Had it not been for their brotherly and sisterly zeal in nursing me, which never flagged throughout my illness, future travelers might have been able to point to a little grave-mound on the hill-tops, and have given a chance thought to an adventurer whom the fates had handled roughly.  But there was more in this than I could see; my destiny was then slowly shaping.

Throughout the rains, and well on into the winter, I stayed with Mr. and Mrs. Evans, and then continued my walking tour, as is hereafter recorded.

During this period of convalescence I studied the Chinese language and traveled considerably in the surrounding country.  Tong-ch’uan-fu is a city of many scholars, and it was not at all difficult for me to find a satisfactory teacher.  He was an old man, with a straggly beard, about 70 years of age, and from him I learned much about life in general, in addition to his tutoring in Chinese.  I had the advantage also of close contact with the missionaries with whom I was living, and on many occasions was traveling companion of Samuel Pollard, one of the finest Chinese linguists in China at that time.  So that with a greatly increased knowledge of Chinese, I was henceforth able to hold my own anywhere.  During this period, too, many days were profitably passed at the Confucian Temple, a picture of which is given in this volume.

END OF BOOK I.

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote Y:  In the capital there is a street called “Copper Kettle Lane,” where one is able to buy almost anything one wants in copper and brass.  Hundreds of men are engaged in the trade, and yet it is “prohibited.”  These “Copper Kettle Lanes” are found in many large cities.—­E.J.D.]

BOOK II.

The second part of my trip was from almost the extreme east to the extreme west of Yuen-nan—­from Tong-ch’uan-fu to Bhamo, in British Burma.  The following was the route chosen, over the main road in some instances, and over untrodden roads in others, just as circumstances happened: 

Tong-ch’uan-fu to Yuen-nan-fu (the capital city) 520 li. 
Yuen-nan-fu to Tali-fu 905 li. 
Tali-fu to Tengyueh (Momien) 855 li. 
Tengyueh to Bhamo (Singai) 280 English

          
                                                                                          miles approx.

I also made a rather extended tour among the Miao tribes, in country untrodden by Europeans, except by missionaries working among the people.

FIRST JOURNEY

TONG-CH’UAN-FU TO THE CAPITAL

CHAPTER XIII.