Here carts had to be changed, as the large country carts are not allowed into the city, and this proved to be another bone of contention between ourselves and our carters, they contending that we ought to get our own carts from the city, while we said it was part of their contract, but this little matter was soon smoothed over, and our belongings were transferred into our new conveyances.
The streets of Pekin were at first a little disappointing, the walls are in many places dilapidated, and drainage there is nil, but at the present time our thoughts were all centred on getting our letters. The drive through the city to the "Hotel de Pekin" took us three quarters of an hour. There we secured most luxurious quarters, and then rushed off to the post office. Here we heard that all our letters had been sent round to the Embassy, so off we went again, but it was not without some difficulty that we obtained admission.
A PORTION OF THE WALLS OF THE CAPITAL.
Sergeant Herring,[20] who for twenty-five years has guarded the portals of the British Minister's residence, looked at us in considerable astonishment, as well he might. Never had he seen in all his experience two such disreputable looking beings. At length we allayed his suspicions, and our names were taken in to Sir Claude Macdonald, who received us with the greatest kindness, but perhaps the strangest sensation of the whole journey was still in store for us when, covered as we were with the grime of our eight months' travel, we suddenly found ourselves in Lady Macdonald's drawing-room, from which we beat a hasty retreat, but not before we had promised to bring our things—such things too—over from the hotel in the morning. We had been expected in Pekin in September, and every one had come to the conclusion that we must have returned to India by some other route, so the news of our arrival was promptly telegraphed to London.
STREET WHEREIN IS THE ENTRANCE TO THE BRITISH LEGATION.
Every hour of our short stay in Pekin passed most pleasantly. Unfortunately, the chance of getting frozen in was increasing day by day, and our time was not our own, so we were only able to enjoy a three days' stay in the place which had taken us so long to reach. Nearly all this time we spent wandering about the streets, buying curios of all sorts, but one wants a great deal longer than this to exhaust the sights of China's capital, with its three cities, one within the other, and its narrow, busy streets and bazaars. A walk round the walls and a visit to the Observatory, where the finest bronzes in the world are to be seen, were amongst the good things we missed, but somehow or other the more we got to know the streets the greater attraction they had for us, especially as at this time of year they are free from those appalling smells with which all visitors to China have made us familiar.