Page:Ling-Nam; or, Interior views of southern China, including explorations in the hitherto untraversed island of Hainan (IA cu31924023225307).pdf/65

 Through the Delta. 61

ware, which cost originally between four and five cents each, The owner's valuation was not accepted, and the articles were appraised at five dollars each.

From this point, looking south and south-east, we see stretching out the great rice-producing district, in the centre of which stands Chan-tsiin, an important town with 100,000 people. A brisk trade with the ports on the sea coast is carried on, grain, salt-fish, and oil being the chief articles of commerce. This town was the port of Canton during the Jast war, when the city was under siege. The great rice plains of this district, partially submerged at high tide, are dotted with small hills and clumps of trees, which mark the sites of villages. Immense harvests are gathered continually, the land in some places yielding three good crops in a year.

These rice fields form the feeding for thousands of ducks, and the great lumbering boats—floating cages, in fact—in which they are conveyed from one point to another, are often striking features in the landscape The ducks are hatched by artificial means, establish- ments for this purpose being found all ever the country. The eggs are placed in baskets or wooden tubs, with chaff, bran, cotton, or fine grass between the layers. These baskets are set in rows in rooms heated to the proper temperature by charcoal furnaces. Daily attention is paid to the eggs, changing their position, testing the temperature, and other necessary precautions. When each brood of ducklings hatches out they are sent to market and sold. Many people devote their whole time to rearing ducks, and will have hundreds and thousands under their care. They keep them in boats of a peculiar