Page:Illustrations of China and Its People vol. III.pdf/42

 goes to work in front of his shop on a rough-hewn tree propped above a tripod, of which the tree forms one of the legs (see No. 27). The same man dresses the wood when he has sawn it up, and fashions it into chairs and tables, unless in busy towns, where the labour is more divided. Their largest saws have simple double handles passed through the two extremities of the blades. They are also cross-cut, and set just as ours are. There are besides a variety of saws gradually diminishing in size till they are reduced to the breadth of a watch-spring. These finer instruments are used for cutting out the most delicate ornaments in wood.

THE ribbon loom is made chiefly of bamboo. Of this material all its inner frames are constructed, and those for holding the warp, as well as the transverse ones which support the woof, are all of them formed from the smallest stems of the same plant. Bamboo is also employed for fashioning the series of treadles which are worked by the foot, like the pedals of an organ. In employing this little machine, head, feet, and hands are all called into active operation, and the result produced is the most beautiful silk ribbon, richly embroidered with a variety of choicely-coloured flowers. This loom has in its construction the elements of the more complex one used by the Chinese in the manufacture of their ornamental silken fabrics — a machine so perfect as to enable a skilled workman to weave any pattern or picture that may be desired.

The nuns represented in No. 29 are at a place called Tai-ping-koong, ten miles from Kiu-kiang, in the hill country behind that town. A highly-tilled plain of rich alluvial soil intervenes between the hills and the town, studded with prosperous-looking farms, and shaded with willow-trees on every side. Not an available acre of land to be found here but what was laid under sedulous cultivation. At the time of my visit, the young rice just showed its green blades above the irrigated fields, splendid crops of peas and beans were in flower, the terraced sides of the hills were planted with vegetables, while the heights above were covered with pine and shrubs to supply fuel for winter. Most of the people I saw in this district were comfortably, and a few of them richly dressed, while all wore on their sleek faces a satisfied air of quiet prosperity and content. Indeed, this portion of the Kiangsi Province called up something of that ideal China which the story-books of our childhood suggest to us. From the hills, the plain wore the semblance of a vast landscape garden; there was many a green knoll, crowned with fine old trees, while rustic bridges spanned a multitude of willow-shaded streams.

The two towers shown in this picture are unlike anything I have met with elsewhere in China. They are said to be the ruins of a Buddhist monastery, one of the greatest which has ever been founded in the Celestial Empire. Judging from the mounds which mark its foundations, this sanctuary must have covered an extensive area. I found among a number of interesting blocks of sculptured stones which had been used in building a small modern temple in the rear, one or two representing the backs of foreign books as they appear in the shelves of a library. Possibly this may point to Ricci's mission to that part of the province about the year 1590, on which occasion the famous Jesuit missionary is reported to have enjoyed great popularity among the inhabitants of that locality,

I also visited the tomb of the celebrated sage, Chu-fu-tze. There is nothing striking or remarkable about its appearance. The hill, however, in which the sage rests commands an extensive view of the plain, and the lakes or lagoons by which it is partially covered.