Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/215

Rh through all the changes of dynasties and political turmoils of which Ssŭch'uan has been the scene, we read in the native history of the province that the annual alternate damming of the rivers and the digging out of their beds—which may be seen in operation to-day in the winter season—has never been pretermitted; and this while throughout the empire generally all the great works of old have been ruined by neglect and suffered to fall into irreparable decay."

Early on the morning of the 21st we reached Chia-ting Fu, a considerable town built on a spit of land running out between the Min and Ya rivers, whose waters unite immediately below the city. Cliffs of red sandstone rise steeply from the water's edge, and these are honeycombed with numbers of Man-tzŭ caves, several of which I entered. The cave-dwelling aborigines are despised by the Chinese, who call them Man-tzŭ or wild people. Facing