Show F v blowing up skins skin which buoy a yellow river raft prepared by the national So society cletY Waa hington D cx 0 service trains and giant S airliners recently have been in kj the spotlight in america italy Is still applauding an son who sped through the air more than miles an hour a short time ago and great britain Is just quieting down after celebrating the victory of her flyers who won the london mel bourne air race in germany streamline trains are linking additional cities as quickly as the new type tran por tation equipment can be manufactured modern transportation this but one can still find types of transportation facilities even in the worlds largest cities and their rural neighborhoods that were in use decades and even centuries ago there Is not a sizable town in the united states in which one cannot hall a taxi and in many of thero them charter a plane yet the top batted cabbie whose pompous figure held sway over traffic on boulevards in the gay nineties has not been entirely shelved these imen tar tax of another era have jealously watched as new traffic lights have been installed traffic lanes have been painted to keep modern motorists from crushing bumpers and fenders and streets have been widened and trees sacrificed to make room for more of their rivals yet they still constitute something of 0 a traffic frame problem ox drawn vehicles within sight of concrete 40 mlle an hour highways and less tha than n a hundred miles from washington D C and annapolis md ox drawn vehicles still lumber along while in the isolated mountain regions of the west sure footed burros and pack mules continue to be the only companions of many rugged prospectors millions of visitors arrive at atlantic city by automobile airplane and train yet to see the sights along the boardwalk they hire three wheeled rolling chairs others arrive at bermuda aboard palatial steamships but take to bicycles and horse drawn carriages to tour the island on the corners of modern wide thoroughfares of shanghai hongthong Hon Hong ghong kong and canton china the traveler halls balls a and weaves perilously through a maze of 0 motor and pedestrian traffic le in the alley like back streets ot of the tha native towns however he may prefer a sedan chair to avoid jostling men and women and stumbling over children to whom these mere byways are playgrounds what traveler leaves durban natal without employing a zulu the dark hued tribesman in gay feath ered headdress and scant clothing to Is one of the colorful features of the south african city in remote wan province china wheelbarrows which chich are the local transports have worn rats in flagstone pavements in sumatra if one goes native he must travel in a buffalo drawn cart whose thatched top is shaped like a sway away backed horse and Is pointed at each end in palermo sicily the purely sicilian way to get about Is by native cart a two wheeled vehicle on whose side panels are gayly depicted bible scenes and sicilian panoramas and in ireland the irish jaunting car on which passengers sit fit back to back and face outward lends atmosphere to a tour of the emerald isle llamas still carry loads in Inthe the andes and elephants still are favored amon among the tiger hunters of india in spite of progress in belgium the morning milk Is still delivered by dogcart at many a doorstep and dog sleds are yet the most dependable transportation in the ley icy wastes of the arctic and antarctic the tired explorer enjoys comfortable for table travel in a hammock like chair borne by native porters in central africa the mountaineers of northern india and western china employ the yak as their beast of burden the camel still plods the caravan routes of north africa arabia and central asia and the water buffalo Is the dependable dratt draft animal of the east indian islands floating population land transportation Is of no interest whatever to millions million of chinese children are born grow up marry carry on their lives and work aboard the sampans of chinas cainas floating cities most of the great river cities of southern and central china have such a floating population but the boat dwellers of shanghai and canton form large communities in themselves A traveler of lelent energy could laboriously progress for miles by jumping from the deck of one sampan to enother like the dutch canal boat dwellers these river folk are a race unto tinto themselves apart arom the common run of their fellow men in many cases their mode de of life tins has been handed lown down rom father to son tor for generations when chinas cainas teeming acres became overcrowded and expensive and a growing commerce demanded river transportation in even larger volume many ingenious chinese combined business with economy and took to living aboard their tiny craft although business might call far and wide along the numerous rivers and canals it was the large commercial centers at the mouths of mighty streams that offered the most lively carrying trade hence these cities early became headquarters for the water dwellers the overman rl verman often made ion long voyages up country but he be always came home to roost hence the dirty evil smelling stretches of river and backwash surrounding such centers as canton and shanghai and even around hongtong Uong Hong kong and singapore became the native dative heath of an army of sampan dwelling chinese who abo from childhood have known no other life the visible means of support of these communities Is the carrying trade from harf to wharf nod and from bund to steamer or junk across river and up canals barnyard afloat some sampans house petty mer chants and peddlers who carry on a small trade in the necessaries of life from boat to boat within the water colony itself occasionally a craft Is filled to overflowing with huge white ducks which fatten la in the daytime on the tidal mud hats flats or harvested fields and at night walk a gangplank back to their floating barnyard they proceed one by one in a quacking and pushing pushing single file each hurrying not to be the last duck aboard the return home in the evenings Is sometimes hastened it Is said by giving the last duck a sharp crack with a switch the awkward procession soon learns the trick and a comic tumult arises not to be the unfortunate tall of the procession chinese sampans are marvelously ea easy sy to handle being the product ot of generations of adaptation to environment they dart like water spiders here and there the harbor traffic clustering like barnacles barnacled barn acles around the great steamers anchored offshore with lightning swiftness they flee in droves before an approaching storm each knowing as it if by instinct Ms his own place in the quiet reaches of sheltered water there Is no mistake no contusion confusion each bit falls unerringly into place like a gigantic picture puzzle when the high wind arrives each craft Is in place with not a sampan left over or a vacant square of 0 water lit bt enough to hold one in spite of 0 the shifting shit ting needs ot of commerce family life aboard proceeds about its dally dalli routine as usual albeit in rather more cramped quarters clothes vegetables and babies are washed side by side in the stream and the cooking Is done above a diminutive stove growing children help with the handling of the boat and cargo and grandmothers in blue cotton rugged ragged garments smoke long stemmed pipes at night all draw together and neighborly chatter from boat to boat sti sounds linds like that of a newly arrived flock of black blackbirds blackbur bIr da the river folk are poor but extremely cheerful especially over the evening meal lights from great modern liners shine across the harbor and music from an occasional gally gaily decked pleasure barge floats from the midstream mid stream channel in few other places lurk lurba so strongly the spell of the east raft transports on the shallow low shifting hwang ho or yellow river of china rafts are the principal means of transport especially for freight cargoes there are two types of raft one using as buoys inflated sheepskins sheep skins and the other large ox aldes which are arc stuffed with wool and then tied up to keep them watertight water tight the sheepskin rafts vary in size according to the use tor for which they are intended ranging from as few as 12 to IS 15 skins on the small one man rafts for the large rafts some ox hides fildes are used the ox hides are carefully treated on the inside with salt and oil this treatment not dot only preserves and waterproofs ter proofs them but also keeps them flexible there Is no extraordinary technique required in the construction of a raft poles are lashed together forming a framework to which the hides or sheepskins sheep skins are re fastened moslem chinese who form a considerable percentage of the population of hansu province are the rafts men on the yellow river A sturdy people they stand well the tha hardships of river life it Is far from an all easy life with nil all the contrasts of beat and cold and the strenuous labor involved in handling bandling adling the clumsy transports through the die rapids or freeing them once they have stranded on a sand bar the men however are happy and friendly |