PARTING FROM LOBSAN—STARTING FOR LANCHEO—A RUINED SUBURB—GOOD DONE BY MISSIONARIES—WE TAKE LEAVE OF MR. RIDLEY—OUR FIRST CHINESE INN.

Next morning, the 19th of October, was decidedly a busy one; our throng of friends had to be settled up with, and our fresh mules had to be started off for Lancheo. In China, when travelling with pack mules, one\'s baggage is first tied on to arched wooden frames, which, when everything is ready, are simply lifted up and placed across the saddle, and, if necessary, a man can ride on top of his baggage. This is an excellent arrangement, as the mules are never kept standing with their loads on, and, on arriving at one\'s inn at the end of a day\'s journey, the frames are simply lifted off the saddles and carried, just as they are, straight into one\'s room. Those things that are required can then be undone, while the remainder are ready for loading again the following morning; the only drawback is that, as the frames ride entirely by balance, great care must be taken in making up the loads.

The weights these mules carried came rather as a revelation to us, the regulation being 240 Chinese pounds, which is equivalent to 320 English pounds, and if a man is to ride his weight is always reckoned as one hundred Chinese pounds. In India some of the mountain-battery mules carry loads as heavy, or even heavier, than these, but they are as a rule far bigger mules, and are much better looked after; 316 moreover they are very rarely, if ever, called upon to do the marches that a mule does in China, where the average stage is ninety li, or thirty miles, a day.

About 11 o\'clock the baggage started in charge of our Duffadar, who also took Esau and Shukr Ali with him, to assist in looking after the muleteers; although neither of these men knew a word of Chinese, we had no more anxiety in sending them off by themselves in the province of Kansu, than we should have had in India; in many parts of the country it might have been a somewhat risky proceeding, but away in the north-west corner of the empire, the people are so much in the habit of mixing with Tibetans, Mongols, and others, that they take comparatively little notice of foreigners.

Meanwhile the Mongols had been getting the balance of pay due to them, and, as they had done us good service, we gave them some extra baksheesh, or "wine-money," as they call it, and also the old pony we had bought from the Tibetan merchant. This put them all in high good humour; they said that if we ever again came to their country they hoped that we would employ them, Lobsan adding that his real name, by which he could always be found, was "Dsun Choni Lama,"[13] by this he was known to everybody, whereas Lobsan was only his nickname. As soon as they had got their pay they went off into the town, where, I have no doubt, they were very soon relieved of the greater part of it by the wily Chinese.

Our business indoors was now finished and we were able to accompany Ridley round the town. First of all we went to see about hiring animals to take us to Lancheo, but the replies we received were not encouraging. We were told that there were a large number of soldiers leaving Sining, and that it was very hard to procure carriage of any sort, in fact, although quite civil, the officials, who could have helped 317 us had they wanted to, made it clear that they scarcely thought it worth while doing so; they contented themselves with taking a copy of our passport, a very lengthy and somewhat useless proceeding.

Another obstacle in the way of our departure was that the official intimation of our having left Tankar had not arrived, for it is the custom, whenever travellers of importance leave a Chinese town, with carriage supplied by the yamen, for intimation to be sent to the next place on their route, where this carriage will have to be changed. In the present case notice had certainly been sent off from Tankar, but had not reached Sining, at least, so we were told. After leaving the yamen we wended our way through the city towards the eastern suburb, meeting on our way numbers of mounted soldiers. They had escorted a high military official, who had left Sining that morning, and were now returning to the city. A very motley crew they were, mounted on miserable little rats of ponies, and carrying numbers of banners, the colour and device of which will, they believe, strike terror into the hearts of the enemy; even the Japanese war seems to have been powerless to disabuse them of this idea.

On our arrival at the eastern gate of the city we mounted the city walls, and looked down upon the suburb, which had once been the home of 10,000 Chinese Mohammedans. Not a roof was left; of a big mosque which used to stand between the city wall and the outskirts of the suburb scarcely a trace was visible—only a few pillars remained to mark the spot where all those followers of the Prophet used to assemble for worship. From looking down on this scene of desolation, one was able to imagine what would have occurred had the rebels got the upper hand, and been able to wreck the city. Had this happened, it is terrible to think what the fate of our fellow-countrymen within the walls would have been. It is just possible that, having remained 318 neutral, their lives might have been spared, but in the awful confusion there would have been, this is more than doubtful.

RUINS OF THE E. SUBURB OF SINING.

We spent some time on the wall, while Ridley showed us all the different points of interest—the road by which the soldiers came in to relieve the city, the path by which reinforcements and supplies used to reach the rebels, the place where the defenders\' only serviceable big gun was mounted, and many spots where encounters had occurred. At one time there had been an order that every man entering Sining had to bring in a stone, and piles of these were lying on the ramparts, ready to be hurled down on the heads of the insurgents. There were some soldiers of the garrison lying about on the wall, where, also, their huts were. Some of these were indebted to the missionaries for medical treatment and nursing when wounded; they seemed glad to see Ridley, and to be grateful for the 319 kindness they had received. On our way back to the mission-house, and on other occasions, we were able to ask Ridley how the work of the mission was progressing.

There has been a mission-station at Sining for about ten years, but, unfortunately, the work has not been continuous. On at least one occasion the station has been given up, and from time to time breaks have occurred. This has naturally militated very strongly against the success of the mission, and the result has been that the number of converts has been small, and, moreover, one or two of those who were looked upon as firm believers have fallen away.

Thus the missionaries have met with considerable disappointment, and it is no wonder that there should again be talk of giving up the station. ............