Yuen-nan, like most of the outlying provinces of China, is infested with
brigands who make traveling very unsafe. There are, of course, organized
bands of robbers at all times, but these have been greatly augmented since
the rebellion by dismissed soldiers or deserters who have taken to
brigandage as the easiest means to avoid starvation.

The Chinese Government is totally unable to cope with the situation and
makes only half-hearted attempts to punish even the most flagrant
robberies, so that unguarded caravans carrying valuable material which
arrive at their destination unmolested consider themselves very lucky.

So far as our expedition was concerned we did not feel great apprehension
for it was generally known that we carried but little money and our
equipment, except for guns, could not readily be disposed of. Throughout
the entire expedition we paid our _mafus_ and servants a part of their
wages in advance when they were engaged, and arranged to have money sent by
the mandarins or the British American Tobacco Co., to some large town which
would be reached after several months. There the balance on salaries was
paid and we carried with us only enough money for our daily needs.

Before we left Yuen-nan Fu we were assured by the Foreign Office that we
would be furnished with a guard of soldiers--an honor few foreigners
escape! The first day out we had four, all armed with umbrellas! These
accompanied us to the first camp where they delivered their official
message to the _yamen_ and intrusted us to the care of others for our next
day's journey.

Sometimes they were equipped with guns of the vintage of 1872, but their
cartridges were seldom of the same caliber as the rifles and in most cases
the ubiquitous umbrella was their only weapon. Just what good they would be
in a real attack it is difficult to imagine, except to divert attention by
breaking the speed limits in running away.

Several times in the morning we believed we had escaped them but they
always turned up in an hour or two. They were not so much a nuisance as an
expense, for custom requires that each be paid twenty cents (Mexican) a day
both going and returning. They are of some use in lending an official
aspect to an expedition and in requisitioning anything which may be needed;
also they act as an insurance policy, for if a caravan is robbed a claim
can be entered against the government, whereas if the escort is refused the
traveler has no redres