e angle of bifurcation formed by the Yangtse
river (here known as the "River of Golden Sand"), going west, and the
Min, or Chentu river, going north to Chentu, the capital city of the
province. I landed below the southern wall, and said good-bye to my
companions. Climbing up the bank into the city, I passed by a busy
thoroughfare to the pretty home of the Inland Mission, where I received
a kind welcome from the gentleman and lady who conduct the mission, and
a charming English girl, also in the mission, who lives with them.

CHAPTER VI.

THE CITY OF SUIFU--THE CHINA INLAND MISSION, WITH SOME GENERAL REMARKS
ABOUT MISSIONARIES IN CHINA.

At Suifu I rested a day in order to engage new coolies to go with me to
Chaotong in Yunnan Province, distant 290 miles. Neither of my two
Chungking men would re-engage to go further. Yet in Chungking Laokwang
the cook had declared that he was prepared to go with me all the way to
Talifu. But now he feared the loneliness of the road to Chaotong. The
way, he said, was mountainous and little trodden, and robbers would see
the smallness of our party and "come down and stab us." I was then glad
that I had not paid him the retaining fee he had asked in Chungking to
take me to Tali.

I called upon the famous Catholic missionaries, the Provicaire Moutot
and Pere Beraud, saw the more important sights and visited some
newly-arrived missionaries of the American Board of Missions. Four of
the Americans were living together. I called with the Inland missionary
at a time when they were at dinner. We were shown into the drawing-room,
where the most conspicuous ornament was a painted scroll with a well
executed drawing of the poppy in flower, a circumstance which would
confirm the belief of the Chinese who saw it, that the poppy is held in
veneration by foreigners. While we waited we heard the noise of dinner
gradually cease, and then the door opened and one of the single ladies
entered. She was fierce to look at, tall as a grenadier, with a stride
like a camel; she was picking her teeth with a hairpin. She courteously
expressed her regret that she could not invite us to dinner. "Waal now,"
she said, looking at us from under her spectacles, "ahm real sorry I
caan't ask you to have somethin' to eat, but we've just finished, and I
guess there ain't nothin' left."

Fourteen American missionaries were lately imported into Suifu in one
shipment. Most of them are from Chicago. One of their earlie