had bought a small Chinese portable stove, which
kept me from freezing. It is not larger than an ordinary teapot and has a
perforated cover. A few pieces of glowing charcoal are embedded in ashes
in the tin, which is thus kept warm all day. Up on the camel I had this
little comforting contrivance on my knees, and at night I laid it among
my rugs when I crept into bed. One day there was such a furious storm
over the level and exposed country that we could not move from the spot.
We sat wrapped up in our furs and rugs and simply froze.

On arrival at Pao-te I had still 430 miles to travel to the capital of
the kingdom, Peking. I was eager to be there, and resolved to hurry
forward by forced marches. I hired a small two-wheeled cart, and had no
servant with me but the Chinese driver. Islam with an interpreter was to
follow slowly after with our baggage.

On this route no fewer than sixty-one Swedish missionaries were at work,
and I often stayed in their hospitable houses. At other times I put up
in the country inns. They are incredibly dirty, full of noisy
travellers, smoke, and vermin. The guest room where you sleep at night
must be shared with others. Along the inner wall stands a raised ledge
of bricks. It is built like an oven and is heated with cattle-dung
beneath; and on the platform the sleeper, if not half suffocated, is at
any rate half roasted.

In Kalgan (Chang-kia-kau), where the Great Wall is passed, I exchanged
my cart for a carrying chair on two long poles. It was borne by two
mules which trotted along over the narrow mountain road leading to
Peking. Sometimes we were high above the valley bottom, and met whole
rows of caravans, carts, riders, and foot passengers, chairs with mules,
and every one was in constant danger of being pushed over the edge.

At last, on March 2, I arrived at Peking, after 1237 days of travelling
through Asia, and passed through one of the fine gates in the city walls
(Plate XVIII.).

MONGOLIA

Between China in the south and Eastern Siberia on the north, stretches
the immense region of inner Asia which is called Mongolia. The Chinese
call it the "grass country," but very large parts of it are waterless
desert, where drift-sand is piled up into dunes, and caravan routes and
wells are far apart. The belt of desert, one of the largest in the
world, is called by the Mongols Gobi, a word which in their language
denotes desert. The Chinese call it Shamo, which signifies sandy deser