*; temperature, mean, 
 for January, facing p. 26*; tempera- 
 ture, mean, for July, facing p. 27*; 
 transportation, between pp. 8 and 9*; 
 vegetation, areas of natural, between 
 pp. 134 and 135*. 
 
 Asia Minor, 1-12, 73-83; bazaar in, 7 
 dress, 1, 4, 5; food, 5-6; inn, 1-6 
 a typical town In, 78*; village, 10 
 writing, 5. See also Anatolia. 
 
 Assam, 316, 317; rainfall, 315. 
 
 Atlantic Ocean, 33. 
 
 Atlantic Plain, in America, 153. 
 
 Atlantic Slope, in America, 153. 
 
 Atlantic states, 195. 
 
 Australia, 229. 
 
 Austria, 340. 
 
 Azov, Sea of, 32. 
 
 Bagdad, 71 
 
 Baku, 90, 92, 93-96, 122; In the oil 
 fields at, 93*; the water supply of, 
 95-96. 
 
 Balkan States, 340. 
 
 Baltic Sea, 120. 
 
 Baluchi minstrel and his boys beside 
 a hut of reed matting on the border 
 of Afghanistan, 113*. 
 
 Baluchistan, 28, 100, 102, 120, 316. 
 
 Bamboo, China, 233, 280; India, 311, 
 312, 318; Indo-Chlna, 286, 289, 
 290; Japan, 204, 207, 212. 
 
 Bananas, Indo-Chlna, 291, 296; 
 
 Southern Asia, 35. 
 Bangkok, 292, 297, 298, 300. 
 Banyan tree, 311. 
 Barada River, 69. 
 Barter, 61-62. 
 Batum, 90, 91, 92; porters or hamals 
 
 in the streets of, 90*; a watering cart 
 
 at, 95*. 
 Bean cake, 171, 172. 
 Bean oil, 172. 176. 
 Beans, Manchuria, 171, 176, 179; 
 
 United States, 171, 172. 
 Bears, America, 135; Manchuria, 178; 
 
 Palestine, 61. 
 Beaver, 135. 
 Beets, 99. 
 Beirut, 62, 69. 
 Benares, 330, 332, 333. 
 Bengal, 305, 310-313, 314, 315, 316, 
 
 322, 325, 336, 337, 343. 
 Bengal, Bay of, 314. 
 Bengali, 304. 
 Bengalis, 313 
 
 Bethlehem, 56; Rachel's tomb at, 56*. 
 BIbl-Elbat, 93. 
 Birch, 142. 
 Birds' nests, China, 266; Indo-Chlna 
 
 and Malay Peninsula, 302. 
 Black Sea, 75, 77, 90, 91, 92, 118, 
 
 120. 
 Bombay, 36, 308, 309, 314, 330, 337. 
 Bombay, Presidency, 307. 
 Bosporus, 75, 120. 
 Boston, 171, 172. 
 Brahmans, 306, 307, 308, 327, 328, 
 
 332, 333, 336, 338. 
 Brahmaputra River, 305, 311, 312, 
 
 315, 322. 
 Breadfruit, 296. 
 Bread making, among the Afghans, 
 
 115*, 140; among the Turl;omans, 
 
 140. 
 British Empire, 344. 
 Buddhism, Burma, 301; China, 233, 
 
 278-279; Chosen, 182, 191; Eastern 
 
 Asia, 34; India: 307; Buddhist cave 
 
 temples that have been carved in 
 
 rock, India, 337*;Indo-China, 297; 
 
 Japan, 192, 208; Siam, 301; Tibet, 
 
 155 
 Buffalo, New York, 224. 
 Buffaloes, Caucasia, 91*; China, 271; 
 
 Siam, 293. 
 Bukhara, 129. 
 Burlats, 19, 135. 
 Burma, 33, 35, 225, 299, 300-302; 
 
 aborigines, 301; Burmese people, 
 
 301; religion and education, 301- 
 
 302; schoolboys and their teacher 
 
 near the IrAwadi River, facing p. 1*; 
 
 women, 302. 
 Cabbage, 243. 
 Calcutta, 257, 311, 312, 316, 337, 
 
 343 
 California, 305. 
 Cambodian ruins, 295, 297. 
 Cambodians, 295. 
 
THE INDEX 
 
 XVll 
 
 Camels, Arabia, 49; India, 336; 
 Persia, 102, 103, 110; Siberia, 146, 
 147; Tian Shan, 159, 161; Trans- 
 caspia and Russian Turlcistan, 128. 
 
 Camphor tree, 204. 
 
 Canada, 135, 137. 
 
 Canton, 239; river people, 282; 
 showing the new Bund or parlcway 
 along the river, 281.* 
 
 Caravans, Kuenlun Mountains, 26; 
 Persia, 101; Siberia, 147; Syrian 
 Desert, 70. 
 
 Carmel, Mount, 68. 
 
 Caspian Sea, 32, 84, 92, 93, 96, 101, 
 121-122, 124, 134. 
 
 Caste, India, 306, 307, 308, 310, 325, 
 327, 328, 342. 
 
 Catskills, 269. 
 
 Cattle, China, 242; India, 307, 331; 
 Northern Asia, 31; Persia, 106; 
 Siberia, 142; Tian Shan, 159, 161. 
 
 Caucasia, 28; forests, 91; oil fields. 
 90-96; plowing with a wooden 
 plow drawn by buffaloes, near 
 Batum, 91*; railroad, 90, 91, 92; 
 rainfall, 90, 92. 
 
 Caucasian race, 284. 
 
 Caucasus Mountains, 30, 91, 92, 122. 
 
 Cauvery River, 338. 
 
 Cawnpur, 330. 
 
 Cedar, forest near Beirut, frontispiece; 
 India, 318; Siberia, 142. 
 
 Central West, United States, 122. 
 
 Ceylon, 314, 317. 
 
 Champlain, Lake, 104. 
 
 Chantos, Lop Basin, 165, 166-167; 
 Chanto dinner of sour milk and coarse 
 corn bread, 167*; Chanto men and 
 boy drinking tea in a garden, 166*. 
 
 Chemulpo, winnowing grain in the 
 streets of, 188*. 
 
 Chenab Canal, 326. 
 
 Cherry tree, 215. 
 
 Chesapeake Bay, 173. 
 
 Chestnut trees, 91. 
 
 Chicago, 134, 163. 
 
 Chickens, 242. 
 
 "Children's Paradise," 218. 
 
 China, 12, 13, 26, 27, 30, 33, 121, 147, 
 152, 171, 180, 181, 182, 192, 221- 
 283, 284, 285, 289, 292, 317, 325; 
 aborigines, 233; amusements, 273- 
 275; ancestor worship, 16, 259-262; 
 animals, domestic, 242, 250; barbers, 
 itinerant, 277*; barriers causing Isola- 
 tion, 223-225; beggars, 258-259; 
 bride in a sedan chair, 260*; canals, 
 251; carpenters at work, 257*; 
 China Proper, 153, 169, 228; civili- 
 zation of, 221; climate, 227-229, 
 276; coast, 269; coolies carrying 
 coal, 231*; cue, 242; debt-paying, 
 275-276; diversity and unity of, 
 233-234; divisions of eastern, 226- 
 227; dress, 237, 251-252; drought, 
 245-247, 283; economy, 231; em- 
 peror, 236; famines, 15, 16, 17, 230, 
 232, 246-247, 249, 283; farming. 
 
 227, 229, 230, 243; floods, 15, 266- 
 267, 283; food, 16, 17, 231, 232, 
 265, 266; foot-binding, 242-243; 
 forests, 229, 249, 270; funerals, 
 259; girls, treatment of, 259-262; 
 government, 17-18; governor in his 
 official robes of silk, 34*; Great Wall, 
 223, 224*; guilds, 257-258; houses, 
 244, 2.50-251; industry, 230-231; 
 irrigation, 14, 271 *; isolation of, 221- 
 222, 223-225; "kangs," 251-252; 
 language, 13, 238-240; law, 253- 
 254; metals, 249-2.50; military offi- 
 cers with fans and smoked glasses, 
 237*; military parade to welcome a 
 Manchurian governor, 176*; moun- 
 tains, 227, 270; names, 267-268; 
 New Year's Festival, 273-275; New 
 Year's greetings, 274*; northwestern 
 plateau provinces, 249-251; opium 
 and opium smoking, 275; orchards, 
 271; Peking and the Hwang-ho, 
 235-252; physical form of, 225- 
 227; plains, 249; population, 227, 
 229-231, 249, 282; poverty, 231-232; 
 prisoner wearing the heavy wooden 
 frame, 255*; punishments, 2.54-255; 
 railroads, 250; rainfall, 14, 15, 228- 
 229, 230, 249, 271, 282; rapid transit 
 in China: seeing the country on a 
 wheelbarrow, 241*; religions, 278- 
 279; rice, 15, 271, 277; roads, 230; 
 schoolboys, 262*; schools, 262-265; 
 Shantung and the provinces of the 
 Yangtse-kiang, 253-268; soil and 
 climate, 276; soldier on duty in the 
 provinces, 180*; Southern China, 
 269-283; spirit, unwarlike, 271-272; 
 superstitions, 244-246; surface, 12, 
 229, 269-271, 282; tea, 276; a 
 temple, 246*; theaters, 261 ; transpor- 
 tation, 12*, 14*, 238, 241*; vegeta- 
 tion, 279-280; village, entrance to, in 
 North China, 226*; village among 
 the mountains of South China, 
 227*; village, typical, 244*; weddings, 
 259-262; wheelbarrows, 14*, 241*, 
 256*; writing, 13, 238-240; Yangtse- 
 kiang, provinces of, 256-268. 
 
 Chinese Turkistan, 157, 223, 224; 
 a roadway in an oasis in, 168*. 
 
 Chosen, 33, 153, 172, 182-191, 192, 
 222, 228, 266; animals, wild, 182, 
 183; climate and seasons, 183, 184- 
 185; famines, 191; farming, 184; 
 fishing and fisher folk, 187-188; food, 
 188; forests, 182; games, 190; 
 hairdressing, 188-189; harbors, 191; 
 homes, 187, 189-190; marriage, 
 189; minerals, 183, 191; mountains, 
 182-184; mourning customs, 190- 
 191; population, 183; progress, 191, 
 rainfall, 184, 191; religion, 191; re- 
 sources, 183; rice, 184, 185; scenery, 
 191; soil, 191; tides, 185, 187; trans- 
 portation, 189; women, 190. ■ 
 
 Christian religion, Northern Asia; 
 32; Palestine, 66; United States, 306. 
 
ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Cincinnati, 163. 
 
 Coal, America, 294; China, 249, 251; 
 Eastern Asia, 33; Indo-C'hina, 294; 
 Siberia, 32. 
 
 Cochin-china, 29.5-297. 
 
 Cocoanut palms, Bengal, 311; Indo- 
 Chlna, 287, 296; Malay Peninsula, 
 288, 289; Southern Asia, 35. 
 
 Colorado, 25, 26, 28. 
 
 Compass, in China, 221. 
 
 Confucianism, 278-279. 
 
 Confucius, 233, 253, 259. 
 
 Connecticut, 326. 
 
 Connecticut Elver, 326. 
 
 Constantinople, 42, 75, 90, 120. 
 
 Cormorant Ashing, China, 266; 
 Japan, 201-202. 
 
 Corn, India, 324; Southwestern Asia, 
 29. 
 
 Cotton, Russian Turklstan, 133; 
 Southern China, 280, 
 
 Crocodiles, 289, 291. 
 
 Cucumbers, Palestine, 62; Persia, 
 99 
 
 Cue,' China, 242. 
 
 Daibutsu, or image of Buddha at 
 Kamakura, 193*. 
 
 Damascus, 39, 42, 44, 63, 69-70. 
 
 Dates, 48, 49. 
 
 Dead Sea, 23, 53, 54, 57, 58. 
 
 Deccan, 317*, 318. 
 
 Deer, 288. 
 
 Delaware River, 45. 
 
 Delhi, 333, 343. 
 
 Deodar, 318. 
 
 Dervishes, 97*. 
 
 Deserts, 47*, 127*; Gobi, 251; Mesopo- 
 tamia, 72; Mongolia, 156; Persia, 
 101, 102-104; Sahara, 314; South- 
 western Asia, 40, 69, 70; Syrian, 
 70-72; Takhla Makan, 163-164; 
 Transcaspia, 127. 
 
 Detroit, 163. 
 
 Dogs, Anatolia, 79; Palestine, 61; dog 
 farms, Manchuria, 178. 
 
 Domestic animals, see Animals. 
 
 Donkeys, 69, 102, 103. 
 
 Dragon Festival, China, 273. 
 
 Duluth, 66. 
 
 Earthquakes, 211-212. 
 
 East, The, 92, 303. 
 
 Eastern Asia, 27, 33-34, 35, facing p. 
 152*, 314; boundaries, 33, 152; 
 climate, 33-34; divisions of, natural, 
 152; farming, 33, 34; inhabitants, 
 34; minerals, 33; occupations, 34; 
 population. 33, 152; rainfall, 33; 
 religion, 34; rivers, navigable, 33. 
 
 Eastern Ghats, 314. 
 
 Eastern Heralspbere, 172. 
 
 East Indies, 51. 
 
 Egypt, 62, 63, 314. 
 
 Elburz Mountains, 101, 122. 
 
 Elephanta Island, 36, 337. 
 
 Elephants, Burma, 299-300; India, 
 336; Indo-China, 288; Rangoon, 
 piling teak at, 300*; Slam, 297, 298- 
 300. 
 
 England, 36, 113, 114, 118, 119, 120, 
 194, 223, 250, 253, 2.56, 284, 285, 
 303, 307, 339, 340, 341, 343, .344. 
 
 Ephesus, ruins of, 76. 
 
 Eregll, 1, 29, 81. 
 
 Ermine, 135. 
 
 Euphrates River, 28, 70, 71. 
 
 Eurasia, 173, 174. 
 
 Europe, 35, 66, 90, 92, 96, 119, 135, 
 139, 153, 182, 192, 200, 220, 221, 
 222, 223, 253, 2.54, 276, 301, 334, 
 340, 344. 
 
 Everest, Mount, 319. 
 
 iSver-White Mountains, 182, 185. 
 
 Fakirs, 332. 
 
 Famines, Asia Minor, 12; China, 15, 
 16, 17, 230, 232. 246, 247, 249, 
 283, 285, 325; Chosen, 185, 191; 
 India, 324*, 324-325, 326-327, 336; 
 Palestine, 64; Persia, 99; Russia, 
 136; Southern Asia, 35; South- 
 western Asia, 29. 
 
 Far East, 34, 192. 
 
 Farming, Afghanistan, 116; Arabia, 
 46; China, 227, 229, 230, 243, 280; 
 Chosen, 184; Eastern Asia, 33, 34; 
 India, 324; Indo-China, 289-290; 
 Japan, 193, 199, 200, 204, 207; 
 Manchuria, 180; Northern Asia, 31, 
 32; Palestine, 59, 62; Russian Tur- 
 kistan, 133; Selstan, 108-109; Si- 
 beria, 31, 32; Southern Asia, 35; 
 Southwestern Asia, 30; Tibet, 155. 
 
 Far North, 18-20,21. 
 
 Figs, Anatolia, 76; India, 313; Pales- 
 tine, 59, 60, 61. 
 
 Fish, Arctic regions, 19, 145; China, 
 266; Japan, 193, 201-202; Lop 
 Basin, 169. 
 
 Flax, 312. 
 
 Floods, China, 15, 248-249, 266 ,283; 
 Mesopotamia, 71; Transcaspia, 125- 
 126. 
 
 Florida, 195, 249, 305, 314. 
 
 Foklen, 270-271, 276-277. 
 
 Foochow, 239, 269, 270-271, 273, 
 277, 279; looking across its many 
 tiled roofs to the mountains which 
 rise in the distance, 270*. 
 
 Foot-binding, China. 242-243. 
 
 Forests, Caucasia, 91; China, 229, 
 249, 270; Chosen, 182, 183; 
 India, 315, 318; Indo-China, 285- 
 287, 289-290; Japan, 193, 197, 198; 
 Malay Peninsula, 302; Manchuria, 
 178, 180; Northern Asia, 31, 32; 
 Persia, 122; Siberia, 144; a tropical 
 forest where the ferns are thirty feet 
 high, 286*; United States, 144. 
 
 "Fortunate Arabia," 46, 51. 
 
 Four Great Divisions of Asia, 25-37. 
 
 Fowlers, 105-108, 111; a group of, 
 before a reed house, 105*. 
 
 Foxes, Arctic region, 19; Manchuria, 
 178; Palestine, 61; Siberia, 135. 
 
 France, 112, 285. 
 
 French Colonies, Indo-China, 294. 
 
 French Indo-China, 153. 
 
THE INDEX 
 
 XIX 
 
 Fruit, America, 61; Anatolia, 76 
 Arabia, 48, 49; Armenia, 87, 88 
 Asia Minor, 6, 8; Caucasia, 91 
 China, 243, 280; India, 3 1 1, 313, 331 
 Indo-China, 287, 291, 296; Japan 
 204, 215; Lop Basin, 166; Malay 
 Peninsula, 288, 289; Palestine, 59- 
 61, 61«, 62; Persia, 99, 109; Russian 
 Turldstan, 132, 133; Siberia, 145; 
 Southern Asia, 35; Transcaspia, 124. 
 
 Fuji, 194, 219. 
 
 Fuji-san, 194. 
 
 Fuji-yama, 195. 
 
 Furs, America, 135; Manchuria, 176; 
 Siberia, 135. 
 
 Fusan, 187; looking northwest across 
 the native section, 186*. 
 
 Galilee, 59. 
 
 Galilee, Sea of, 57, 63. 
 
 Ganges Eiver, 249, 305, 306, 311, 
 312, 317, 322, 330, 332, 333, 343. 
 
 Garlic, 5. 
 
 Gas, natural, 94, 95. 
 
 George Town, 284. 
 
 Georgians, 92. 
 
 Germany, 112, 253, 256. 
 
 Ghats, F^stern, 314. 
 
 Ghats, Western, 305, 314. 
 
 Ghilan, 122. 
 
 Ghor, The, 55-57, 58, 59, 67. 
 
 Glaciers, 321. 
 
 Goats, 103. 
 
 Gobi, 251. 
 
 "Godowns," 213. 
 
 Gogra River, 322. 
 
 Gokcha, Lake, 85. 
 
 Gold, Chosen, 183; Manchuria, 180; 
 Siberia, 139. 
 
 Grain grinding in Manchuria, 171*. 
 
 Grand Canal, China, 266. 
 
 Grapes, America, 61; Asia Minor, 8; 
 China, 243; Lop Basin, 166; Pales- 
 tine, 61; Persia, 99; Syrian peasant 
 with a basket of, 61*. 
 
 Grazing, Afghanistan, 115-116; Ar- 
 menia, 87, 89*; China, 250; Mesopo- 
 tamia, 72; Northern Asia, 19, 31; 
 Palestine, 58-59; Persia, 106; Siberia, 
 146; Southwestern Asia, 30; Tian 
 Shan, 158-159; Tibet, 22, 23, 154; 
 Transcaspia and Russian Turkistan, 
 128. 
 
 Great Britain, 200. 
 
 Great Khingan Range, 152, 153. 
 
 Great Wall, China, 223, 224*, 236. 
 
 Greece, 212, 222. 
 
 Guilds, China, 257-258. 
 
 Gulf Stream, 195 
 
 Gunpowder, China, 221. 
 
 Haifa, 63. 
 
 Hamburg, 2.57. 
 
 Hanoi, 294. 
 
 Hares, 19. 
 
 Hay, 142. 
 
 Hedin, 164. 
 
 Helmand River, 104, 108, 111, 114, 
 116. 
 
 Herat, 112, 119. 
 
 Heri-Rud, 112, 116, 119, 126. 
 
 Uermon, Mount, 57. 
 
 Himalaya Mountains, 27, 33, 35, 152, 
 308, 315. 316, 318-322, 343, 344; 
 among the snow-crowned summits of, 
 in north India, 304*; a valley among 
 the high steep slopes of, 319*. 
 
 Hinduism, 36, 306-307, 308, 327- 
 328, 330-333; a Hindu temple, 331*; 
 a Hindu temple at the sanctuary of 
 Wai, 307*. 
 
 Hindu Kush Mountains, 104, 109. 
 
 Hippopotamus, 288. 
 
 Hiram, King of Tyre, 67. 
 
 Homes, Anatolia, 77; Armenia, 86, 
 87; China, 244, 250-251; Chosen, 
 187, 189; India, 305*. 312; Indo- 
 China, 290*, 290-291, 294, 296, 
 297-298; Japan, 208-212; Kirghiz 
 Steppe, 141; Lop Basin, 166; Pales- 
 tine, 54; Persia, 103*; Seistan, 105*, 
 109-110; Siam, 297-298; Siberia, 
 141*, 142; Tian Shan, 158; Tibet. 23. 
 
 Hong-kong, 228, 256, 269, 308. 
 
 Horses, Arabia, 50; China, 242, 250; 
 Japan, 206; Persia, 102; Siberia, 146, 
 147; Tian Shan, 159, 161, 162; 
 Transcaspia and Russian Turkistan, 
 128. 
 
 Hot Belt, 285, 337. 
 
 Hot springs, 216. 
 
 Hubble-bubble, 4. 
 
 Hudson River, 45, 269. 
 
 Hue, 295. 
 
 Hunting, America, 135; Arctic re- 
 gions, 19; Manchuria, 180; Siberia, 
 32, 145. 
 
 Hwaiking, 225. 
 
 Uwang-ho, 225. 226, 235, 247, 253, 
 282; floods of, 248-249. 
 
 Ichang, 225, 267. 
 
 Illinois, 180. 
 
 India, 20, 26, 27, 28, 35, 36, 112, 113, 
 118, 119, 120, 121, 152, 192, 225, 
 233, 234, 276, 278, 284, 285, 292, 
 297, 298, 303, 304-344; aborigines, 
 338; animals, wild, 338-339; ants, 
 318; art, 308; British rule in, 339- 
 344; caste, 306, 307, 308, 310, 
 325, 328, 342; children rescued 
 from famine, 324*; cUmate, 20, 22, 
 316, 319, 336, 343, 344; Deccan, 
 traveling in the, 317*; diversity 
 of, 304-306, 310; divisions of, the 
 three great, 316-318; dress, 21; 
 fakirs, 332; famines, 324-325, 326- 
 327, 336; food, 331; forests, 315, 
 318; funeral customs, 333; glaciers 
 and avalanches, 321; home chiirac- 
 terlstic of the coast region of the West- 
 ern Ghats, south India, 305*; houses, 
 312; irrigation, 2], 35, 326, 327; 
 jewelers, 309; languages, 304; mar- 
 riage, 328-330; native doctor and his 
 daughter, 329*; peasants and oxen, 
 20*; people 21; physical features, 
 35, 343, 344; railroads, 310, 311, 
 325-326, 327; rainfall, 20, 35,3151, 
 
ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 344; religion, 306-310; religious festi- 
 vals. 330-333; snakes, 318, 339; 
 transportation, 319, 320; vegetation, 
 318; village, tvpical, 312; weaving, 
 309; women, 309, 329, 330. 
 
 Indiana, 180. 
 
 Indian Ocean, 100, 120, 292. 
 
 Indian Peninsula, 314, 335-339. 
 
 Indians, American, 135, 306. 
 
 Indo-China, 284-303; animals, wild. 
 287; batlung, 291; Cambodian ruins, 
 295-297; climate, 285, 291-292; 
 coal, 294; coast, 294, 295; farming, 
 289-290; food, 291; forests, 285- 
 287, 289-290; French colonies in, 
 294; houses, 290-291, 294, 296, 
 297-298; population, 291-292; posi- 
 tion and people. 284; races, 284-285; 
 rainfall, 293-294; seasons, 292-294; 
 slavery, 292; surface features, 286; 
 vegetation, 285-287, 295-296; a vil- 
 lage where the houses near the river 
 are on bamboo stilts, 290*. 
 
 Indo-Gangctlc Plain, 304, 315, 
 322-325, 343; bullock carts and their 
 drivers in, 323*. 
 
 Indus Plain, 20, 21. 
 
 Indus Biver, 20, 310, 313, 315, 317, 
 322 
 
 Inner Asia, 33, 153-154, 174, 225; 
 animals. 33; basins, 154; climate, 
 33, 1.54; plateaus of, 152-162; 
 population. 157; rainfall, 153; rivers, 
 153-154; surface, 153. 
 
 Iran, 100, 103, 120. 
 
 Irawadi River, 285; valley, 300. 
 
 Ireland, 36. 200, 339. 
 
 Irkutsk, 142. 
 
 Iron, China, 249; Eastern Asia, 33 
 Siberia, 139. 
 
 Irrigation, Afghanistan, 114, 116 
 Armenia, 86; Asia Minor, 9; China, 
 14, 15* 271*; Chinese Turkistan, 
 169; India, 21. 35. 326-327; Khiva, 
 114; Lop Basin, 167; Merv, 114: 
 Mesopotamia, 71; Palestine, 62 
 Persia. 29* 98-99, 108-109, 114, 
 116; Russian Turkistan, 129; Seistan, 
 108-109; aouthwestern Asia, 28-29 
 TejeB, 114; Transcaspla, 112, 129. 
 
 Irtysli River, 32. 
 
 Ispalian, 97, 99. 
 
 Italy, 254. 314. 
 
 Jackals, Palestine, 61; Seistan, 110. 
 
 Jade, 165. 
 
 Jaffa, 62. 63. 
 
 Jains, 308-309. 
 
 Jaipur, 336. 
 
 Japan, 30, 33, 171, 181, 182, 185, 
 187, 192-220, 222, 228, 232, 256, 
 266, 272, 276, 302, 340; amuse- 
 ments, 218-219; artistic ta.ste in. 215; 
 bamboo, 207; bathing, 216; cart 
 carrying manure to fertilize tho 
 fields, 206*; cherry trees, 2i5; 
 children in charge of a child nurse, 
 218*; ehmate, 19.5-197; coast, 193; 
 coolie dressed in straw rain coat and 
 
 hat, 213*; dress, 198-199; earth- 
 quakes, 211-212; fish, 193, 201- 
 202; food, 200, 202-204, 206-207; 
 forests, 193, 197, 198; furniture, 213- 
 214; garden, typical, 220*; "go- 
 downs," 213; house, interior of, 
 showing mats, screens and open walls, 
 209*; houses, 208-212; junk, 194*; 
 mountains, 193, 195; navy, 194; 
 ornaments, 214-215; people, 198- 
 199, 205; physical factors, influence 
 of on the people, 200; poUteness, 
 209, 217-218; population, 197, 
 200; rainfall, 195, 197, 207, 211; 
 religion, 208; scenery, 193, 197- 
 198; shoes, 199, 213-214; street 
 scene, 205*; surface, 193; tea, 202; 
 toy-trumpet peddler, 199*; trans- 
 portation, 205-207; typhoons, 212; 
 volcanoes, 216; women buying sup- 
 plies from a vegetable cart, 203*. 
 
 Japan, Sea of, 197. 
 
 Java, 284. 
 
 Jericho, 57. 
 
 Jerusalem, 55, 63, 64. 65-66, 67; 
 street in, 65*; view of the Temple 
 inclosure and Dome of the Rock, 
 63*. 
 
 Jews, 66, 306. 
 
 Jinrikislias, 205-206. 
 
 Jordan River, 23, 52, 53, 57, 59. 
 
 Jordan Valley, 47, 59. 
 
 Judea, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 64. 
 
 Jumna River, 343. 
 
 Kaifung, 247, 248, 249. 
 
 Kamakura, 193. 
 
 Kanchanjanga, 319. 
 
 Kandahar, 119. 
 
 Kansas, 134. 
 
 Kansas City, 67, 282. 
 
 Kansu, 249. 
 
 Karachi, 311. 
 
 Khingan Escarpment, 153, 154, 
 173, 225, 226. 
 
 Khiva, 114, 129. 
 
 Khorassan, 101. 
 
 Khorat, 292. 
 
 Khotan, 165. 
 
 Kiao-chou, 253. 256. 
 
 Kirghiz, migrations, 158-162; mother 
 and daughter coming to make a call, 
 160*; nomads, 26, 154, 157. 
 
 Kirghiz Steppe, climate, 140-141; 
 homes, 141; nomadic Inhabitants, 
 141; rainfah, 141. 
 
 Kites, China, 273; Japan, 219. 
 
 Kizil-bashes, 88. 
 
 Kizil-Irmak, 28. 
 
 Koeit, 71. 
 
 Korea, see Chosen. 
 
 Krasnovodsk, 121, 122, 125. 
 
 Kueniun Mountains, 26, 27. 
 
 Kung, dukes of, 253. 
 
 Kurds, 88, 89. 
 
 Kuro Shino, 195. 
 
 Kweichou, 225, 233. 
 
 Lacquer tree, 204. 
 
 Lake Ara' 30, 32. 
 
THE INDEX 
 
 XXI 
 
 Lancasbire, 250. 
 
 "Land of the Rising Sun," 192. 
 
 "Land of the White Elephant," 298. 
 
 Lao, 295. 
 
 Lebanon, 67, 68. 
 
 Lemons, 62. 
 
 Lena Kiver, 32, 145, 151. 
 
 Leopards, 288. 
 
 Lettuce, 99. 
 
 Liau-ho, 173. > 
 
 Litani River, 67. 
 
 Locusts, 130-131. 
 
 Loess, China, 169, 250, 251; Lop 
 Basin, 168-169; Manchuria, 180. ' 
 
 Lolos, 282. 
 
 "Looking rooms," Chosen, 191. 
 
 Lop Basin, 157, 163-170; fish, 169; 
 food, 166, 167*; homes, 166; oases, 
 157, 165; products, 165, 166; rivers, 
 164-165; ruins in, 167; salt, 169- 
 170; zones of, 165-167. 
 
 LopUliS, 169. 
 
 Lop-nor, 169. 
 
 Macao, 256. 
 
 Madras, 314, 337. 
 
 Maine, 25, 26, 28, 195, 196. 
 
 Malay Archipelago, 192. 
 
 Malay Peninsula, 35, 284, 288, 302- 
 303; blrd's-nests, edible, 302; croco- 
 diles, 289; forests, 302; mines, 303; 
 monlceys, 288-289: people, 284; pep- 
 per, 303; position, 284; tin, 302; 
 women, 302. 
 
 Malay race, 284. 
 
 Manasarowar, Lake, 321, 322. 
 
 Manchuria, 33, 120, 152, 153, 171- 
 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 225, 228, 
 249, 251, 253; agriculture, 180; 
 animals, wild, 178, 179; bean cake, 
 171; beans, 171, 172, 176; climate, 
 173, 174; dog farms, 178; dress, 176; 
 forests, 178, 180; furs, 176; grain 
 grinding, 171*; an inn in, 176-177; 
 merchant's son delivering a bale of 
 rice, 179*; native tribes, 175; occupa- 
 tions, 180; political conditions, 180- 
 181; population, 173, 180; products, 
 179; railway, 181; rainfall, 173- 
 174; resemblances and differences 
 between Manchuria and the United 
 States, 172, 173; robbers, 177; 
 surface, 173, 180; transportation, 
 175-176; winds, 173-174. 
 
 Manchus, 180, 242, 271. 
 
 Mangrove, 295. 
 
 Maples, 91. 
 
 Maritime Plain, 62, 63. 
 
 Mazanderan, 122. 
 
 Mecca, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 49, 
 
 54, 66, 307. 
 Medina, 38, 41, 42, 46, 63. 
 Mediterranean Sea, 57, 59, 67, 77. 
 Mekong River, 225, 285, 292, 295,296. 
 Melons, Armenia, 88; Asia Minor, 8; 
 China, 243; Persia, 99, 109; Siberia, 
 145. 
 Menam River, 285, 287, 292, 297- 
 298. 
 
 Mencius, 253. 
 
 Merv, 112; home of a Russian official 
 in the oasis of, 130*; oasis of, 114, 
 127 129 
 
 Mesopotamia, 28, 51, 67, 70-72, 76, 
 85; desert, 72; floods, 71-72; irri- 
 gation, 71; products, 72; rainfall, 
 72. 
 
 Mexico, Gulf of, 153, 249. 
 
 Miaotse, 282. 
 
 Michigan, 172, 180. 
 
 Middle Kingdom, China, 225, 253 
 
 Millet, China, 232, 243, 246; Chosen, 
 188; India, 324, 331, 338; Man- 
 churia, 176, 179; Southern Asia, 35. 
 
 Minerals, America, 294; China, 249- 
 250; Chosen, 183, 191; Eastern Asia, 
 33; Indo-China, 294; Lop Basin, 
 165, 169, 170; Malay Peninsula, 
 302, 303; Manchuria, 180; Pales- 
 tine, 57; Siberia, 32, 138-139. 
 
 Mink, 135. 
 
 Minnesota, 66, 134, 
 
 Min River, 269; Chinese junk on, at 
 Poochow, 269*. 
 
 Mississippi, 249. 
 
 Mississippi River, 45, 154, 155, 
 226 249 
 
 Mississippi Valley, 305. 
 
 Missouri River, 45. 
 
 Mitchell, Mount, 67 
 
 Moab, 58, 63; bread making, 55; 
 crops, 54; rainfall, 53; surface, 53; 
 villages, 54, 55. 
 
 Moguls, 310, 334, 343. 
 
 Mohammedans, Afghanistan, 118; 
 Arabia, 44; Asia Minor, 2, 8, 81, 83; 
 China, 282; India, 307, 333-335; 
 Malay Peninsula, 291, 302; North- 
 ern Asia, 31; Palestine, 66; Persia, 
 309; Russian Turkistan, 121; South- 
 western Asia, 30, 38-43; Transcaspia, 
 121 122-123 
 
 Mongolia, 33, 157, 223, 251; climate, 
 156; desert, 156; encampment, a 
 Mongol, 157*; occupations, 156; pop- 
 ulation, 156; rainfall, 156. 
 
 Mongolian race, 34, 284. 
 
 Monkeys, India, 318; Indo-China, 
 287, 288; Malay Peninsula, 288, 
 289. 
 
 Monsoons, Arabia, 46; China, 246, 
 249, 266, 271, 282; Japan, 211; 
 India, 314-315, 324, 335; Indo- 
 China, 292, 295; Malay Peninsula, 
 292. 
 
 Montgomery, 249. 
 
 "Moonshine," 267. 
 
 Mountains, Appalachians, 67, 135, 
 195; Ararat, 84; Ariivalli Hills, 315, 
 317, 335; Asama-yama, 196*, 197*; 
 Carmel, 68; Catskills, 269; Cauca- 
 sus, 30, 91, 92, 122; Eastern Ghats, 
 314; Elburz, 101, 122; Everest, 
 319; Ever-White, 182, 185; Fuji- 
 san, 194, 219; Great Khingan, 152, 
 153; Hermon, .57; Himalavas, 27- 
 33,-35, 152, 304* 308, 315, 316, 318, 
 
XXll 
 
 ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 322, 319*. 320*, 343, 344; Hindu 
 Kush, 104, 109; KiinchanjangA, 319; 
 Khlngan Escarpment, 153, 154, 173, 
 225,226; Kuenlun, 26, 27; Lebanon, 
 67, 68; Mitchell, 67; Nimrud Dagii, 
 84; Pikes Peak, 155, 195; Stanovoi, 
 152; Sulaiman, 113, 119; Taurus 
 85; TianShan, 32; Ural, 135, 138, 
 150; Vindhya Range, 315, 317; 
 Western Ghats, 305, 314. 
 
 Mukden, 177, 178, 181. 
 
 Mulberries, 6. 
 
 Mulberry trees, Armenia, 87. 88; 
 .Japan, 204; Persia, 99; Russian 
 Turkistan, 133; Transcaspia, 124. 
 
 Mustard, 323. 
 
 Mysore, 314, 338. 
 
 Nanking, 266. 
 
 Nazareth, S.vrian women bringing 
 water from a fountain at, 54* . 
 
 Nebraska, 134. 
 
 Nectarines, 99. 
 
 Nestorians, 88, 89. 
 
 New England, 172, 173, 180, 207, 
 305. 
 
 Newfoundland, 196. 
 
 New Jersey, 180. 
 
 New Mexico, 305, 314. 
 
 New Orleans, 257. 
 
 New York, city, 45, 163, 256-257, 
 325; state, 172, 180, 305. 
 
 Nlkko, hotels in the region of, 210*; 
 one of the temples of, 211*. 
 
 Nile River, 249. 
 
 Nimrud Da^h, 84. 
 
 Nineveh, rums of, 70-71. 
 
 Ningpo, 239, 279. 
 
 Nomads, Anatolia, 79-81; Arabia, 
 46-48; Arctic regions, 18; Armenia, 
 87; Balilchistan, 120; Chinese Tur- 
 kistan, 223; Kirghiz, 26, 31*, 141, 
 154, 157; Manchuria, 180; Mongo- 
 lia, 156, 223; Persia, 103*, 104; 
 Russian Turkistan, 128; Scistan. 
 104-105, 110; Southwestern Asia, 
 30; Tian Shan, 157, 158; Tibet, 23, 
 154; Transcaspia, 128. 
 
 North America, 1.53, 154, 173, 196. 
 
 North Dakota, 134. 
 
 Northern Asia, 30-33, 100, facing p. 
 135*; agriculture, 31, 32; climate, 
 30,31,32; forests, 31, 32; hunting, 
 32; plains, 121; occupations, 31; 
 rainfall, 31, 32; religion, 31; rivers, 
 32; surface, 121. 
 
 Northwestern plateau provinces, 
 China, 249-252. 
 
 Oases, Arabia, 46; Balilchistan, 120; 
 Bukhara, 129; Khiva, 114, 129; 
 Lop Basin, 1.57, 165; Merv, 114, 
 129; Russian Turkistan, 131 ; Seistan, 
 114; Tejefl, 114; Transcaspia, 30, 
 125. 
 
 Ob River, 32. 
 
 Ohio, 180. 
 
 Ohio River, 45, 226 
 
 Oil, America, 92; Caucasia, 90-96 
 
 Okhotsk, Sea of, 30, 152. 
 
 Olives, 59, 60; oil, 60; old orchard 
 in Palestine, 60*. 
 
 Omaha, 67. 
 
 Oman, 46, 51. 
 
 Omsk, 142. 
 
 Onions, Anatolia, 81; Persia, 99. 
 
 Opium, 176, 275. 
 
 Oranges, Anatolia, 76; China, 280; 
 Indo-Lhina, 296; Palestine, 62. 
 
 Oregon, 305. 
 
 Orontes River, 67. 
 
 Osmanlis, 79. 
 
 Ostyaks, 144. 
 
 Oudh, 317, 323. 
 
 Pacific coast states, 134. 
 
 Pacific Ocean, 33, 118, 143, 144, 152, 
 153, 174, 192, 207. 
 
 Pacific Slope, 154, 157, 174; climate, 
 153; divisions, 153; population, 152- 
 153; rainfall, 152; surface, 152. 
 
 Palestine, 51, 53-66, facing p. 58*, 67, 
 336; altitude, 23; animals, wild, 
 61; barter, 61-62; cisterns, 64; cli- 
 mate, 23, 54; coast. 62; coastal 
 plain, 68; communication, lines of, 
 63-64; cucumbers, 62; farming, 59; 
 fruit, 59-61, 62; government, 59; 
 grain raising, 62; harbors, 62, 63; 
 houses, 54; irrigation, 62; Maritime 
 Plain, 62, 63; orchard, old olive, 60*; 
 rainfall, 54, 59, 62, 64-65; religion, 
 66; seed time, 65; sheep, 58-59; 
 surface, 59; Syrian peasant with his 
 basket of grapes, 61*; trade, 63; the 
 Wilderness of the Scapegoat: a view 
 near the Jordan River, 52*. 
 
 Palms, Arabia, 47, 49; China, 280; 
 India, 311, 312, 337; Indo-China, 
 287, 291, 296; Mesopotamia, 72; 
 Palestine, 57. 
 
 Palmyra, 70; ruins of a colonnaded 
 street in 71*. 
 
 Pamirs, 27, 30, 32, 100, 152, 316. 
 
 Parrots, 287. 
 
 Parsis, 306, 309-310; Towers of 
 Silence, 309. 
 
 Peaches, Armenia, 87; Asia Minor, 8; 
 Lop Basin, 166; Persia, 99. 
 
 Pears 99 
 
 PechVii, 266; plains of, 241-242. 
 
 Pechili. Gulf of, 235, 248. 
 
 Peking, 166, 224, 225, 226, 233, 234, 
 235, 236-238, 247, 257, 261, 266; 
 Peking and the Hwang-ho, 235-252. 
 
 Penang, 284, 303. 
 
 Pennsylvania, 180, 250, 305. 
 
 Pepper, 303. 
 
 Peppers, 81. 
 
 Persia, 28, 30, 38, 51, 85, 89, 90, 97- 
 111, 114, 116, 119, 120, 121, 125, 
 129, 140, 289; animals, domestic, 
 102, 103; aspects of, pleasant and 
 unpleasant, 97-99; bazaars, 98; 
 boundary troubles, 113-114; caravan- 
 serai in a village in eastern Persia, 
 102*; dervishes, 97*;desert, 101, 102- 
 104; famines, 99; Fowlers, 10.5-108; 
 fruits, 99, 109; government, 100, 101, 
 
THE INDEX 
 
 XXIU 
 
 106; habitable portions of, 101; irriga- 
 tion, 29*. 98, 99; merchants and bar- 
 gaining, 97-98; mountains, 102-103; 
 nom;ids, 103*, 104-105; polvgamv, 
 98; rainfall, 99-101; rugs, 97; se- 
 rais, 101-102; travel, modes of, 101- 
 102; vegetables. 99; village among the 
 mountains of, 100*. 
 
 Peshawar, 112. 118. 
 
 Philippine Islands, 212. 
 
 Phoenicia, 68; Phoenicians, 67, 68. 
 
 Pidgin English, 240 
 
 Pigs, China, 242; Manchuria, 179. 
 
 Plltes Peak, 155, 195 
 
 Pine, Caucasia, 91; India, 318; Si- 
 beria, 142. 
 
 Plants, principal, Asia, facing p. 59*. 
 
 Plateau states, 134. 
 
 Plums, Armenia, 87; Asia Minor, 8; 
 Lop Basin, 166; Persia, 99. 
 
 Polyandry, 156. 
 
 Polygamy, 98. 
 
 Ponieloes, 296. 
 
 Poplar trees, Armenia, 87; Persia, 98. 
 
 Population, density of, Asia, facing p. 
 153*. 
 
 Port Arthur, 120, 256. 
 
 Port Said, 44. 
 
 Portugal, 256. 
 
 Poyang, Lake of, 266. 
 
 Primorsk, 172. 
 
 Printing, invention of in China, 221. 
 
 Products, commercial, of Asia, between 
 pp. 134 and 135*. 
 
 Pulses, 232. 
 
 Punjab, 315, 317, 322, 323, 326, 343. 
 
 "Quakers of India," 308. 
 
 Races of man, Asia, facing p. 308*. 
 
 Raids, Turkoman, 129. 
 
 Railways, .Afghanistan, 118-120; Ana- 
 tolia, 76, 77; Asia, between pp. 8 
 and 9* 118; Caucasia, 90-92; China, 
 250; Chosen, 189; from Damascus 
 to Medina, 42; India, 310, 311, 325- 
 326, 327; Manchuria, 181; Pales- 
 tine, 63; Siberian Railway, 31, 142- 
 144, 147; Transcaspian Railway, 
 122-125; Turlcey, 3. 
 
 Rainfall, mean annual, Asia, facing p. 
 8*; seasonal distribution of, Asia, 
 facing p. 9*. 
 
 Rajputana, 309, 335-337. 
 
 Rajputs, 336, 338. 
 
 Red Basin, 226, 267. 
 
 Reindeer, 19, 145. 
 
 Religions, Afghanistan, 118; Anatolia, 
 2, 8, 81, 83; Arabia, 44; Asia, 
 facing p. 39*; Burma, 301-302; 
 China, 16, 233, 259-262, 278, 279*. 
 282;Chosen, 182, 191;Cochin-China, 
 297; Eastern Asia. 34; India, 36*, 
 278, 306-310, 307*, 327-328, 330- 
 336, 331*, 337*; Japan, 192, 208; 
 Malay Peninsula, 291, 302; Northern 
 Asia, 31, 32; Palestine, 66; Russian 
 Turkistan, 121; Siam, 301-302, 
 Southwestern Asia, 30, 38-43; Tibet; 
 155; Transcaspia, 121, 122-123. 
 
 Rhine River, 92. 
 
 Rice, Burma, 300-301; China, 14, 15*, 
 232, 233, 265, 271, 277, 279, 280; 
 Chosen, 184-185; India. 311, 312, 
 313,331;Indo-China, 289,291,296; 
 Japan, 204; Southern Asia, 35. 
 
 Rion River, 92. 
 
 Rivers, Amu, 32; in Anatolia, 74; 
 Aias, 28; Brahmaputra, 305, 311, 
 312,315, 322; Canton, 281* 282; 
 Cauvery, 338; Connecticut, 326; 
 Delaware, 45; Euphrates, 28, 70, 
 71, 84, 85; Ganges, 249, 305, 306, 
 311, 312, 317, 322, 330, 332, 333, 
 343; Gogra, 322; Helmand, 104, 
 108. Ill, 114, 116; Heri-Rud, 112, 
 116, 119, 126; Hudson, 45, 269; 
 Hwang-ho, 225, 226, 235, 247, 248- 
 249, 253, 282; Indus, 20, 310, 313, 
 315, 317, 322; Iriwadi, 285. 300; 
 Irtysh, 32; Jordan, 23, 47, 52, 53, 
 57, 59; Jumna, 343; Kizil-Irmak, 
 28; Lena, 32, 145, 151; Liau-ho, 
 173; Litani, 67; Mekong, 225, 285, 
 292, 295, 296; Menam, 285, 287, 
 292, 297-298; Min, 269*; Missis- 
 sippi, 45, 154, 155, 228, 249, 305; 
 Missouri, 45; Nile, 249; Ob, 32; 
 Ohio, 45, 226; Oiontes, 67; Rhine, 
 92; Rion, 92; St. Lawrence, 153, 
 173, 226; Salwin, 225; Schuylkill, 
 45; Si-kiang, 227, 228, 256, 280, 
 282; Songkoi, 285, 294; Sungari, 
 173; Sutlej, 322; Svr-daria, 32; 
 Tejeil, 126; Tigris, 28, 71, 85; 
 Volga, 96, 121; Yangtse-kiang, 12, 
 225, 226, 227, 233, 248, 249, 256, 
 257, 265, 266, 267, 269, 282; Yel- 
 low, 235 (see also Hwang-ho) ; Yeni- 
 sei, 32; West, 280. 
 
 Rome, 70, 222. 
 
 Roses, 99. 
 
 Rugs, 97. 
 
 Ruins near the Pilgrim Road from 
 Damascus to Mecca, 43*. 
 
 Russia, 30, 32, 35, 85, 96, 113, 114, 
 118, 119, 120, 121, 135, 136, 137, 
 143, 152, 181, 182. 
 
 Russian girls dressed for a wedding, 
 143*. 
 
 Russian Turkistan, 121-134; cli- 
 mate and rainfall, 121; religion, 121. 
 
 Russo-Japanese War, 181. 
 
 Sable, 135. 
 
 Sahara, 314. 
 
 Saigon, 296; view of the water front 
 at, 296*. 
 
 St. Lawrence River, 153, 173, 226. 
 
 St. Petersburg, 144. 
 
 Salt, Lop Basin, 169-170; Palestine, 
 57. 
 
 Salwin River, 225. 
 
 Samaria, 59, 63. 64. 
 
 Samarkand, 120, 131-134; a scene 
 in the streets of, 132*; ashopin, 134*. 
 
 Sambhar, Lake, 33<j, 
 
 Samovars, 125. 
 
 Samsuu, 75. 
 
ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 San Francisco, 134 
 
 Santa Fe, 224. 
 
 Sayids, 105. 
 
 Schools, China, 262-265. 
 
 Schuylkill Biver, 45. 
 
 Scotland, 36, 116, 224, 339. 
 
 Sea of Japan, 197. 
 
 Sea of Okhotsli. 30. 
 
 Sedan chair, 238, 259, 260*. 
 
 Selstan, 102-111, 169; beasts of bur- 
 den, 110; birds, 106, 107; cows, 106; 
 effect of climate and physiograpliy in, 
 109-111; farmers, 108-109; Fowlers, 
 group of before a reed house, 105*; 
 government, 106; houses, 105-106, 
 109-110; irrigation, 108-109; lake 
 of, 119; nomadic tribes of , 104-105; 
 oasis of, 114; people, 110-111; a raft 
 of reeds on the lake of, 107 * ; rainfall, 
 104, 110; reed beds, 104, 105; wind, 
 109. 
 
 Seistanis, 105, 110, 111. 
 
 Sendai, 211. 
 
 Serais, 101; a caravanserai in a village 
 in eastern Persia, 102*. 
 
 Shah Jehan, 334, 335. 
 
 Shanghai, 226, 239, 256-257, 265, 
 269; coolie with his wheelbarrow 
 loaded with rice in front of a shop at, 
 256*. 
 
 Shanhaikuan, 224 
 
 Shans, 285. 
 
 Shansl, 247, 249, 250; memorial 
 temple in, 250*. 
 
 Shantung, 185, 239, 254, 256. 
 
 Sheep, Armenia, 87; a flock of, fol- 
 lowing their shepherd, Armenia, 89*; 
 China, 242, 250; Mesopotamia, 72; 
 Palestine, 58-59, 62; Persia, 103; 
 Tian Shan, 159; Tibet, 22, 154; 
 Transcaspia and Russian Turkistan, 
 128 
 
 ShensI, 249, 250. 
 
 Siah-Posh tribes, 118. 
 
 Siam, 33, 152, 153, 222, 225, 292, 
 297-300, 338; houseboats, 298; 
 houses, 297; religion and education, 
 301-302; teak, 287, 299; tides, 297- 
 298; transportation by elephant, 
 299-300. 
 
 Slam, Gulf of, 152. 
 
 Siberia, 30, 32, 34, 107, 135-151, 
 153, 172, 174, 181, 197, 223; 
 animals, domestic, 142, 146; cara- 
 vans, 147; central Siberia, 141-- 
 142; climate, 32, 141; compared to 
 America, 135; farming, 32, 145; 
 food, 149; forests, 32, 144; furs, 
 135; grains, 141, 142, 143, 144, 
 147; harbors and coast trade, 138; 
 hay, 142; home of Russian colonists 
 in, 141*; houses, 142; hunting, 32; 
 inhabitants, 136-137; minerals, 138- 
 139; pioneers, of, 135-136; post 
 roads, 147-150; post station, 148* 
 148-149; post wagon, Kirghiz drivers 
 of, making ready for a journey, 146*; 
 resources, 138-139; rivers, 150-151; 
 
 soil and surface, 138; temperature, 
 extremes of, 145-146; towns and vil- 
 lages, 142-143; transportation, 146- 
 147; trees, 142; vegetables, 142. 
 
 Siberian Railway, 31, 142-144, 147. 
 
 Sikhs, 308. 
 
 Sl-kiang, 227, 228, 256, 280, 282. 
 
 Silk, 176; Japan, 204; Russian Tur- 
 kistan, 133. 
 
 Silkworms, 133. 
 
 Simla, 343. 
 
 SInd, 310-311, 313, 314, 315, 316, 
 317, 322, 335. 
 
 Singan-fu, 226. 
 
 Singapore, 284, 302, 303. 
 
 Smyrna, 76. 
 
 Snakes, 36, 310, 318, 339. 
 
 Songkoi Biver, 285, 294 
 
 Soul, bull driver bringing wood into, 
 190*; from the south gate, 183*. 
 
 South Dakota, 134. 
 
 Southern Asia, 27, 35-37, facing p. 
 309*; boundaries, 35; climate, 35; 
 famines, 35; farming, 35; physical 
 features, 35; population, 35; prod- 
 ucts, 35; religion, 36; size, 35. 
 
 Southern states, 195. 
 
 Southwestern Asia, 27, 28-30, 38-43, 
 facing p. 38*, 98, 100, 121, 228; 
 climate, 40; famine, 29; irrigation 
 28-29; occupations, 30; products, 29; 
 rainfall, 28; religion, 30; surface, 28. 
 
 Stanovol Mountains, 152. 
 
 Starlings, 131. 
 
 Storks, 77. 
 
 Strawberries, 91. 
 
 Street cars, 69. 
 
 Suchwan, 226, 267. 
 
 Suez Canal, 42, 44. 
 
 Sugar cane, China, 279; India, 313, 
 324, 338; Indo-China, 289. 
 
 Sulaiman Mountains, 113, 119. 
 
 Sumatra, 284. 
 
 Sungari Biver, 173. 
 
 SutieJ Elver, 322. 
 
 Syr-daria, 32. 
 
 Syria, facing p. 58*, 62, 67-72, 76; 
 Circassian oxcart in, 68*; climate, 
 67; harbors, 67-68; population, 69; 
 rainfall, 67, 69; trees, 67. 
 
 Syrian Desert, 70. 
 
 Tadmor, 70. 
 
 Taiyuen, 247. x 
 
 Taj Mahal, 333-335, 334*. 
 
 Takhia Makan Desert, 163-164. 
 
 Tale Sap, 296, 297. 
 
 Tallahassee, 249. 
 
 Tamarisks, 108. 
 
 Tamils, 337. 
 
 Taoism, 278. 
 
 Tarim Basin, 224. 
 
 Tartar race, 31; Tartars, 135, 334. 
 
 Tattooing, 301. 
 
 Taurus Mountains, 85. 
 
 Tea, 147; China, 276, 279; India, 318; 
 Japan, 202; tea drinking, Persia, 98; 
 Russia, 125. 
 
 Teak, 287, 299-300. 
 
THE INDEX 
 
 XXV 
 
 Tejen, 112, 114. 
 
 Tejcn River, 126. 
 
 Telugus, 337. 
 
 Temperate Belt, 285; Zone, 318. 
 
 Temperature, mean annual range of, 
 Asia, facing p. 134*; mean for Jan- 
 uary, Asia, facing p. 26*; mean lor 
 July, Asia, facing p. 27*. 
 
 Tennessee, 155. 
 
 Terai, 318. 
 
 Tpsas 305 
 
 TIan Sban, 157; dress in, 159, 161; 
 food, 162; liomes, 158; migrations 
 among the Kirghiz of, 158-162; 
 nomads, 158; rainfall and climate, 
 158; surface, 158. 
 
 Tian Shan Mountains, 32. 
 
 Tibet, 27, 33, 154-156, 157, 267, 284, 
 285, 321, 322; altitude, 22; climate, 
 22, 23, 154; dress, 23, 155; farming, 
 155; homes, 23; nomads, 23, 154; 
 officials on a journey, 156*; plateau, 
 152, 224; population, 155; rainfall, 
 154; religion, 155-156; sheep, 154; 
 surface, 154; Tibetans living in a 
 valley which is almost as high as the 
 top of Pikes Peak, 155*; vegetation, 
 154; villages, 155. 
 
 Tiflis, 92. 
 
 Tigers, Chosen, 183; India, 310, 
 338, 339; Indo-China, 288; Man- 
 churia, 178. 
 
 Tigris Eiver, 28, 71, 85. 
 
 Timour the Lame, 134. 
 
 Tobacco, 176. 
 
 Toljyo, 196, 205, 211, 213, 216. 
 
 Tomsli, 142. 
 
 Tongldng, 294. 
 
 Topelia, 45. 
 
 Transcaspia, 30, 112, 121-134, 139 
 164; climate, 121, 127; desert, 127 
 floods, 125-126; irrigation, 129 
 oases, 125; occupations, 128; raids 
 129; rainfall, 121; religion, 121 
 sand dunes, 125, 127; surface, 125 
 
 Transcaspian Railway, 122-125; a 
 halt at a station on, 124*. 
 
 Transportation, Armenia; sheepskin 
 rafts, 85; Asia: between pp. 8 and 9*; 
 Asia Minor: freight wagons, 1, 2; 
 passenger wagon, 2*; Caucasia: pipe 
 lines, 92; China: carts, 238; Grand 
 canal, 266;' sedan chairs, 238, 
 259, 260*; traveling on a junk, 
 12*; wheelbarrows, 14*, 230, 241* 
 256*; Chosen: bulls, 190*; human 
 porterage, 189; oxen, 189; in the 
 Himalayas: human porterage, 320*; 
 India: carts, 311 ; proposed route from 
 Europe to, 118-120; Road of the 
 Viceroy, 323; steamship lines, 311 
 traveling in the Deccan, 317*; yaks 
 319, 320; Japan: hand carts, 206* 
 jinrlklshas, 20.5-206; junks, 194* 
 Kuenlun Mountains; caravans, 26 
 
 1 yaks, 26; Manchuria: carts, 175 
 Palestine: harbors, railways, roads. 
 
 63; Persia: caravans and serais, 
 101, 102*; Pilgrim Road to Mecca, 
 43; Siam: elephants, 299; Siberia; 
 caravans, 147; post wagons, 146*, 
 147-150; roads, 147; Suez Canal, 
 42, 44. Syria: Circassian o.xcart, 
 68*; Syrian Desert: caravans, 70. 
 See also under Railways. 
 
 "Treaty Ports", 255-257. 
 
 Tundras, 18, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 32, 
 145, 146. 
 
 Tungting, Lake of, 266. 
 
 Tungus, 144. 
 
 Turan, 295. 
 
 Turfan, 166. 
 
 Turliey, 3, 12, 13, 16, 28, 73, 85, 289, 
 302, 307; government, 9, 10, 17-18; 
 women of western, 82*. See also Ana- 
 tolia, Armenia, Asia Minor, Meso- 
 potamia, and Syria and Palestine. 
 
 Turid race, 31. 
 
 Turidstan, 147, 334. 
 
 Turliistan, Chinese, or East, 33, 163, 
 168, 169, 170. 
 
 Turldstan, Russian, 30, 121-134; cli- 
 mate, 121; flocks and herds, 128; 
 fruit trees, 132, 133; irrigation, 129; 
 locusts, 130-131; oases, 131; raids, 
 129; rainfall, 121; religion, 121; silk, 
 133. 
 
 Turliomans, 79, 83, 94, 127-130; 
 tread making among:, 140; drawing 
 water from a well for their flocks, 
 128*; soldiers saluting, 123*; tents 
 pitched in the wind-swept desert, 
 127*. 
 
 Turnips, 243. 
 
 Twin pagodas, 247*. 
 
 Typhoons, 212. 
 
 Tyre, 67. 
 
 United Kingdom, 200, 339. 
 
 United States, 25, 33, 134, 135, 137, 
 144, 155, 157, 172, 195, 226, 250, 
 257, 304, 305, 306, 314, 315, 317, 
 318 
 
 Ural Mountains, 135, 'l38, 150. 
 
 Urumia, Lai<e, 85; basin, 86. 
 
 Vegetables, Anatolia, 8 1 ; Asia Minor, 
 5, 8; China, 232. 243, 246; India, 
 331 ; Palestine. 62 ; Persia. 99; Siberia, 
 142; Southwestern Asia, 29. 
 
 Vegetation, areas of natural, Asia, 
 between pp. 134 and 135*. 
 
 Verliboyansk, 145. 
 
 Vindhya Range, 315, 317. 
 
 VladlTostok, 172. 
 
 Volcanoes, in Armenia, 84; Asama- 
 yama, 196*, 197*; in Japan, 216. 
 
 Volga River, 96, 121. 
 
 Vultures, 79. 
 
 Wai, Hindu temple at the sanctuary 
 of, 307*. 
 
 Wales, 36 
 
 Wall, Great, 223-224, 224*, 236. 
 
 Washington, 305. 
 
 Waterfowl, 107. 
 
 Watermelons, Armenia, 88; Asia 
 Minor, 8; Persia, 109; Siberia, 145. 
 
ASIA: A GEOGRAPHY READER 
 
 Water pipe, 97. 
 
 Welbaiwel, 253, 256. 
 
 Western Ghats, 305, 314. 
 
 Western Hemisphere, 172. 
 
 Western World, 225, 283. 
 
 West River, 280. 
 
 West Virginia, 180. 
 
 Wheat, America, 61 : Anatolia, 79, 80* 
 Armenia, 87; Asia Minor, 9, 10 
 China, 232, 243; India, 313, 323, 
 331; Manchuria, 176, 179, 181 
 Mesopotamia, 72; Northern Asia, 32 
 Palestine, 55, 57, 61, 62; Siberia, 
 141-142. 143, 144, 147; Southern 
 Asia, 35; Southwestern Asia, 29. 
 
 Wheeibarrow, China, 14*, 241. 
 
 Wilderness of the Scapegoat: a view 
 near the Jordan River, 52*. 
 
 Wolves, Anatolia, 81; Manchuria, 
 178; Palestine, 61. 
 
 Wool, 147. 
 
 Writing, China, 222, 238-240; Chosen, 
 
 222, 240; Japan, 222, 240; Siam, 
 
 222' Turk^v 5 
 Yaks,' 26; India, 319, 320; Tibet, 
 
 23, 154. 
 Yakuts, 135. 
 Yakutsk, 145, 146. 
 Yangtsc-kiang, 12, 225, 226, 227, 
 
 233, 248, 249, 256, 257, 265, 266, 
 
 267, 269, 282; provinces of, 256- 
 
 268. 
 "Yankees of the East," 220. 
 "Yellow Cat," 267. 
 Yellow Biver, 235. See also Hwang-ho. 
 Yellow Sea, 172, 184, 185, 236. 
 Yenisei Klver, 32. 
 Yezldls, 88. 
 Yezo, 196, 207. 
 Yokohama, 193, 194. 
 Yunnan, 225, 233, 280, 284. 
 Yuruks, 79. 
 Zenobia, 70. 
 Zulus, 24.