om was there an accident or
interruption of good nature. There was the same romance in the streets
that one reads of at school--so much alike and yet so different from
what one meets in the Chinese places at the coast or in Hong-Kong or
Singapore. In Sui-fu, more than in any other town in Western China which
I visited, had the native artist seemed to have lavished his ingenuity
on the street signboards. Their caligraphy gave the most humorous
intimation of the superiority of the wares on sale; many of them
contained some fictitious emblem, adopted as the name of the shop,
similar to the practice adopted in London two centuries ago, and so
common now in the Straits Settlements, where bankrupts are allowed
considerable more freedom than would be possible if fictitious
registration were not allowed. I refer to the Registration of
Partnerships.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote G: I inspected the railway at Ichang in December, 1910, and
found that a remarkable scheme was making very creditable progress.
Around the main station centre there was an air of bustle and
excitement, some 20,000 coolies were in employment there, all the
buildings and equipment bore evidences of thoroughness, and the scheme
seemed to be going on well. But in January of this year (1911) a meeting
was held at Chen-tu, the proposed destination of the line, and the
gentry then decided that as nothing was being done at that end the
company should be requested to stop work at Ichang, and start laying the
line from Chen-tu, at the other end. "All the money will be spent," they
cried, "and we shall get nothing up this end!" If the money ran out and
left the central portion of the line incomplete, it did not matter so
long as each city had something for its money!--E.J.D.]

[Footnote H: This is not true to-day. There has been a great falling off
in numbers.--E.J.D., February, 1911.]

[Footnote I: This should not be taken to apply to the _fu-song_
everywhere. I have found them to be the most useful on other occasions,
but the above was written at Luchow as my experience of that particular
day.--E.J.D.]

FOURTH JOURNEY.

SUI-FU TO CHAO-T'ONG-FU (VIA LAO-WA-T'AN).

CHAPTER VII.

_Chinese and simplicity of speech_. _Author and his caravan stopped_.
_Advice to travelers_. _Farewell to Sui-fu_. _The postal service and
tribute to I.P.O._ _Rushing the stages_. _Details of journey_.
_Description of road to Chao-t'ong-fu_. _Coolie's pay_. _My boy steals
veg