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Show IN INDO-CHIN PAPERMAKIN 2 momentous Tai Tsung period of the T'ang Dynasty Early the following momning as the ship silently an cautiously steamed through the grass-grown channel,th still, humid charm of Tonkin could be sensed as we ap proached the Haiphong rice swamps with their steamin tropical moisture; the atmosphere was charged with coo penetrating humidity, enveloping all withan inert limpness. Previous to 1884, by which time the French had a last absorbed all of Indo-China the original native tow of Haiphong was confined between the Cua-Cam an Song-Tam Bac Rivers, but during the past fifty or sixt years the settlement has spread well beyond the ancien confines of the town, embracing altogether some eight thousand inhabitants: Tonkinese, Anamese, Eurasians Chinese, and a few scattered Europeans. The moist ric fields stretch for miles over the low country. Far distan toward the north lies old rugged «Tooth of Nam Maf, a well-named mountain rising to a height of thirty-fiv i hundred feet. The weary workers in the rice fields, pro te@ed from the tropical sun by huge umbrella-like hats stood knee-deep in the soggy swamps and with bendin bodies planted endless rows of tender plantsin the war carth. The rice plants require constant cultivation, th workers continuallyin the water; lastly the grain must b patiently harvested, for in this sad Asiatic country mor than twenty million people must be fed. Haiphong is th gateway toall parts of Indo-China and to mother Chin to the north which is reached by the railroad, Compagni Digital mage © 2005 Marriott Library University of Utah, All rights ressrved |
