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Show EXPERIENCES OF A LONE GEOGRAPHER 337 who were formerly members of his gang. Anyone accompanied by his men could rest assured that no one would attack him. Often I was told: "To-day there are robbers on the road." Sometimes it was a band of as many as 80 bandits well armed, but my escort would say, "We will go ahead and arrange things with the robbers and then we will escort you through their district and you will have nothing to fear." Thus I reached the Ta Kwan River, a tributary of the Yangtze, above Suifu. Here I chartered a boat, which brought us safely to Suifu. From there I went to Kiating and by river to Chengtu, the capital of Szechwan. In Chengtu I was delayed by fighting to the north and also on account of illness. Governor Yang of Chengtu took the city of Mienchow five days north of the capital and drove out an independent general with 10,000 troops. The latter and his soldiers looted the city before they left, and the incoming soldiers of Governor Yang looted what remained. They even attacked the mission, and a missionary family-a Mr. Willistan and his wife and boy-was captured by bandits only 40 li (16 miles) from Mienchow. Traveling was very unsafe, as the defeated soldiers scattered into bands and turned highway robbers. CAVALCADE IS A HALF MILE LONG I left Chengtu with an escort of 140 regular soldiers and some cavalry. As we neared Mienchow the guard was increased to 190 soldiers, who marched with loaded rifles and fixed bayonets. Often, when I looked back from a hill, my train was over half a mile long, with a caravan of 26 mules, my helpers, 17 muleteers, and the soldiers. We were quite a formidable party (see illustration, page 336). Many people joined my train for protection. However, in spite of my strong escort, we had to take a narrow and tortuous trail over mountains little frequented by travelers, as the main road to Mienchow was closed by a small army of brigands. Even the military did not dare take the shorter main road. My escort was changed from town to town, and, as some of the places, like Hanchow, Tehyang, and Lokiang, were "on the fence," so to speak, my soldiers from one community were not permitted to enter the next, for fear that they might fight and loot. Each group from the preceding town had to turn back at the city gates. Soldiers of the city at which we were arriving usually waited for me outside the gates and escorted me in. We passed many dead soldiers on the road. Sometimes only the trunk was left, the head, hands, and feet having been chopped off. We also met many half-dead stragglers, who sooner or later joined their dead companions stark on the road. IN THE GREATEST MEDICINE MARKET OF CHINA. From Mienchow I went to Chungpa, the greatest medicine mart of Szechwan, if not of all China. Here I found the Szechwan-Kansu border troops. Governor Yang had sent instructions that they see me safely to Pikow, the first large village in south Kansu. The officer in charge of the border troops was very timid. He said he could escort me only as far as the Szechwan line, for last year the Kansu border troops and his men were fighting. Many villages were burned, and he was afraid that if his soldiers went to Pikow with me they would be disarmed by the Kansu soldiers and killed. I replied that as long as they were with me the soldiers would have nothing to fear, but he answered, "Yes; as long as we are with you, the Kansu troops will not dare do anything to us, but when we return alone, they will attack us." A ROYAL RECEPTION IN KANSU PROVINCE We went on to Chingchwan, the last town in Szechwan, and from there I sent a runner to Pikow with a letter to the officer in charge of the south Kansu border troops, asking him to give me an escort to Motzaping, the first village in Kansu, to which point the Szechwan troops were to accompany me. Near the Szechwan border a few Kansu soldiers brought me the cards of two officers, who were waiting for me at Motzaping. All was very amiable when the enemies met, the Szechwan soldiers and their officer turning me over to the Kansu |