an of
this milk, which he once presented to Chinese friends, had been mistaken
for a face cosmetic, and was so used by the ladies of the family. The lack
of butter has led many of the missionaries in China to substitute lard,
while the Chinese fry their fat cakes in various oils. The Ling Darin's
wife we found an excellent and even artistic cook, while his buxom twin
daughters could read and write their own language--a rare accomplishment
for a Chinese woman. Being unaccustomed to foreign manners, they would
never eat at the same table with us, but would come in during the evening
with their mother, to join the family circle and read aloud to us some of
their father's official despatches. This they would do with remarkable
fluency and intelligence.

As guests of our highly respected and even venerated host, we were visited
by nearly all the magistrates of the city. The Ling Darin was never before
compelled to answer so many questions. In self-defense he was at last
forced to get up a stereotyped speech to deliver on each social occasion.
The people, too, besieged the palace gates, and clamored for an
exhibition. Although our own clothes had been sent away to be boiled, we
could not plead this as an excuse. The flowing Chinese garments which had
been provided from the private wardrobe of the Ling Darin fluttered wildly
in the breeze, as we rode out through the city at the appointed hour. Our
Chinese shoes, also, were constantly slipping off, and as we raised the
foot to readjust them, a shout went up from the crowd for what they
thought was some fancy touch in the way of riding.

[Illustration: A TYPICAL RECEPTION IN A CHINESE TOWN.]

From the barrenness of the Gobi to the rank vegetation of the Edzina
valley, where the grass and grain were actually falling over from
excessive weight, was a most relieving change. Water was everywhere. Even
the roadway served in many places as a temporary irrigating-canal. On the
journey to Kan-chou we were sometimes compelled to ride on the narrow
mud-wall fences that separated the flooded fields of wheat, millet, and
sorghum, the prevailing cereals north of the Hoang-ho river. Fields of
rice and the opium poppy were sometimes met with, but of the silk-worm and
tea-plant, which furnish the great staples of the Chinese export trade, we
saw absolutely nothing on our route through the northern provinces. Apart
from the "Yellow Lands" of the Hoang-ho, which need no manure, the arable
reg