Pootu, A Lost Island

Abstract

T nHE island of Pootu, like the other Chu-Shan islands, is part of the Tinghai County of CheKiang province, separated from the mainland by the sea of Chi-tou. The surface is rugged and mountainous, with ten notable peaks, not one of which rises to a thousand feet in height. The island is situated about forty miles east of the Che-Kiang coast. It is four miles long from north to south, and from one to two miles in width, about four square miles in area. The island was inhabited before the days of the Tang dynasty. In the days of the first emperor of Tang, Buddhism was introduced. Many temples were then erected, and later enlarged during the succeeding dynasties. Today it has seventy large temples and 192 small temples and shrines. In recent years, however, the temples have been deteriorating, and parts of the temple buildings are used as hostels for people who go there for the summer. In July and August, there are two direct sailings per week between Shanghai and Pootu, but for the rest of the year there are only two indirect ways of going, one by train from Shanghai to Ningpo, and the other by a steamship from Shanghai to Ningpo. Boats leave Ningpo every morning for Pootu. They make three stops on the way: Chenhai, Tinghai, and Shenchiamen (Figure 1). Between Ningpo and Chenhai, the Yungkiang is bordered on both sides by hundreds of ice-houses (Figure 2). Farmers gather ice from fresh water ponds during the winter months and store it up in straw roofed huts thickly covered over by vines. The ice is sold to fishermen in Tinghai for fish storage during the summer season. Each icehouse is worth about fivehundred dollars on an average. Between Chenhai and Tinghai are many islands which rise sharply out of the water and give the effect of recent