one inside to shop.

I have already told you that Chinese horses can't be driven; they must
be led along with great show and shouting. Well, when they stop they
can't even be trusted to stay in harness; they must be unharnessed and
removed to a place of safety. Therefore the courtyard of this department
store presented a unique appearance, filled with twenty or thirty Peking
carts, empty, tilted back on their haunches, with shafts gaping toward
heaven. Also, the horses had been removed from innumerable little coupes
of ancient date, with the superstructure all of glass, so that the
occupant within is completely visible from all sides, like a fish in an
aquarium. Horses and mules, in gorgeous, glittering harness, were
carefully stood apart, or were being led up and down in the crowded
courtyard to cool off. Though why cool off, after a dash through the
streets at two miles an hour or less, I couldn't see. However, here they
all were,--great, high white horses, shaggy Mongolian ponies, and
magnificent mules, the latter by far the most superb animals I've ever
seen. I am not much at heights, but the mules were enormously tall,
enormously heavy, very beautiful beasts, white, red, yellow, and black,
and sleek with unlimited polishing and grooming. They were clad--that's
the only word--in heavy, barbaric harness, mounted with huge brass
buckles, and in some cases the leather was studded with jade, carnelian,
and other semi-precious stones.

[Illustration: Peking cart]

[Illustration: Fruit stall in the bazaar]

Style? There's nothing on Fifth Avenue to touch it. Do you think a
ten-thousand-dollar automobile is handsome? It's nothing to a Peking
cart, with its huge, sleek mule and glittering harness. I tell you,
the Chinese have the style of the world; the rest of us are but
imitators. In comparison, our motors are merest upstarts. But you must
picture a Peking cart, of beautifully polished wood, natural color,
and a heavy wooden body covered with a big blue hood. The owner rides
inside, on cushions, and on each shaft sits a servant, one to hold the
reins, the other to yell and jump off and run forward to press his
weight on the shaft to lessen the jar to the occupant whenever a bad
bit of road presents itself. They say that this old custom, due to the
discomfort and jolting of the springless carts, is the reason why the
horses are not trained to round corners or go over bad bits of road
alone. From time immemorial it has