Farmers of forty centuries; or, Permanent agriculture in China, Korea and Japan . ter part of thetime, and we wonder if the fact does not also record a slow sub-sidence of the delta plain under the ever-increasing load ofriver silt. A closer view of the graves is given in the lower section ofFig. 20, where they are seen not only to occupy large areas ofvaluable land but to be much in the way of agricultural opera-tions. A still closer view of other groups, with a farm village inthe background, is shown in the middle section of the sameillustration. On the right may be seen a line of six graves
Farmers of forty centuries; or, Permanent agriculture in China, Korea and Japan . ter part of thetime, and we wonder if the fact does not also record a slow sub-sidence of the delta plain under the ever-increasing load ofriver silt. A closer view of the graves is given in the lower section ofFig. 20, where they are seen not only to occupy large areas ofvaluable land but to be much in the way of agricultural opera-tions. A still closer view of other groups, with a farm village inthe background, is shown in the middle section of the sameillustration. On the right may be seen a line of six graves sur- SPACE GIVEN TO GRAVES 55 mounting a common lower base which is a type of the largerand higher ones so suggestive of buildings seen in the horizon ofthe upper section. Everywhere we went in China, especially in the neighbourhoodof old and large cities, the proportion of grave land to culti-vated fields is very large. In the vicinity of Canton ChristianCollege, on Honam island, more than 50 per cent of the landwas given over to graves, and in many places they were so close. Fig. 21. - Goats pasturing on grave lands near Shanghai, and graves in hillylands near Canton. that one could step from one to another. They are on the higherand drier lands, the cultivated areas occupying ravines and thelower levels to which water may be more easily applied and whichare the most productive. Hilly lands not so readily cultivated,and especially if within reach of cities, are largely so used. Thesegrave lands are not altogether unproductive, for they are generallyovergrown with herbage of one kind or another and used aspastures for geese, sheep, goats and cattle, and it is not at alluncommon, when riding along a canal, to see a huge water 56 GRAVE LANDS OF CHINA buffalo projected against the sky from the summit of one of thelargest and highest grave mounds within reach. If the herbage isnot fed off by animals it is usually cut for feed, for fuel, for greenmanure or for use in the productio
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