Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-05-11
THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.
Visit to the Country of Cog and
MagOg.

| "A SAsiS W the country or Cog and
| Magog.
WITH THE cAMELs INTO MONGOLIA. r.rvprSrH
OF ROADS AND How THEY ARE TRAVELLED
PECULIAR PoNIEs-ToMBs OF THE GREAT MING
| DYNAsTY-INTEREsTINa MoNaoLIAN VILLAGES
From The srAR's Travelling Commissioner.
| PEKING, April s, 80.
The first time I met a camel-train near Picking
l refined up my pony and feasted my eyes upon
1t. And although have seen thousands since
| then, find them just as amusing as ever The
| two-humped or Bactrian camels of northern
China are much bigger than those we know at
home, and have seen few sights so pictur-
| esque as string of them approaching over
these brown plains A dozen are fastened to-
gether by cord attaching the nose Of one to
| the tail OF the other; bell, a couple of feet
long, is hung round the neck of the last to
warn the driver in front by its ceasing if the
line breaks anywhere; a medley Of bales and
boxes and clothing is slung on their backs;
ruddy-faced Mongols, dressed in scarlet and
yellow, with ornaments of gold and silver in
profusion, sit up aloft and smile at you as you
pass; the great shaggy beasts step softly
along, ingeniously out of step, lifting their
sponge-like feet and dropping them again with
perfect and unvarying deliberation, the whole
| train moving with the silence of a dream bro
ken only by the jang-jang of the solitary bell.
Ihelr big brown eyes look you straight in the
face and there is something pathetic and re-
proachful in their glance. you are laughing
at me" they seem to say, "and know am an
extraordinary looking creature. But then, if
| you only knew it, so are you, and it would be
| kinder to think of my services than to laugh at
my shape" All day long one street of Picking
Is filled with these picturesque professions.
| gaunt, wretched, creatures, with WORKOUT
coats and covered with coal-dust, carrying
sacks of coal from the Western Hills into Pc
king; and the far finer and better kept animals
bearing tea away up into the north. During
all my stay in Peking longed for the moment
when too should ride away at dawn toward
| Mongolia, in the worn tracks of these strange
beasts and their merry masters.
| LABYRINTH OF ROADS,
| My pony was little creature not much
| bigger than dog and with white coat as long
and thick as polar bears. The mafoo had
| bought him few days before from a Monpol
for 20 taels and he had never had a foreign
saddle and bride on till mounted him. There
| lore the all-day ride was not SO monotonous as
usual, and for the first miles it was even ex-
citing. We started at daybreak and the sun
was well above us before We got outside the two
| gates of Picking. Then the mafoo took the
lead. Once III the open country we were on q
great alluyial plain. dotted with mud houses,
|
cultivation, laced in all directions by dozens of
| brldle-paths and ending on our left in the dim
! outlines OF the Western Hills, the summer sana-
tarium of Picking. We plunged into the labv-
rlnth OF roads and the mafoo threaded his way
among them without a moments hesitation.
WHERE FOREIGNERS ARE SCARCE.
Afterward found that he had been over
them forty-six times before, but for my own
part could see hardly any signs by which to
distinguish one from another Till II O'Clock
we trotted steadily on, reaching then a small
town called Sha-'ho, where we stopped an hour
| Tor rest and tittin. Here already foreigners are
| scarce, and was the center of much curiosity
keen and inquisitive, but quite good-natured.
Crossing river over two very old broad fiat
| bridges OF white marble, built curiously at an
obtuse angle to each other, we emerged again
! into the PLAIN. This grew more uneven as we
| advanced, till at last We are riding along narx
row path on the sloping stony bank of dry
water course. The stone grew bigger and
more numerous. till they could no longer be
safely negotiated and then my guide struck up
| to the right, and an hours detour across
| country, with half mile of such bad going at
the end that got off and led my pony, brought
US at O'Clock to the fortified city of Nan-k 'ou
80 miles from Peking, our resting place for the
night
| NAN-KoU
Nan-k'ou is very interesting little place,
/
more picturesque; on the hills right and left OF
the entrance to the pass which the city is sup
| posed to guard are two sprightly little towers:
| a dozen others are just visible dotted about
| the chain of hills around it: its one broad
street, paved once with great blocks of stone,
now worn away and upset till pony can
| hardly make his way at all over their slippery
rolling surface, is crowded with traffic OF men
| and beasts, and every fifty yards O. wide
arched doorway leads into a spacious inn-yard
inns street Is part of the great commercial
highway between China and all her neighbors
OF the north. Through 1t a constant stream of
camels and ponies and donkeys and even laden
| coolies passes, bringing Mongol produce to
| Peklng. and taking brick-tea back from Tient-
| SIN to kiackta on the Russian frontier And
| through this street this stream has passed for
who knows how many years-thousands, at any
| rate.
CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.
| strolled along it and turned into one of the
gateways. But had only Just time to step
aside when a drove of at least hundred ponies
suddenly stampeded through it and rushed
| headlong through the street, WINNING and
| kicking up their heels in delight at being free
Just outside the city they drank greedily at a
| little stream and then rolled over and over each
other in the dirt. But such spectacle of cruelty
| to animals as was afforded by the state Of their
| backs have never seen. No one of them was
without a large raw wound on each side and
half OF them had horrible deep bleeding Tester
| ing sores bigger than two hands, The sight
was sickening, and nothing whatever was done
for them except that afterward saw a coolie
beating the insides of the rough pack-saddles
with stick to keep the blood-soaked places
| from getting quite hard. Each pony was car
| rying two bales Of tea, as hard as blocks of
granite. tried the weight of one and found
Icould just raise it off the ground. Therefore
| the ponies were shockingly overloaded.
CAMEIS AT REST.
The camels require SO much space for them
selves and their burdens that they have Special
caravanserais. Their saddles. with the loads
deposited on each side. are arranged in regu-
| lar rows. like game after a battue, and the
| animals betake themselves to a trough which
runs all around the yard, squeezing close to-
gether. The yard of caravanserai at feeding
time therefore exhibits a complete circular
horizon OF camels' tails. When they have eaten
| they sink down and very deliberately chew the
| cud. 1t is just as well to keep on good terms
with camel, for when he is standing I'D he
can swing his hind leg like a pendulum in an
arc OF about 20 feet and therefore deliver a
kick which would break in the door of San
Francisco gambling den; while when he is lying
down he can spare couple of gallons of cud
| to spit at an enemy saw Mongol driver to
whom this had happened, and the sight was
unpleasant and instructive. Several hundred
camels shared the hospitality of Nau-k'ou with
me that night.
TOWARD THE COUNTRY OF GOO AND MAGoa.