art of Szechuan, having a
population of perhaps fifty thousand. It is surrounded by a well-built
wall, high and broad and nearly three miles in length. Within are few
buildings of interest, due perhaps to the fact that about fifty years
ago it was almost demolished by an earthquake. According to tradition,
the same thing happened in the early part of the Ming period, when the
town, which, so it is said, then stood in the hollow where the lake now
lies, was first shaken by an earthquake and then overwhelmed by a rush
of water from underground. Later a new city was built on the present
site. If the natives are to be believed, the ruins of the drowned city
may still be seen on calm days lying at the bottom of the lake, while
after a storm beds and chairs of strange patterns are sometimes found
floating about on the water.

Even this remote corner of China shows the influence of the new
movement, and Western ideas are making their way. Something had been
done to improve the city schools, and I can testify to the desire of the
military force stationed at Ning-yuean to form itself on European models,
for the morning's sleep was broken by the vigorous bugle practice of the
band, and at every turn one met soldiers, marching along with a good
deal of vim. The large parade ground was given over in the afternoon to
the testing and speeding of ponies. We rode out there one day, and I was
pleased to see that the interest and wise ways of the missionaries in
horseflesh were much appreciated by the owners of the ponies, men of a
class not easily reached by the ordinary channels of mission work.

As my contract with the Yunnan hong was only to Ning-yuean-fu, it was
necessary to make new arrangements here. My old men had expressed a wish
to go on with me, but in the end only one did so, the others disliking
the detour to Tachienlu which they knew I had in mind. Moreover, it
would have been necessary for them to register in the Ning-yuean hong,
which they were not anxious to do, nor was the hong anxious to have
them. So I let them go, well contented with their "wine money," which
was, indeed, outrageously large. Soon after starting from Yunnan-fu I
had realized that the men were inclined to ask for a day's halt more
frequently than I liked, as I was anxious to push ahead, knowing that
the spring rains were shortly due. I did not know then the custom of the
road, which decrees no payment at all if it is the coolies who insist on
stopping