bborn pony through the
mob to the gate by which I had entered. My men were not to be found. I
did not know the road nor much of the language. I sat down on a granite
pillar to undergo an embarrassing half-hour. Presently my men hailed me,
and approaching, swore with imposing loftiness at the discomfited guide.
My bull-dog coolie dropped his loads, the _fu-song_ somehow lost his
footing, I yelled "Ts'eo" ("Go"), and with a cheer the caravan
proceeded.

The following day we were at the capital.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote Z: I took a pony because I had made up my mind to return into
China after I had reached Burma. In Tong-ch'uan-fu a good pony can be
bought for, say, _L3_--in Burma, the same pony would sell for L10.

--E.J.D.]

[Footnote AA: For further excellent descriptions of the Chinese nature I
refer the reader to Chester Holcombe's _China: Past and
Present_.--E.J.D.]

[Footnote AB: _i.e._ Yamen escort.]

CHAPTER XIV.

YUeN-NAN-FU, THE CAPITAL.

_Access to Yuen-nan-fu_. _Concentrated reform_. _Tribute to Hsi Liang_.
_Conservatism and progress_. _The Tonkin-Yuen-nan Railway_. _The Yuen-nan
army_. _Author's views in 1909 and 1910 contrasted_. _Phenomenal forward
march, and what it means_. _Danger of too much drill_. _International
aspect on the frontier_. _The police_. _Street improvements_. _Visit to
the gaol, and a description_. _The Young Pretender to the Chinese
throne_. _How the prison is conducted_. _The schools_. _Visit to the
university, and a description_. _Riot among the students_. _Visit to the
Agricultural School, and a description_. _Silk industry of Yuen-nan._

Yuen-nan-fu to-day is as accessible as Peking. After many weary years the
Tonkin-Yuen-nan railway is now an accomplished fact, and links this
capital city with Haiphong in three days.

Reform concentrates at the capital. The man who visited Yuen-nan-fu
twenty, or even ten years ago, would be astounded, were he to go there
now, at the improvements visible, on every hand. A building on foreign
lines was then a thing unknown, and the conservative Viceroy, Tseng Kong
Pao, the decapitator in his time of thousands upon thousands of human
beings, would turn in his grave if he could behold the utter
annihilation of his pet "feng shui," which has followed in the wake of
the good works done by the late loved Viceroy, Hsi Liang.

The name of Hsi Liang is revered in the province of Yuen-nan as the most
able man who has ever ruled the two pr