The journey from Chungking was particularly interesting to the Generalissimo and his party, for here they were flying over one of the most thickly populated areas on earth (the Red Basin of Szechuen) and certain-the most densely populated lar area in China, It is said that the Red Basin boasts of three things, its capacity to grow anything: its pos. test number' of cities according to {ts'area, in China, and the effective-nese of its famous ancient irrigation system, There are several other things it may boast of, but these are the outstanding ones in addition to population and its freedom from the effects of drought.
The Generalissimo, from his usual seat in the cockpit, saw spread before him as far as his eyes could reach on all sides, the reason why this region is called the Red Basin. Tt fs one far-fung mass of miniature hills of red, every one of which is cultivated, and every space between these hills ts cultivated also, the little valleys with rice, the higher land with other crops. 'Therefore, there is water everywhere, drawn from the nuinierous streams' and canals that cross this great region. Not a spot fof Jand could be detected outside the cities and villages that was not under cultivation, and it is dificult to describe adequately just the kind of picture that the whole country presents when viewed from the alr. It if the earth had a bad attack of measles, with the splotches predominating. The Generalissimo used to think that the Yangtze Valley was dense enough with its cultivation and people, but that was limited, Here he saw og far as his eyes would let him a more intense, and apparently highly successful, effort of people 10 police system has not been developed like in some cities. Kweiyang perhaps was the most intense traffe policed place on earth. To teach the populace of that city on the back of beyond street_manners a fellow dressed in uniform made of light blue cotton material, a jacket and very short shorts—armed with a blue baton, was stationed every twenty feet along the main streets, and they wrestled with the dumb "jay-walker", as they call them in America, the open.mouthed country yokel, with his great turban and his Toad, and the Miao women with their wide swishing skirts with the "come-hither" look about the tails of them, until they really managed to induce them to march to the lett in comparatively orderly lines, leaving the middle of the street for the motor driven juggernauts to fhurtle and scream along. They never seemed to be able to steady that traffic down, but if the men in blue stick at it long enough they will do so, for they'll eventually have all the drivers arrested and in gaol, Munlelpal Calendars If Chengtu is alert enough to get similar fellows on the job in its too well filled streets maybe there will a chance for the pedestrian to get home with a whole skin after a shopping expedition, or, after a promenade to. watch "the warfare that dally goes on. These men in blue were the famous pleb fung tui, created by the Generalissimo to help straighten out tangles among the populace in Kiangsi. Here, they would have the time of their young lives making the populace of Chengtu walk in the straight and narrow path. Chengtu, can, however, boast of one thing that has not hitherto come this writer's eyes in any other city.
intersections of main street where the one lone trafic policeman holds sway, they have erected a sort Obelisk on a post and on this, in large figures. is displayed on its four Sides. the date. Why the officials of Chengtu should be so anxious to let the peregrinating populace know what the day of the month is has not, so far, been discovered by this correspondent, but if it has some direct connection with tax-gathering then the populace of Chengtu should be sympathized with for the up-to-dateness of its officials.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.