was there an accident or interruption of good nature.  There was the same romance in the streets that one reads of at school—­so much alike and yet so different from what one meets in the Chinese places at the coast or in Hong-Kong or Singapore.  In Sui-fu, more than in any other town in Western China which I visited, had the native artist seemed to have lavished his ingenuity on the street signboards.  Their caligraphy gave the most humorous intimation of the superiority of the wares on sale; many of them contained some fictitious emblem, adopted as the name of the shop, similar to the practice adopted in London two centuries ago, and so common now in the Straits Settlements, where bankrupts are allowed considerable more freedom than would be possible if fictitious registration were not allowed.  I refer to the Registration of Partnerships.

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote G:  I inspected the railway at Ichang in December, 1910, and found that a remarkable scheme was making very creditable progress.  Around the main station centre there was an air of bustle and excitement, some 20,000 coolies were in employment there, all the buildings and equipment bore evidences of thoroughness, and the scheme seemed to be going on well.  But in January of this year (1911) a meeting was held at Chen-tu, the proposed destination of the line, and the gentry then decided that as nothing was being done at that end the company should be requested to stop work at Ichang, and start laying the line from Chen-tu, at the other end.  “All the money will be spent,” they cried, “and we shall get nothing up this end!” If the money ran out and left the central portion of the line incomplete, it did not matter so long as each city had something for its money!—­E.J.D.]

[Footnote H:  This is not true to-day.  There has been a great falling off in numbers.—­E.J.D., February, 1911.]

[Footnote I:  This should not be taken to apply to the fu-song everywhere.  I have found them to be the most useful on other occasions, but the above was written at Luchow as my experience of that particular day.—­E.J.D.]

FOURTH JOURNEY.

SUI-FU TO CHAO-T’ONG-FU (VIA LAO-WA-T’AN).

CHAPTER VII.

Chinese and simplicity of speech. Author and his caravan stopped. Advice to travelers. Farewell to Sui-fu. The postal service and tribute to I.P.O. Rushing the stages. Details of journey. Description of road to Chao-t’ong-fu. Coolie’s pay. My boy steals vegetables. Remarks on roads and railways. The real Opening of China. How the foreigner will win the confidence of the Chinese. Distances and their variability. Calculations uprooted. Author in a dilemma. The scenery. Hard going. A wayside