did not understand English; they
debated a minute or two, and then went away with the copy, which in due
time they politely returned to me.

If you wish to travel quickly in China, never be in a hurry. Appear
unconscious of all that is passing; never be irritated by any delay, and
assume complete indifference, even when you are really anxious to push
on. Emulate, too, that leading trait in the Chinese character, and never
understand anything which you do not wish to understand. No man on earth
can be denser than a Chinaman, when he chooses.

Let me give an instance. It was not so long ago, in a police court in
Melbourne, that a Chinaman was summoned for being in possession of a
tenement unfit for human habitation. The case was clearly proved, and he
was fined _L1_. But in no way could John be made to understand that a fine
had been inflicted. He sat there with unmoved stolidity, and all that
the court could extract from him was: "My no savvy, no savvy." After
saying this in a voice devoid of all hope, he sank again into silence.
Here rose a well-known lawyer. "With your worship's permission, I think
I can make the Chinaman understand," he said. He was permitted to try.
Striding fiercely up to the poor Celestial, he said to him in a loud
voice, "John, you are fined two pounds." "No dam fear! Only _one_!"

Crossing now the river by a well-constructed suspension bridge, we had a
fearful climb of 2000 feet up the mountain. My coolie "Bones" nearly
died on the way. Then there was a rough descent by a jagged path down
the rocky side of the mountain-river to the village of Taiping-pu. It
was long after dark when we arrived; and an hour later stalked in the
gaunt form of poor "Bones," who, instead of eating a good meal, coiled
up on the _kang_ and smoked an opium-pipe that he borrowed from the
chairen. All the next day, and, indeed, for every day till we reached
Tengyueh, our journey was one of the most arduous I have ever known. The
road has to surmount in succession parallel ridges of mountains. The
road is never even, for it cannot remain where travelling is easiest,
but must continually dip from the crest of the ranges to the depths of
the valleys.

Shortly before reaching Huanglien-pu my pony cast a shoe, and it was
some time before we were able to have it seen to; but I had brought half
a dozen spare shoes with me, and by-and-by a muleteer came along who
fixed one on as neatly as any farrier could have done, and gladly