HOW TO MANAGE INN-KEEPERS AND CARTERS—SHUEN-HUA-FU—"SPIRIT\'S PAPER"—SHAHZAD MIR LOST AND FOUND—ESAU\'S PRESTIGE.
About dusk we got to a very small village, with a most charming little inn. We got two very comfortable little rooms, with excellent furniture, consisting of tables, chairs, and looking-glasses.
This must have been quite one of the longest day\'s journey we did, but li are very erratic things to go by. As far as we could make out one hour\'s journey was always counted as ten li, quite irrespective of whether we went fast or slow; thus ten li in one place would be nearly five miles, and in another very little over three.
Delighted as we had been on arrival with our little inn, we were still more so on our departure, for we got off without a word of dispute at the price to be paid for our accommodation. At this time our rule was to pay one hundred cash for each room occupied, and about forty cash each for water and for the use of the fire; when nearer the capital we increased this as the accommodation improved, just as in the rough places further west we had given less. Having a fixed rule like this, which was liberal without being excessive, saved us an infinity of trouble, as the innkeepers saw at once that Rijnhart knew what he was about, and was not likely to be cheated or bluffed into making exorbitant payments. But there was always one thing they 387 could not get over, and that was that Rijnhart always handed them whatever money we took out of the bag and gave him. They saw that we put ourselves in his hands, and could not make out why he exacted no squeezes from us or them; never was such honesty heard of!
BRIDAL CHAIR.
This day, the 23rd November, was evidently a very lucky one: every one was out visiting friends, dressed in their best, the big ceremonial hat was seen on all sides, and several marriages were in progress. As if to make up for our peaceful morning, we had a most truculent fellow to deal with at breakfast; our cash were all too small and our fees were quite insufficient; in fact, he found a casus belli in our every act, and crowned his impertinences by selling us some two dozen real bad eggs, at eight cash apiece. 388
Sometimes a traveller is apt to find himself in a very awkward position, if his carters and an offensive innkeeper happen to be in league. It may happen that the carters owe the innkeeper money, and the latter threatens to get them punished unless they help him in extorting money from the unfortunate foreigner; the innkeeper then demands a perfectly unreasonable sum from his victim, which the latter refuses; upon this the carters come up and say that they cannot possibly leave till the money is paid, and the helpless traveller finds himself between the devil and the deep sea. Luckily for us, our agreement effectually stopped any nonsense of this kind, for if the carters said they could not go on, we at once replied, "All right, please yourselves—but if you do not arrive by the 27th, you lose half your hire."
Every day, now, villages became more numerous, and the country was very thickly cultivated. We stopped a long time at our midday halt at the city of Shuen-Hua-Fu,[15] as the carters had to change some silver and transact some business before proceeding. After leaving, we passed a very large number of gravestones and memorial stones, with old inscriptions of the rounded characters; the hillsides on the left of the road were studded with them for several miles, and in many places the coffins were sticking out of the ground, where the earth had been washed away from over them. On the road we met a convoy of mules carrying boxes containing tins of oil from Batoum, 389 and another with silver; the latter had an escort armed with spears decorated with red tassels, each mule, too, was decorated with a red flag, the whole making quite an imposing show.
Towards evening the road got very bad, and in one place we all had to get out and steady the carts as they passed down a steep, rocky path. Luckily we got down without mishap, but one of the carts was within an ace of slipping down a decline, where there was nothing to stop it for a considerable distance, and where both it and the mules must inevitably have been smashed. As we went down, a string of carts was coming up, two or three teams being hitched on to one cart and then returning for the next. The shouts of the drivers, cracks of whips, and creaking of wheels, made a terrible din, while the motley teams of ponies, mules, donkeys, and bullocks, all straining every nerve and then only managing to progress some ten or fifteen yards without a rest, made a picture. I should very much like to have been able to perpetuate it, but the light had already failed, and I was unable to do so. It was dark when we got down to Siao-Si-Fu and into our inn, but we had really made quite a short day\'s journey.
Next morning we were up long before it was light, and made a start with lanterns. It was just as well we did so, for our landlord, who was evidently accustomed to foreigners, and looked upon them as fair prey, refused to open the gates of the inn yard unless we paid him far more than was his due; but he reckoned without his host, for as there was no crowd about, and no fear of exciting a disturbance, we were able to threaten, and telling him that if he did not undo the lock, we would blow it open with a revolver, he soon saw that the game was up, and let us go in peace.
The village of Siao-Si-Fu lies just at the entrance of a narrow gorge, through which runs a rapid stream; the road winds along the hillside, generally at a good height above 390 the water, but it has been carefully made, and the going is excellent. We met a large number of camels coming through, mostly carrying tea into the interior; and in one place one of them had managed to slip some distance down the hillside, but did not appear to have hurt himself much—he had been wise in choosing a gradual slope, where he could not fall far. The defile lasted nearly ten miles, but we missed most of its beauties, owing to our early start and the darkness, which was also responsible for our party getting separated, Shahzad Mir having somehow managed to lose the rest of us. This did not cause us much anxiety at the time, as we thought that he had merely lagged behind, and would soon be up with us.
A GORGE WITH GREAT WALL IN DISTANCE.
When, however, we had made our halt, and breakfast was 391 being prepared, and there were still no signs of him, we began to get anxious, and in making inquiries, we heard that he had passed our halting-place, and been met by carters coming from the Pekin direction. We still consoled ourselves with the thought that he would soon find out his mistake and retrace his steps, but when it was time to yoke up and make a fresh start, nothing had been seen of him.
We were now very anxious about him, so divided ourselves into two parties, the carts and servants going one road, while we went another, which passed through several small towns and ran parallel to the road taken by the carts. Both parties made inquiries as they went along, and for some thirty li we still heard of him; he seemed to have walked straight ahead, never stopping except to buy some food. His clothes and gait, as well as his dark face, made him very conspicuous, so that the various guards on the town gates always noticed him; but after going about ten miles we lost all trace of our faithful Duffadar, and all we could do was to give notice of his disappearance in different places, and ask the people to show him which way we had gone. The most unlucky part of the business was that he could not speak a solitary word of Chinese, and might get himself into trouble, but fortunately we were in northern, and not central or southern China, so we felt sure that sooner or later he would turn up.[16]
In some of the towns we passed through we saw quantities of "spirit\'s paper" lying about the streets, or hanging up in the shops for sale. This spirit\'s paper is simply round pieces, cut to represent cash, each sheet of paper representing any number, or gilt to represent silver or gold. These are bought by the people and scattered about the houses, or put in holes in walls and tree trunks, where they are found by restless, wandering spirits, who, poor creatures, are easily 392 deceived into thinking them offerings of great value, and consequently refrain from injuring the pious, but economical offerer. They also burn large quantities of this paper money, and effigies of carts, horses, and other signs ............