Page:Ningpo to Shanghai.djvu/99

Rh afterwards wrapped in straw, and, finally, sold as required. Either as manure for the ground, or food for cattle, these bean cakes are much coveted (31).  

A short distance East of Ping-bong is Hing-wong; and between that and the hamlet of Sow-Dee, twenty miles or so further east, the traveller passes the villages of Sah-ca-coong, Tah-sean-wo See-cheng,&mdash;Loa-fae, or Loo-chae (a place of 1,200 families) and Jow-woo-sah.

The black slime from the stream bed takes the place of manure in this quarter. The mode of obtaining it is ingenious. To the end of a stout bamboo a piece of concave wicker work is attached&mdash;a similar piece of wicker work being so fixed that when the stout bamboo thrust on the bottom has taken out a scoop of the mud, by the pressure downwards of a lighter bamboo the wicker concave collapses like a clamp shell, and confines the slime until it reaches the surface, when, by pinching together the light and stout bamboos, as we would a pair of tongs, the clamp opens, and the contents are emptied into a boat, whence, along side the bank, it is transferred to the shore, by means of a basket swung with ropes through the sides, by two men one at each end of the boat.

Ching-zeh is large town three or four miles N.E. of the hamlet of Sow-dee spoken of, and here may be seen, in quantity, the bamboo articles of furniture sold at the Consular ports and about the northern country&mdash;such as chairs, stools, baskets, lamp-stands &c. Bread is not to be obtained at this town&mdash;but plenty of bean "fixins" such as 