Show call hwang ho chinas cainas Ch inas sorrow extraordinary river lias has cost millions fillion A 3 of live layes 8 millions Atil liolis in wealth OAred tn hy Nat national tonal G see Wax hington D t 0 WN korvic japanese military WHILE forces have advanced west ward in dehol bringing the ito ho or yell yellow ow river of clana closer to international co collica lions life on the tortuous stream lias has gone on in its own in imitable way the 11 hwang ang ito iio la Is one of tile the most extraordinary rivers of the world orld its disastrous hooding flooding has cost the chinese millions of liven and trill mil lions of wealth through tile the destruct voll ton of homes and farm lands and because of this it has earned such titles as aa I 1 china s sorrow I 1 the I 1 un governable 90 er find and tl scourge of the sons of ilan at times it has changed tta its course over as much as miles in a single flooding soa sea son eon today T iday it empties into the yet yel low sea north of the shantung peninsula but before 1952 it debauched its loess laden waters th through ough a channel south of that peninsula pen it la Is the second largest arts river er in china yet in all its course from its hen headwaters daters high up in tile the kanlun range in tibet all along its 2500 rollo milo path to the sea it is not navi gable for steamships or other deep draft craft its course Is alternately either too swift and broken by turbulent rapids or widens aej be cornea comes too shallow and filled with san sana I 1 bars to allow tile the use of large boats but over some miles of its course as it winds through gansit provance and along the edge of inner Mor mongolia golla from sitting to plies piles an interesting raft traffic that lifts haa been carried on for centuries chinese literature confirms the fact that here the earlier sons of ilan iian 2 2000 ON years ago were using sheep skin and rafts identical with those ft hech one finds in use today there are two types of rafts one using as a buoys inflated sheepskins sheep skins and the other large which are stuffed bluffed with wool and then tt tied ed up to I keep beep them watertight the sheepskin rafts vary tn in size nc ac cording to the use for which they are intends ranging from as few as 12 or 13 15 skins on the small one man inan rafts to as many as in the large freight rafts for the large rafts some hides are used before being used tile raw ox hides are treated on the inside with salt and oil to preserve and water proof them ns its well as keap them flexible raw hides cost about 10 I 1 1 R A I 1 I 1 A 7 1 A 4 AI air filled sheepskins Sheep skins kep keep this hwang ho raft la in the local currency gold and are considered about twice as valuable after they have been pro prop p e erly prepared consequently the large freight rafts are often valued at AS much as a a GOO COO gold but the hides ale aie useful as buoys buoy a for three years and are then sold in the pao fao taw market for shoe leather rafts easily made raft making Is a comparatively easy task to a simple frame framework nork of poles lashed securely to together geher are fastened the hades or sheep skins arven the stuffing ng of the hides bides with tibetan wool Is a simple proc ess but weca it comes to inflating 50 sheepskins sheep skins on one raft before a voyage that la Is a joil job I 1 N without doubt the industrious raf tomen can make strong claims for the record in the windiest win diest of all ship in navigation nail gatlon of the rafts in the down don river trade Is entirely la in the hands of the moslem Llo chinese who form a considerable percentage of the population of the mansu district life Is not easy on the rafts with nil all tile the contrasts of licit float and cold and the strenuous labor in coined in the clumsy transports transport trang port through the rapids or in freeing them once they have strand el on a sand bar but liege hardy craftsmen rafts men are a happy and friendly lot ahe 11 he great irregular S por tion of the course of the iio through kaisu and mongolia Mou golla over which the rafts operate la Is curved for a large part of the way through the exter extensive Ave loess loesa plain region bore and in the anel e valley whose tributary waters aters are gathered unto t hwang about 40 miles west est laschow was vas the cradle of the chinese race but through the con aurles great quantities of loess or sandy aandy loam have been bonn blown across these lands submerging numerous cities and making desert many wide ai aits as which were ere once onca fertile farm ing districts tills this yellow loess crr car ried in suspension in the water has given the river and the yellow sea their names today there tire are only a few fertile localities in the lifang no ho valley such buch na as those around lani hanchow how ani an these are intensely auld bated td basea e that have been kept pro through irrigation and ir in their heir districts rafts carry on con id e rable local transport of vege tablet tables dates watermelons water melons and grain to the city markets the ilia long distance freighting on the large rafts how howe c to la largely devoted to transport of quantities of 0 v Y ool skins hides and other pro duce of the tibetan region down to the caravan center and rail railhead lipa d nil tl lage inge of whence these ar tides of commerce can be sent bv rail to and ultimately find distribution to world markets the majority of the large cargo ratta rafts start from some borne dis tance upstream ups ream on the ho a tribu tributary taLy of the no ITO but to these are also added other cargo vv which leaves from tile the important caravan center of I 1 anchovy that lies on tile the historic old silk road between china turkestan Turk Tur estan hestan and the west hard work up stream th alu rafts can be managed with comparativo ease as they float doa down a stream but their great resistance and their clumsiness make it practically impossible for them to be poled upstream even la in quiet water they are taken apart at the end of the voyage and the skins are carried back overland to thu tho place of departure in the a ai I 1 soon as the ice has been cleared trim the river which Is frozen from the end of N november 0 to the beginning of march the rafts are assembled buoys stuffed with wool no doubt originated through the scheme of crafty craftsmen rafts men to boot leg wool past tile the customs officials and thereby escape duty today although tile the authorities know that it will nill be ba sold at the end of tho the trip the wool still rides on doi doa n to poo pao tow escaping all of the tolls and du ties flu imposed posed on tile the other cargo cargoes loaded farewells said the rafts push off on the first of the two Jo journeys that are mide made each year they slip past water wheels that line the river banks which i hach are rals ing water to the thirsty fields in the region then past the altys walls and under the only steel bridge that spans the elvei for many hundreds of miles some fifteen miles below lan chow where the village of aisla shuitsu Is perched on a rocky cliff the current Is swift and all hands are called to man the la large rge tillers as the rafts head down through the granite gorge where the river makes an abrupt curve and then follows a northwesterly course all the way downstream to chiang wet the rafts craftsmen men must navigate through rapid after rapid below Chung wel the course widens as it enters the and except for the passage through the fertile dis als tricht around Ning sta becomes a mo notorious noto noua passage through desolate yellow wastes all the way to pao tow grilling voyage the great loop around the desert Is a low flow gt tiling voyage dur ing the summer months when the sun throughout the day boats beats down relentlessly in a blinding glare on the water aud and on the shimmering sand banks the craftsmen rafts men share the tasks of guiding the crift repairing punctured skins releasing the ungainly floats when stranded strand pd on sand bars an cooking their meals on deck after weeks on the way every 0 one tie to la glad when the rafts are brought safely to the jour ney n ey a end the caravan town sprawls on a barren dnn colored hillside of saud sand some little distance from the river low squat adobe and brick build ings line the narrow streets and wilding alleys that find outlet through thi guarded gateway of rambling oil city walls caravan sartes and homes are concealed behind closed gateways and bagh earthen walls alls here alere to in the bazaars and in the cases of itinerant venders benders the raf craftsmen rafts tswen men find oddments of western produce for which they can bargain to take back to their families trains that come whistling hist ling out to this outpost bring many things from and neiping marts that are not readily available farther inland at last when hen all of the cargoes have been turned over to the wool and hide merchants the rafts are tolen token apart and the hides bides folded up and packed on donkeys or camels for the long journey home by car avan |