Show examining exams na ng mines mi nes i in n china chi na A letter has been recently received by harold A linke mining engineer boston building salt lake from a mining engineer of new york wile who is traveling in china and has had some very interesting experiences the following is extracted from his letter ho lo 10 kou hunan province china june 19 1919 my dear linke I 1 sailed september ath last for japan then I 1 went into korea leaving there finally on december for peking reached peking january and at once set about making arrangements to go into the interior finding at once that I 1 was going to be up against all kinds of delays I 1 secured a chinese who spoke no E english ng a and nd began studying mandarin the of facial high class language of the country you know As there are 57 varieties spoken in china I 1 decided to be satisfied with the main one in february I 1 had an attack of pleurisy and finally the doctor put me to bed for five days only however when I 1 was up and around as well as ever finally on march 3rd ard I 1 got away from peking with all the credentials I 1 could need and started by way of bankow shanghai and aed amoy for canton planning to begin work in the south as it was too cold in the north to work in the field with any domfort comfort visiting different mining districts left canton on april ath for the interior and have been traveling around in the mountains of kwong tung and hunan provinces ever since visiting the different min ing districts at present I 1 am four miles from the province border and leave tomorrow for that province AS I 1 have very few reports of mining along the general route I 1 have laid out I 1 fancy that in three or four weeks I 1 can hit a river and go down that to the west river and so back to canton at any rate I 1 feel that I 1 am headed for civilization and a good square meal again I 1 have had bread three times since I 1 left canton and am a little tired of rice I 1 am practically living on the country and eat everything that com comes es my way that thai is nearly everything my boy basor has orders to buy live chickens and to buy pork only when he is reasonably sure that the animal died a violent death and not a natural one those are the only two meats one can get excepting duck traveling in sedan chair have had bad a very interesting trip but also a fairly hard one in some ways but I 1 am in perfect health and as hard as nails traveling is done chiefly by sedan chairs but I 1 walk a great deal of the way occasionally sio nally I 1 can get a boat and be poled or towed for a short distance on some river rive n everybody has been very kind and solicitous for my welfare they never let me travel without troops and I 1 have come into a town as the chief object of interest in a procession of forty soldiers and police followed by my string of baggage coolies and choked by the powder fumes from the firecrackers I 1 cra ackers they were setting off in strings alongside my chair as I 1 went to greet the official grand mogul of the town I 1 usually pick a temple to td sleep in as they are greatly to be preferred to the miserable inns and it is a common experience to sleep with my cot in front of the high altar with the gods looking down upon me and joss sticks smoking at my h head ead and feet in the tin district just now I 1 am held up by the rains the first time I 1 have allowed them to so stop me I 1 am in one of the best known tin till mining districts in china but the district is perhaps better known among the chinese as being the center of bandit troubles I 1 am quite comfortably housed in the fortified compound of the government IniZ office part of the wall fell down downcast last night as the result of the rains so now they kep keep soldiers on guard there there are forty guards in the compound and eighty soldiers garrison the small village a few Il hundred undred yards away a blockhouse with twenty guards sits on top of a hill commanding the valley and a quarter mile away from here tell tel an officer came in a short while ago to 0 ol 01 f me not hot to be scared if I 1 heard the report a gun as he was going to test a new rl r they had just received I 1 asked to ta go 90 along hoole bone but stood well away as it was a made gun but of army model he I 10 fired elreda at a rock on the cliff yards away anait and hit fifty feet higher up he quit satisfied as far as I 1 could see that the gun did not burst As a matter of fact they have not money to provide ammunition for practice and I 1 dont believe any of the soldiers could come near a mark Is honored by a guard they certainly do not intend to waste any money paying ransom for me as I 1 am not allowed to move without a guard of twenty five soldiers who stop when I 1 do and gather around me to see that their foreigner is going to do next they are a darned nuisance but I 1 do appreciate their desire to see me well cared for yesterday I 1 started to walk to the blockhouse near the compound to get some panorama photographs and laughingly told the officer that if he sent soldiers along id turn my automatic colt loose on them we finally compromised by his stationing a guard on a bridge which I 1 had to cross and outside the compound walls and they kept me in sight all the way this district is interesting and I 1 could write you a lot about it and about a lead silver zinc mine with tons of stored 40 per cent zinc ore as well as other things but will reserve some of it until I 1 see you I 1 am now about out of everything am solicitously nursing my last box of cigars and of cigarettes and am smoking on the country my riding breeches are patched on both knees but in them I 1 have called upon a governor and many generals and lesser officials fici als one night I 1 held a reception in my pajamas when some village officials and elders called unexpectedly I 1 had taken possession of a temple outside the village and they had heard that an american peace commissioner was there on his way to make peace between the southern and northern factions I 1 received them I 1 trust with due gravity I 1 was then in a neutral zone which had been made between the lines of the two armies when they had arranged an armistice I 1 plan to follow this work for another year or two or so long as it continues interesting I 1 am having a good time and seeing new things all the time and what is more to the point am making myself an authority on the mining conditions of the orient with kindest regards and best wishes |