Lanzhou (China), portrait of a man and an inflated sheepskin raft

Print 1665: Front view of one-man skin raft used on upper reaches of Yellow River. Constructed of inflated sheepskin affixed to a framework of light poles. Moslemia (Northwest China). China.China. Skin RaftsTravel magazine photo caption: The small one-man raft generally measures about six by ten feet in size. It weighs only a few pounds and is easily carried. Caption from Harrison Forman's book Changing China: To navigate the shallow, rapid waters of the upper Yellow River, the Chinese have designed a skin raft called a fa-tze, it is constructed of a lattice of slender poles to which are attached inflated sheepskins, goatskins, or oxhides stuffed with wool. A one-man raft will float about half a ton of freight.Photographic print; Travel. (May, 1934). Rafting on the Yellow River. Vol. LXIII, No. 1, p. 27-29, 49.GrayscaleForman Nitrate Negatives, Box 1