of
the snow-covered ground, of my pony slipping while crossing a frozen
ford, and of my continual efforts to keep in the saddle. At one in the
morning we hammered at the doors of yet another inn, only to be again
repelled with the frightful words, "All full."

My friend, who spoke the vernacular fluently, was now doing his best,
and with such effect that the door was cautiously opened a few inches,
when with one bound I was inside, and seeing a kang with only one man
on it I tumbled him off and flung myself down, just conscious of acrid
opium smoke, a great uproar and streams of the most insulting
abuse.

[Illustration: AVENUE OF STONE FIGURES, MING TOMBS.
_To face page 161._]

On awaking I found my friend by my side still asleep and the morning
well aired. The squalid inn was almost deserted, for the overnight
lodgers had departed with their carts and pack-animals before dawn, so
that I had not to face the individual whom I had so unceremoniously
dispossessed of his bed, although I left a dollar for him with the
innkeeper, knowing full well it would never reach him, but choosing
thus to ease a somewhat guilty conscience.

We had not much further to go and were easily back in Peking before
tiffin.

Another expedition I made that winter was to a burial-place of
emperors of the late Ming dynasty, commonly known as the "Ming Tombs,"
consisting of several immense temples or pagodas possessing but little
architectural beauty and now considerably dilapidated.

One of these temples is approached by an avenue of gigantic figures
representing warriors, statesmen, horses, camels, elephants, etc.,
each figure apparently cut from a single block of stone.

As two hundred and sixty years ago the Chinese Mings were dispossessed
by the present ruling Manchu dynasty, no attempt is now made to
preserve these interesting monuments.

In summer the heat is often very great during the day, the
thermometer frequently registering between ninety and a hundred
degrees in the shade, and is rendered more trying by the unsanitary
and neglected condition of the thoroughfares.

At night, however, it is so pleasantly cool that one can sleep under a
blanket, while punkahs over the bed are never necessary as in the
central provinces. Riding outside the city walls in the cool of early
morning or late afternoon is then most enjoyable, many interesting
sights affording constant diversion.

Acrobats practising their _tours de force_, tr