t off,
others were imprisoned, and others were whipped. Nobody escaped
without some punishment; the result was that the robber bands were
broken up and the robberies ceased.

[Illustration: A CHINESE PALANQUIN.]

[Illustration: A PEKIN CAB.]

It is not easy to go about Pekin. It is a city of magnificent
distances, and the sights which one wants to see are far apart. The
streets are bad, being dusty in dry weather and muddy when it rains,
and the carriage way is cut up with deep ruts that make riding very
uncomfortable. The cabs of Pekin are little carts, just large enough
for two persons of medium size. They are without springs, and not very
neatly arranged inside. If one does not like them he can walk or take
a palanquin--there are plenty of palanquins in the city, and they do
not cost an exorbitant sum. They are not very commodious, but
infinitely preferable to the carts. The comforts of travel are very
few in China. A Chinese never travels for pleasure, and he does not
understand the spirit that leads tourists from one end of the world to
the other in search of adventure. When he has nothing to do he sits
down, smokes his pipe, and thinks about his ancestors. He never rides,
walks, dances, or takes the least exercise for pleasure alone. It is
business and nothing else that controls his movements.

When an English ship touched at Hong Kong some years ago, the captain
gave a ball to the foreign residents, and invited several Chinese
merchants to attend the festivities. One heavy old merchant who had
never before seen anything of the kind, looked on patiently, and when
the dance was concluded he beckoned the captain to his side and asked
if he could not get his servants to do that work and save him the
trouble.

[Illustration: PRIEST IN TEMPLE OF CONFUCIUS.]

One of the great curiosities of Pekin is the temple of Confucius,
where once a year the Emperor worships the great sage without the
intervention of paintings or images. In the central shrine there is a
small piece of wood, a few inches long, standing upright and bearing
the name of Confucius in Chinese characters. The temple contains
several stone tablets, on which are engraved the records of honor
conferred on literary men, and it is the height of a Chinese
scholar's ambition to win a place here. There are several fine trees
in the spacious court yard, and they are said to have been planted by
the Mongol dynasty more than five hundred years ago. The buildi