This should not be taken to apply to the fu-song everywhere. I have found them to be the most useful on other occasions, but the above was written at Luchow as my experience of that particular day.—E.J.D.
FOURTH JOURNEY.
SUI-FU TO CHAO-T'ONG-FU (VIA LAO-WA-T'AN).
CHAPTER VII.
Chinese and simplicity of speech. Author and his caravan stopped. Advice to travelers. Farewell to Sui-fu. The postal service and tribute to I.P.O. Rushing the stages. Details of journey. Description of road to Chao-t'ong-fu. Coolie's pay. My boy steals vegetables. Remarks on roads and railways. The real Opening of China. How the foreigner will win the confidence of the Chinese. Distances and their variability. Calculations uprooted. Author in a dilemma. The scenery. Hard going. A wayside toilet, and some embarrassment. Filth inseparable from Chinese humanity. About Chinese inns. Typewriter causes some fun. Soldiers guard my doorway. Man's own "inner room." One hundred and forty li in a day. Grandeur and solitude. Wisdom of traveling alone. Coolie nearly cuts his toe off. Street scene at Puérh-tu. The "dying" coolie. A manacled prisoner. Entertained by mandarins. How plans do not work out.
He who would make most abundant excuses for the Chinese could not say that he is simple in his speech.