own, where we exchanged them for two large, heavy carts on two wheels
and covered with a tilt of straw matting. In one we packed all our
things, in the other I took my seat, while Islam rode. Each cart was
drawn by a mule and two horses, driven by a pleasant Chinaman. I had no
interpreter, and had to get along with the few words I had managed to
pick up.

For six days we travelled northwards through the Kansu mountains, going
up and down all the way over stony passes and over frozen rivers with or
without neck-breaking bridges. The carts creaked and rocked through
narrow hollow roads where it would have been impossible to pass a cart
coming from the opposite direction. In such places, therefore, one of
our drivers went on in front shouting to keep the road clear.
Fortunately we were in the company of other carts. When two carts meet
where the road is narrow, it is customary for the smaller one to back
and leave the road open for the larger.

We set out just after midnight, and drove on till noon. In spite of furs
and rugs I was almost frozen through. Islam preferred to go on foot, and
the drivers who ran beside the wagons also managed to keep themselves
warm.

At break of day on December 10 we came to the bank of a stream which
falls into the Yellow River (Hwang-ho). It was frozen quite across, and
a path of sand showed where the route crossed the river. Our companions
were to go over first in one of their carts with a team of three horses.
They dashed at full gallop out on to the ice, but had not gone far
before a wheel cut through the ice and the cart was held fast as in a
vice. The whole load had to be taken out and carried over to the farther
bank, and after much trouble the empty cart was hoisted up.

At a broader place the men cut up the thin ice in the middle of the bed
where the water was three feet deep, and when another cart tried its
luck it pitched suddenly down into the opening and remained fast. Two
additional horses were attached, and all the men shouted and cracked
their whips. The horses reared, fell, were nearly drowned under the ice,
threw themselves about and jumped up on to the ice, only to drop back
again into the hole. A young Chinaman then threw off every stitch of
clothing and went into the water, 18 deg. below freezing-point, to pull
away the pieces of ice and stones which held back the wheels. I cannot
tell how it was that he was not frozen to death. He afterwards warmed
himself at a fire