PAO T'EO—THE SWEDISH MISSION-HOUSE—CHINESE SCHOOLS—CHINESE INNS—CHINESE BURIAL—KUEI HUA CHENG—FRICTION WITH CARTERS—WE LEAVE THE MONGOL COUNTRY—THE GREAT WALL.

The distance to Pao T'eo from the river bank was said to be fifteen li, so we lost no time in starting to walk there, leaving the servants and boatmen to bring our baggage to Messrs. Forbes's office. The fifteen li cannot really have been much more than nine, for, walking quickly, we got to the city gate in a little over three-quarters of an hour. Once inside, we were very much struck by the difference between this and the other cities we had seen; instead of crowded streets, with every available yard of ground within the walls occupied, we here found lanes, almost deserted except by a few children and pigs, and a large bit of waste land inside the walls, absolutely untenanted. Not only had this piece of ground been left severely alone, but two small suburbs, on the south and east sides respectively, had sprung up outside. Why so much ground had been originally enclosed no one could tell us.

While asking our way to the office of the wool firm, the Renki Yang Hong as it was called, we suddenly found ourselves opposite the entrance of the Swedish Mission-house. Needless to say, we went in at once, and were heartily welcomed. While explaining who we were and where we had come from, coffee was prepared by our hostess, and more delicious coffee I have never tasted; but as we were anxious to make all arrangements for starting the next morning, we could not waste time, but had to rush off to the office, accompanied by the missionaries, who showed us the way. Before leaving the house, however, they took us into their school, where we found some five-and-twenty remarkably clean and happy-looking children, who were being brought up to Christianity. When we entered they were deep in study, all reading their lessons at the top of their voices in every imaginable key. This method of committing the task to memory is universal throughout China. As soon as any child has mastered it, he or she holds up a hand, and is then called up to the desk to repeat it to the master. An important difference is now observable between the practice in native and foreign schools, for in the latter they proceed just as we do at home, but the native teacher makes the child stand with his back to the desk and his hands behind him, while the master arms himself with a cane, which descends remorselessly at the slightest slip.

It was not far to the Yang Hong, and old Chen-Lao-Pan's letter was sufficient to ensure us every civility. Money was at once forthcoming, and here, for the first time, we saw and became possessed of a "shoe" of silver, a lump weighing rather more than fifty ounces; we also got some more of the ordinary lumps, weighing from three to five ounces each, for minor current expenses. We had not been long in the office, and had not drunk more than three cups of tea each, when the baggage arrived. One of the Swedes and Malcolm went off with it at once to look for an inn, while Rijnhart and I stayed to complete the arrangements and settle with the boatmen, who said that they had sold their vessel for Ts.5, a considerable loss on the cost price, but which the hire had more than covered.

Malcolm had some difficulty in finding an inn, owing to large numbers of soldiers being in the city at the time, but at last he was successful, and also arranged with several carters who were on the look-out for a job to come round to the mission-house to arrange terms. We had long ago found out from Chen-Lao-Pan—who had spent many years in this part of China—how long the cart journey to Pekin should take us and how much we should pay; and, armed with this knowledge, our new friends and Rijnhart were able to get an agreement signed for three carts to do the journey in thirteen days for Ts.19 apiece, a most admirable clause being added to the effect that, should they not arrive up to time, they would only get Ts.9½. Often and often did we have cause to congratulate ourselves on having had this inserted, and I strongly recommend any travellers in China to get some guarantee of this kind whenever possible.

It was with the satisfactory feeling of a good day's work done that we sat down to supper and enjoyed the luxury of an unlimited supply of milk, such as we had not enjoyed since leaving India. After supper we sat up late, our hosts singing in English, as well as in their native tongue and Chinese, accompanying themselves or one another on the guitar, without which no Swedish home is complete; however, we were reluctantly compelled to say good-night, but not good-bye, as our hosts promised to come and see us off on the morrow.

There was the usual hitch in starting, caused this time by the carters discovering that they could not do the distance to Pekin in less than fourteen days, their reason being that some carters who had arrived the previous evening had told them that the road was now very bad. We tried to make them stick to the original agreement, but eventually gave way, and had a fresh one drawn up. Seeing that the usual time occupied in this journey is seventeen days, their request for an extra day was not unreasonable. We also had to change some silver into cash for expenditure on the road, and this we entrusted to our landlord while we took a stroll through the streets.

Pao T'eo does not appear to have any distinctive trade or products of its own. One misses the splendid furs of Lancheo, the coal of Chong Wei, and the forges of Shih-Tsui-Tsi; but one notices very large numbers of Mongols, who bring in wool to the various firms. There were also numbers of copper Mongol kettles, of which we wanted to buy some specimens, but were told we could get them better and cheaper in Pekin. The shops were very much larger and more well-to-do-looking than anything we had hitherto seen, and in one grocer's we bought some first-rate sponge cakes and a sort of apple jam, which was excellent. Eggs were fairly dear, five cash apiece; in some places we had paid five cash for two, but near the capital we had to pay as much as ten cash each. Fancy new-laid eggs at fourpence a dozen in London!

However, the longest delays come to an end at last, and at 11 a.m. on the 14th November we started on the last stage of our journey. The missionaries walked some little way with us to the outskirts of the east suburb, and before leaving they insisted on our promising to visit their countrymen in the various stations we should pass through.

That evening we stopped at a very comfortable inn in a little town called Salaki. Everywhere were signs that we were approaching the capital; the streets were better looked after, and the inn was quite the best we had yet seen.

All Chinese inns seem to be built on the same principle. One passes through a wide entrance, on one side of which is the kitchen, on the other a sort of eating-house, into the courtyard, which varies in size according to the traffic. Opposite the entrance are the best rooms, kept for distinguished guests, and all round are smaller rooms for people of less importance, carters and servants. Every room is furnished with a k'ang or stove bed, and the better class inns have cupboards, tables, and chairs, but only in the best rooms. As long as one can get into these one can make oneself fairly comfortable, but should they be occupied one's lot is not an enviable one. Perhaps the most noticeable sign of civilization was glass windows, which we saw for the first time in Pao T'eo, and always daily afterwards. It was no longer necessary to carry large stores of provisions—these were obtainable everywhere; but in their place we had to carry an almost equal weight of cash, fifteen thousand of which, weighing no less than ninety pounds, we brought from Pao T'eo.

Next morning we started soon after sunrise. The shopkeepers were just taking down their shutters as we left the inn, and the city was waking up to its daily life; most of the people appeared to be engaged in the silk trade, so I suppose the worm is cultivated somewhere in the neighbourhood. Unfortunately, as we strolled on ahead of the carts we took a wrong turning, and had to retrace our steps almost to the inn before we found out where we had made the mistake. We then hurried after the carts, only to find that their road and ours joined almost at the very spot from which we had turned back. A stern chase is proverbially a long one, and this was no exception to the rule.

Just outside the walls we saw a coffin which was being conveyed to the corpse's native place for interment, and this was the means of our learning a rather interesting Chinese custom. Every Chinaman has three souls, and on death one of these returns to the city temple, one to Hades, and one goes to the grave. With the last of these three a cock is always carried, no matter how far the coffin may have to be conveyed. In Southern China it is always a white cock, but in the north there appears to be no hard-and-fast rule as to colour. When the corpse is finally buried the unfortunate rooster is slain, and his spirit goes to keep company with the soul in the coffin.

Every one has heard of the importance, in the eyes of the Chinaman, of being buried in his own home, and the ships' companies do not fail to take advantage of it, the passage-money for a dead man being many times that of a live one. Before starting on one of these journeys the greatest care is taken to ascertain an auspicious day, months often elapsing before a sufficiently favourable opportunity will occur.

On the 16th November we arrived at Kuei Hua Cheng. As we approached the town we passed a "big man." He was accompanied by three attendants, one riding in front and two behind, and we were told that anybody of importance generally rode in this fashion. Kuei Hua Cheng is a very large town, and is remarkable for the absence of any sort of city wall, a deficiency for which we could discover no reason. Instead of the customary wall we found an extremely dirty entrance, for the road was at least a foot deep in mud. It hardly seems credible that a town of such importance—for besides being a large market it is utilised as the point of departure for numerous caravans—should be so wanting in this most essential respect. If this road were ever supplanted by a railway, Kuei Hua Cheng would become a centre of immense commercial interest. The sun was setting as we entered the town, and we had to make the most of the short time remaining before the shops shut to lay in stores for the next few days, when we should be crossing the Mongolian grass country, and unable to purchase anything. Meat, bread, and kua mien were easily procurable, although the latter was very much dearer than it had been in Kansu, so it was still early when we had finished our supper and turned in for the night. It had been our original intention to visit the missionaries of this place, where I know we should have met with that warm-hearted hospitality which they are ever ready to bestow upon travellers. But supper over, the visions of an early start the next morning and the cold outside our inn were arguments too strong to be thrown aside.

Our carters met many friends at the inn, and determined to enjoy themselves accordingly; much wine was drunk, and one of them indulged in the luxury of a fight, all of which, though perhaps pleasant at the time, tended to prevent a very early start in the morning; further delay being caused by the carters suddenly thinking that they would like to take a pickaxe with them, with which they could improve the road in bad places. This delay enabled me to take a photograph of a very curious Buddhist temple, which stands just at the main eastern entrance to the town. To do this Rijnhart had to give me a leg-up on to the wall, and it was not without some difficulty that I attained my object.

We were sorry not to be able to see more of this town, which has been made famous by Huc and Gabet, Younghusband, and others; but here, as throughout China, "absence without leave" and "reasons in writing" were our bugbears. Especially did we regret not being able to see more of this temple, which is known as "Wu Tai" Temple, and is covered from top to bottom with figures of Buddha ranged in rows, and of a very interesting Manchu city which lies about two miles north-east of Kuei Hua Cheng, and is called Sin Chen, or the "New City." This was the only Manchu city we had a chance of seeing, and its broad streets, planted with trees, and frequented alike by men and women, would have been a strong contrast to the ordinary Chinese town.

While still waiting for the pickaxe a large flock of our old friends the sand-grouse passed over our heads, bringing to our minds the days of plenty and days of hunger we had passed on the Chang. Almost immediately the pickaxe arrived, and we made a fresh start, and for the first time the road showed some signs of having had a little labour expended on it. Previously there had been nothing but rough tracks through or round the fields, or, when this became invisible, the carters would make a road for themselves. The general direction was well known to them, and sooner or later they would strike the track again; nor was it hard to tell when they had done so, as a drop into a rut some eighteen inches deep was an unmistakable sign that we were on the highroad to Pekin, which is, in the opinion of the Chinese, incomparably the finest road in the world. To-day, however, we came across some really neatly-made bridges in excellent repair, but evidently only intended for travellers on foot or on horseback, as, at one end or the other, there was invariably a gap some two feet wide, effectually stopping wheeled traffic, so that all carts had to go through the water. Ninety li was the day's journey, taking us to Shih-Rong-Wa, where we stopped the night.

Next day was uneventful, but we ascended gradually to a little village called Cha-Ha-Pa-La, 100 li, and got quite into the mountains again, very different country from what we had passed through since leaving Pao T'eo. The soil here appeared very rich, and every available patch of land was cultivated. Every day we used to pass through numerous villages, and in one we were lucky enough to come in for a theatrical entertainment. No village is without its theatre, and performances are frequent in the season; but as it was now the dull time we only saw one. The theatre is always situated close to, generally opposite, the city temple, a great convenience to the Taoist priests, who are also the theatrical managers. The play did not appear exciting, and neither of us understood a word of it, which was perhaps just as well, so we left after a very few minutes. The theatres being in the open, no entrance money is charged. The audience come and go as they please, but are expected to drop a small contribution into a collection box which is continually being handed round. This system has the further advantage of enabling the actors to converse freely with friends below when not otherwise engaged.

From Cha-Ha-Pa-La we made an early start, as we heard that the night's halting-place was to be a fair-sized town, and we wanted to arrive early so as to renew our supplies. We were pretty high up, and as it was now very near the end of November, the mornings were uncommonly cold. Rijnhart, Malcolm, Lassoo, and Esau all started walking, while Shahzad Mir and I followed with the carts. Not far from the village we crossed a low pass into a lovely wide valley, and a little further on the party ahead managed to take a wrong turn. I went on with the carts, and got to our midday halting-place about ten o'clock, and there I had to sit and wait till the others should come up. I managed to make out, by drawings in the dust and other devices, that there was another road to Pekin, which the others must have taken, and by which they would get to our destination in seventeen days. Not thinking they were likely to be quite so long in finding out their mistake, I resolved to have my breakfast and await their arrival. After a couple of hours' waiting I was beginning to get a little bit anxious, and was considering what steps I had better take if, by any chance, they did not arrive before nightfall. However, at about one o'clock they hove in sight, so I immediately had the mules harnessed, while Shahzad Mir warmed up some tea.

In a few minutes Rijnhart and Malcolm were at the inn, but the two men were some way behind, and while waiting for them to come up, I heard how they had managed to miss us. It appeared that, when they missed the road, all the Chinese they had met had misled them by saying that they were right, and it was not till late in the day that they got into the proper road and arrived at the halting-place, after walking fully thirty miles.

"We were soon ready for a fresh start, but the carters, anxious for any excuse to back out of their agreement as long as the fault could be laid at our door, were very reluctant, but threats to cut off half their hire prevailed, and we were quickly on the move. The march was a long one, over rolling grassy plains, out of Chinese into Mongolian country. As the sun set a cold wind rose, and for some time we sat shivering on the carts. The carts were travelling very fast, as the going was excellent. We thought we should never get to our destination, but all the time we were buoyed up with the thought that, at all events, we should get to a big place where there was sure to be a good inn. At last they told us that Ho-Lo-Si-T'ai, our goal, was close by, and in a few minutes we saw, not the town with castellated walls that we had imagined, but two miserable wayside inns with large yards full of sheep and camels, as unpromising a spectacle as one could wish to see.

On inquiry, things proved even worse than they had at first appeared, for both inns were crammed full, and we could not find a spot to sleep in. At last we heard that there was a room in a small house close by, so round we went, only to find it tenanted by a man, two women, a sheep, and some children, a fair supply for a place about twelve feet square, but into it we squashed, until we had revived our circulation, and then, after a considerable amount of squabbling, we arranged that we would sleep in the carts, while the carters occupied the already overcrowded room, for the simple reason that the carters flatly refused to take us any further unless they slept inside the house and we outside. Perhaps, after all, the cold blast was preferable to dirt and a close atmosphere.

The following day our road lay over more grassy plains, in which were herds of antelope—called by the Chinese the "yellow sheep"—some sand-grouse, and a few great bustards, none of which we shot. There were several Mongol encampments, with their neat little circular dwelling-places and sheep-folds, much more civilized than those we had seen in the far west.

That evening we left the Mongol country, possibly for ever, and got into the cultivated district again. The change was very sudden, and showed us admirably how the Chinese are slowly, but surely, encroaching upon the country of their pastoral neighbours. Cha-Ha-La-Po, our home for the night, was an insignificant little place, and chiefly to be remembered for the fact that we there managed to get rid of some six hundred very inferior cash, brought from Shih-Tsui-Tsi.

At noon the next day we had to change our axles, the roads from here being much narrower than they had hitherto been; and while doing so we had a row with the carters. A crowd promptly assembled, but Rijnhart soon managed to get them on our side, and we gained our point. We were now well within our time, and the carters knew that they could fulfil their contract without difficulty, so they loitered over the axle changing and made a very short march to a brand-new inn, where we put up in an excellent, clean, and airy room. There was still plenty of daylight left, of which we took advantage to have a real good wash in warm water.

MONGOL ENCAMPMENT.