mutual esteem.

My pony fared badly in Tengyueh. There was a poor stable in the
courtyard with a tiled roof that would fall at the first shower. There
were no beans. The pony had to be content with rice or paddy, which it
disliked equally. The rice was _1-1/2d._ the 7-1/2lbs. There was no
grass, Chueh said, to be obtained in the district. He assured me so on
his honour, or its Chinese equivalent; but I sent out and bought some in
the street round the corner.

Silver in Tengyueh is the purest Szechuen or Yunnanese silver. Rupees
are also current, and at this time were equivalent to 400 cash--the tael
at the same time being worth 1260 cash. Every 10 taels, costing me
_30s._ in Shanghai, I could exchange in Tengyueh for 31 rupees. Rupees
are the chief silver currency west from Tengyueh into Burma.

On May 31st I had given instructions that we were to leave early, but my
men, who did not sleep in the telegraph compound, were late in coming.
To still further delay me, at the time of leaving no escort had made its
appearance. I did not wait for it. We marched out of the town
unaccompanied, and were among the tombstones on the rise overlooking the
town when the escort hurriedly overtook us. It consisted of a
quiet-mannered chairen and two soldiers, one of whom was an impudent cub
that I had to treat with every indignity. He was armed with a sword
carried in the folds of his red cincture, in which was also concealed an
old muzzle-loading pistol, formidable to look at but unloaded. This was
one of the days on my journey when I wished that I had brought a
revolver, not as a defence in case of danger, for there was no danger,
but as a menace on occasion of anger.

Rain fell continuously. At a small village thronged with muleteers from
Bhamo we took shelter for an hour. The men sipping tea under the
verandahs had seen Europeans in Bhamo, and my presence evoked no
interest whatever. Many of these strangers possessed an astonishing
likeness to European friends of my own. Contact with Europeans, causing
the phenomena of "maternal impression," was probably in a few cases
accountable for the moulding of their features, but the general
prevalence of the European type has yet to be explained. "My conscience!
Who could ever have expected to meet _you_ here?" I was often on the
point of saying to some Chinese Shan or Burmese Shan in whom, to my
confusion, I thought I recognised a college friend of my own.

Leaving the village, we follo