Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/117

Rh causes of Chinese official opposition to foreign incursion. In the good old days K'uei Fu grew fat upon the proceeds of taxation imposed upon the river traffic, collecting, it is said, as much as 2000 taels (£300) a-day. With the opening of Ch'ung-k'ing to foreign trade these lucrative exactions were swept away, and ichabod is writ plainly over the dirt and squalor of the once opulent K'uei Fu.

Beyond this the scenery changes somewhat. The defiant rock walls of the gorges give place by degrees to less aggressive mountain slopes. Disintegrated sandstone colours the land with a warm, rich red; well-to-do looking farmsteads with gabled roofs and white-washed walls nestle among clumps of bamboo in pleasant hollows; and bright patches of sugar-cane and a variety of vegetables add to the general air of rural prosperity. All along the banks the poppy is being sown, which later on will cover the countryside with a mass of brilliant colour, showing bright against the background of brick-red earth and the dark-green leaf of the shady banyan.

On Nov. 11th we surmounted without