The sun., 1907-03-31
CARRYING Goals TO PEKIN
Il the Newcastle Adage Over Again, Rs our
Army OF Relief Found.

A missionary who has lived many years 10
China, and who was cooped up in Pckin in
the Boxer troubles is telling in this city .
story about our section Of the army OF occu-
patton that marched up TO Pekin. Hs
thinks the incident was a good joke on our
boys, and illustrated the advantage ofleArn-
ing something beforehand about a ragiou
one intends to travel in. ....
I'VE we're very much astonished.' h9
says, when the gates were opened and soais
Of US were permitted to so out aud see otrs
boys before the order was given " take most
Of the allied army into the city. We found
that the Americans had u baggage train
about a mile long, although the soldiers and
marines were by no means a very Largo cou-
tinEent We wondered what they wars
doing with such long string Of hsavy.
clumsy Chinese carts, and ask ed the boys
what they had brought along to make such
an imposing proc -
well. was the answer. you sra We have
brought along a good deal of coal,
Coal we gaspsd in aston simsat.
"'Yes. You sse we haven't tbs slightsra
idea how long we shall stay here. We
hought we couldn't be caught in tAe mlddIs
OF China without plenty OF fuel TO cook our
victuals, and we decided that nothing eiss
would he so wise as to carry fuel al0IiE.
Down near the Taku forts, at the mouttpf
the Pei Ho, we found an enormous quantiey
Of coal from the Kaiping minqs and We
loaded more than fifty big carts with kt
We calculats we've got enough 90 last, tas
commissary department n long Tina, We
have had a dickens OF tims gstt!ng IL ,pp
here, for the dust in the road has bsen Rbodt
up to the hubs all the way. and coal isn't a
featherweight commodity .,, q
AT frst," says the missionary, -Ws-were
simply asst ounded and then we, burst out
laughing. II was tho biggest fool job We
ever heard Of. We asked our, siravel-
stained fellow citizens il they hadn' tJearned
anything about Pekin and its neighbour
hood before they trudged all the way from
the mouth OF the Pei HO to the capital.
They said they hadn't heard anything In
particulsr. .... ..,,.g3t
Well. now that you're hera you, can
see for yourselves we told them. Look
out 20 the west, there. You sec thoss noun
tains risEg out of the plain, Thy ars not
very far away and behind them there 10
range after range. We had an idea that
those mountains. which you can reach in
a few hours with an OK team were known
all over the world az the Pelin coal Held,
Pekin practically stan,ls on n co1l field.
One Of the reasons why Pekin is here -
because H. was known that this coal feio
exists. Ever since coal was found % have
value il has supplied the capital Of China
with her fuel and the Ooal meas1r7s have
scarcely been touched yet. :-Gt.3
You may take a pick out TO those NOUN
tains. stand in the sunlight and In q few
hours knock down enough coal from the
outcrops to supply family OF Americans
with fuel for year. They beat the coal
measures of KaipinR. which are the second
largest coal fields OF the province OF Chill.
The greatest coal supplies in Chilli are right
here at the gates Of Pekn' ~
-The boys smiled kind 81 siclly smile.
Well. there arc othsrs. they said. We
aren't the only Raloots in the allied forces
who have toted coal more than 100 miles,
from the mouth OF the Pei Ho.