Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/178

124 looking at some English shirting, on which was written in Roman letters details as to size and place of origin, I was amused to learn from Joe that he had just been addressed by an interested onlooker, who asked with considerable scepticism whether it was probable that the barbarian (i.e., myself) could read the characters upon the cloth. He was assured that there was a strong balance of probability in favour of his being able to do so. At another shop a Chinese with obviously superior knowledge on questions of ethnology informed the onlookers that I was a Japanese. After which assertion I was ready to accept the statement of an amiable well-owner who invited me to visit his property, to the effect that "not many foreigners came to Tzu-liu-ching."

Salt has been worked in Ssŭch'uan for the past 1700 years, and possibly for much longer. The wells range in depth from "a few tens" of feet, as the Chinese would say, to over 2000 feet. The particular well which I inspected was said to have a depth of 2300