istern for boiling water, which was dipped out and handed round in a
slip of bamboo shaped like a mug with a stick to hold it by. Farther on,
sugar-cane grew in a field to the left, and near by a man sat on his
haunches on the ground feeding a sugar-grinding machine propelled by a
buffalo, who patiently tramped round that small circle all day and every
day.

Turning from this, I beheld one of the worst sights I have ever seen in
China. Seven dogs were dragging a corpse from a coffin, barely covered
with earth, which formed one of the grave mounds which skirt the road.
No one was disturbed by the scene; it was not uncommon. But the
foreigner suffered an agonizing sickness, for which his companions would
have been at a loss to find any possible reason, and was relieved to
reach Pu-piao.

Market was at its height. It was warm down here in the valley. The
streets were packed with people, many of whom were pushed bodily into
the piles of common foreign and native merchandise on sale on either
side of the road. A clodhopper of a fellow, jostled by my escort, fell
into a stall and broke the huge umbrella which formed a shelter for the
vendor and his goods, and my boy was called upon to pay. Fifty cash
fixed the matter. I walked into a crowded inn and made majestically for
the extreme left-hand corner. Everybody wondered, and softly asked his
neighbor what in the sacred name of Confucius had come upon them.

"See his boots! Look at his old hat! What a face! It _is_ a monstrosity,
and--"

But as I sat down the general of the establishment cruelly forced back
the people, and screamingly yelled at the top of his voice that those
who wanted to drink tea in the room must pay double rates. His unusual
announcement was received with a low grunt of dissatisfaction, but no
one left. Every table in the square apartment was soon filled with six
or eight men, and the noise was terrific. Curiosity increased. The fun
was, as the comic papers say, fast and furious; and despite the
ill-favored pleasantries passed by my own men and the inquisitive
tea-shop keeper-as to peculiarities of heredity in certain noisy
members of the crowd, a riot seemed inevitable. I stationed my two
soldiers in the narrow doorway to defend the only entrance and entertain
the uninitiated with stories of their prowess with the rifle and of the
weapon's deadliness. Boys climbed like monkeys to the overhead beams to
get a glimpse of me as I fed, and incidentally shoo