In the capital city of the province, even, it is a matter of
some difficulty to the European to walk down the rough-paved street
after a shower of rain, so slippery do the slabs of stone become; and he
has to be alive always to the lumbering carts, whose wheels are more
solid than circular, pulled by bullocks as in the days long before the
dawn of the Christian Era. The wider the Chinese street the more abuses
can it be put to, so that travel in the broad streets of the towns is
quite as difficult as in the narrow alleys; and as these streets are
never repaired, or very rarely, they become worse than no roads at
all--that is, in dry weather.
This refers to the paved road, which, no matter what its faults, is
certainly passable, and in wet weather is a boon. There is, however,
another kind of road--a mud road, and with a vengeance muddy.
An ordinary mud or earth road is usually only wide enough for a couple
of coolies to pass, and in this province, as it is often necessary
(especially in the Yuen-nan-fu district) for one cart to pass another,
the farmer, to prevent trespass on his crops, digs around them deep
ditches, resembling those which are dug for the reception of gas mains.
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