-bag
which, thrown over the donkey's saddle, reached nearly to the ground on
either side. On the early morning of the day decided on for our
departure, two donkeys thus laden stood at our gate. On to one of them I
was hoisted, and took my first lesson in how to sit happily, perched
high on the voluminous luggage with neither reins for my hands nor
stirrups for my feet, for sometimes as long as twelve hours' travelling
with but a short break for food and rest at midday. From village to
village we wandered, received everywhere with cordial hospitality,
pressed to extend our visit, and followed on our departure by the
reiterated cry: "Come again, come again, come again soon!"

All was fresh and delightful to me and brimful of interest, from the
hour when I rode through the city gate, passed the great tanks of lotus
bloom to the edge of the swift, shallow river, where my servant stripped
off his shoes and socks to lead my donkey knee-deep over the ford.

By narrow roads we travelled where the tall grain stood like a wall on
either side, ripening in the fierce sunshine which bathed the landscape
in a dazzling glare. Through occasional villages we rode, where the
women called to each other to hurry and see the strange sight, and
groups of naked and semi-naked children commented freely on the
appearance of the "foreign devils."

A few miles farther and the first stage was reached--a deep courtyard
backing the hillside, from which had been hollowed a row of caves
according to the economical method of the country. Scarcely any bricks
are required for such building, and the deep, lofty, arched room affords
the warmest shelter in our bitter Shansi winter cold, as it does the
coolest refuge from the burning summer heat.

"Come again, come again soon," and we were off again, refreshed by a
delicious, beautifully cooked meal, and our hearts warmed by the evident
pleasure which our visit had given and the cordial hospitality which had
sought to let us know how welcome we were. And now we left the fertile
plain and well-watered land which lay all along the river-bed to climb
steep, stony roads, and follow narrow footpaths, where the difficulty of
its broad load made my donkey step gingerly as near to the chasm's edge
as she could secure a foothold, and I dug my knees into the soft bed-bag
and longed for something on which I could get a grip. How pleasant and
easy such journeying became before the end of that autumn's wandering,
and