Highroads of Geography Part 7

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Ceylon family--a man, a woman, and two babies}]

6. The children of Ceylon seem very happy. They are pretty and clean, and always obey their parents. Many of them learn to speak and read English. They love dancing and singing, and they never quarrel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ceylon Girls Playing the Tom-Tom.

(From the picture by E.A. Hornel. By permission of the Corporation of Manchester.)]

7. By the next ship home I am sending mother a chest of tea. The tea grew on the hills of Ceylon. I made a journey to these hills by train.

On the way we pa.s.sed through thick forests, and by the side of beautiful rivers.

8. Ceylon is very rich in plants and trees. The cocoanut palm grows almost everywhere. On one of the rivers I saw a raft of cocoanuts. A man swam behind it and pushed it along.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Cocoanut palm tree}]

9. With this letter I send you a picture of a tea-garden. Notice the men and women plucking the leaf. Many of them come from the south of India.

Look at the white planter. He comes, as you know, from our own country.

[Ill.u.s.tration: IN A CEYLON TEA PLANTATION.]

10. In the middle of Ceylon there are many high mountains. The highest is called Adam's Peak. It stands like a great wedge high above the other hills.

11. The people of Ceylon believe that it is a holy mountain. They say that once upon a time Buddha climbed to the top of this mountain. To prove that he did so they show you his footprint. It is more than five feet long!

12. A little temple has been built over the footprint. Men, women, and children climb the mountain, to lay little gifts before the footprint, and to strew sweet flowers about it. When this is done, the children kneel down and ask their parents to bless them.

13. To-morrow I leave Ceylon on a long voyage to China. You will not hear from me for several weeks. I hope you are all well, and that you are still good children.--I remain, your loving Father.

19. A LETTER FROM CHINA.

1. MY DEAR CHILDREN,--Three weeks have gone by since I last wrote to you. I have made my voyage safely, and I am now in a great city of China called Canton.

2. Ask mother to show you China on the globe. You see at once that it is a vast country. It is larger than the whole of Europe. One-fourth of all the people in the world live in China.

3. All round this city of Canton there is a high wall. From the wall the city seems to be a beautiful place. When, however, you enter it, you soon find that it is dirty and full of foul smells.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Chinese Street.

(From the picture by T. Hodgson Liddell, R.B.A.)]

4. The streets are very narrow, and are always crowded with people. Many of them are roofed in to keep them cool. Most of them are so narrow that no carriage can pa.s.s along them. People who wish to ride must be carried in a kind of box on the shoulders of two or more men.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Person riding in a box}]

5. I am sure you would like to see the signboards that hang down in front of the shops. The strange letters on them are painted in gold and in bright colours. They look very gay indeed.

6. The shops sell all sorts of things--silk, books, drugs, flowers, china, and birds. Some of the shops only sell gold and silver paper. The Chinese burn this paper at the graves of their friends. When they do this they think that they are sending money for their dead friends to spend in the other world.

7. Many things are also sold in the streets. The street traders carry a bamboo pole across the shoulder. From the ends of this pole they sling the baskets in which they carry their wares. Many workmen ply their trades in the open street, and you are sure to see quack doctors, letter-writers, and money-changers.

8. The Chinese do in the open street many things which we do inside our houses. A Chinaman likes to eat his meals where every one can see him.

9. Sometimes he will sit in front of his house and wash his feet.

Yesterday I saw a man having his tooth drawn out of doors. A crowd stood round him, watching to see how it was done.

10. How should you like to go for a ride in a wheelbarrow? In China the wheelbarrow is often used for carrying people or goods from place to place. It has a large wheel in the middle. Round the wheel there is a platform for people or goods.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {People riding in a wheelbarrow}]

11. A broad river runs through the city. It is crowded with boats, in which live many thousands of people. Many of these people never go ash.o.r.e at all.

12. Over the sterns of the boats there are long baskets. These are the backyards of the floating city. Hens, ducks, geese, and sometimes pigs, are kept in these baskets.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {A boy on a boat}]

13. The little boys who live on the boats have a log of wood fastened to their waists. This keeps them afloat if they fall overboard. The little girls have no such lifebelts. In China n.o.body troubles about the girls.

14. Nearly all the boats have an eye painted on their bows. Perhaps this seems strange to you. The Chinese, however, say,--

"S'pose no got eye, no can see; S'pose no can see, no can walkee."

20. CHINESE BOYS AND GIRLS.

1. Chinese fathers and mothers are very glad when their children are boys. In China the boys are much petted. Their mothers give way to them, and let them do as they please.

2. Girls, however, are not welcome. Sometimes they are called "Not-wanted" or "Ought-to-have-been-a-boy."

3. A Chinese boy has always two names, sometimes four. He has one name when he is a child, and another when he goes to school. He has a third name when he begins to earn money. When he dies he has a fourth name.

4. Chinese boys are very fond of flying kites, which are shaped like fish or b.u.t.terflies or dragons. Old gentlemen are just as fond of kite-flying as boys.

5. In China you will often see boys playing hopscotch or spinning peg-tops. They also play shuttlec.o.c.k, but they have no battledore. They kick the shuttlec.o.c.k with the sides of their feet.

6. Chinese boys love to set off fireworks, such as crackers, wheels, and rockets. If the fireworks make a loud noise, so much the better.

7. Chinese children are taught to show very great respect to their parents. They all bow and kneel to their fathers and mothers. A boy who is not kind and good to his parents is thought to be a wicked wretch.

8. A few days ago I went to see a Chinese school. The boys sit on stools at tiny tables. In front of them they have a stone slab, a stick of Chinese ink, and some brushes with which they write.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {A boy at a table at school}]

9. There is always a great din in a Chinese schoolroom. The boys shout at the top of their voices. If they do not make a noise, the teacher thinks that they are not learning.

10. When a boy knows his lesson he goes up to his master to say it. He turns his back to his master, and does not face him as you do.