outhern slope of the pass we met with many large
caravans of donkeys, dragging down pine-logs to serve as poles in the
proposed extension of the telegraph-line from Su-Chou to Urumtsi. In June
of this year the following item appeared in the newspapers:

"Within a few months Peking will be united by wire with St. Petersburg;
and, in consequence, with the telegraph system of the entire civilized
world. According to the latest issue of the Turkestan 'Gazette,' the
telegraph-line from Peking has been brought as far west as the city of
Kashgar. The European end of the line is at Osh, and a small stretch of
about 140 miles now alone breaks the direct telegraph communication from
the Atlantic to the Pacific."

[Illustration: CHINESE GRAVES ON THE ROAD TO HAMI.]

[Illustration: SCENE IN A TOWN OF WESTERN CHINA.]

Hami is one of those cities which may be regarded as indispensable. At the
edge of the Great Gobi and the converging point of the Nan-lu and
Pe-lu--that is, the southern and northern routes to the western world--this
oasis is a necessary resting-place. During our stop of two days, to make
necessary repairs and recuperate our strength for the hardships of the
desert, the usual calls were exchanged with the leading officials. In the
matter of social politeness the Chinese, especially the "literati," have
reason to look down upon the barbarians of the West. Politeness has been
likened generally to an air-cushion. There is nothing in it, but it eases
the jolts wonderfully. As a mere ritual of technicalities it has perhaps
reached its highest point in China. The multitude of honorific titles, so
bewildering and even maddening to the Occidental, are here used simply to
keep in view the fixed relations of graduated superiority. When wishing to
be exceptionally courteous to "the foreigners," the more experienced
mandarins would lay their doubled fists in the palms of our hands, instead
of raising them in front of their foreheads, with the usual salutation
_Homa_. In shaking hands with a Chinaman we thus very often had our hands
full. After the exchange of visiting-cards, as an indication that their
visits would be welcome, they would come on foot, in carts, or palanquins,
according to their rank, and always attended by a larger or smaller
retinue. Our return visits would always be made by request, on the wheels,
either alone or with our interpreter, if we could find one, for our
Chinese was as yet painfully defective