The Boy Fortune Hunters in China

by L. Frank Baum

Following the royal elephant came that of the governor, Mai Lo, and then five elephants bearing the most important nobles. After these came our own elephant, and behind it that of Wi-to, the Chief Eunuch. A troop of horsemen, good riders and martial looking fellows, followed in our wake, and in the rear were our former escort and the baggage animals.

Before the royal elephant and its guards was a motley crowd of natives beating gongs, clashing cymbals and wailing their nerve-racking “boo-hoos.” As we proceeded, men left their fields and gardens and the wayside houses and joined these mourners, so that by noon there was a black mob ahead of us for a quarter of a mile, all wailing and making as much noise as they could—which I assure you was considerable.

I was glad to be in the rear and as far away from the mourners as possible, and it was with great relief that I saw before us, as we mounted a slight eminence, the white walls of a great city. Behind it towered the nearest peaks of the Himalayas, still many miles distant, and the scene was picturesque and impressive.

Another hour’s riding brought us to the gates of the city, and here the mob halted and redoubled its clamor while we all passed through.

But now we found fresh crowds of the citizens awaiting us with tom-toms, cymbals and gongs, and these caught up the wails of those outside and made more noise than ever. The streets through which we passed were broad and smooth, and lined with substantial dwellings of stone. On either side of the streets, as we passed, were rows of prostrate forms scattering dust upon their heads as evidence of grief for the death of their prince. The bazaars were closed and the entire city of Kai-Nong seemed in mourning. We afterward learned that the capital contains three hundred thousand inhabitants, and is one of the most prosperous cities of northwestern China.

We had ridden fully a half hour through the streets, our ears saluted every instant with the deafening and discordant notes of grief, when at last we reached a vast garden surrounded by a high wall.

Here we halted, being confronted by a group of officials headed by the Fuh-yin, or mayor of the city. He evidently delivered an oration of much power, judging from its length and the groans from our party which interspersed it. At its conclusion Mai Lo made a brief reply from his seat on the elephant. At the end of this the Fuh-yin and his officials prostrated themselves while the royal elephant bore the casket through a huge ornamental gateway into the gardens.

And now, to my surprise, the elephant of the Chief Eunuch pressed forward and that officer took the position of honor in the procession—immediately following the casket. The guards, too, fell away and remained outside the walls, while only the elephant of Mai Lo and our own were permitted to pass the gateway.

But once inside the gardens we saw that a new escort had been provided for the royal remains. Sixty gorgeously appareled men, armed with scimitars and broad axes, formed a circle around the elephant that bore the casket and prepared to guard it. They were stalwart, erect fellows, of proud bearing but evil and ferocious countenances, and each wore a yellow turban coiled upon his head, with a golden clasp, in effigy of the Sacred Ape, fastening the folds just above the forehead.

These were the eunuchs, the palace guards, or servants and attendants of the harem. For now we were within the palace grounds, and Wi-to had assumed command of the procession.