Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/164

112 terrific shouting becomes the source of intense irritation. A. Ssŭch'uan coolie may not be more than a foot away from the individual whom he wishes to address, but that makes no difference, and he bawls at him at the top of his voice, as if he were half a mile away instead of standing at his elbow. When some thirty or forty men confined within the four walls of the inn's courtyard are engaged in this harmonious occupation simultaneously, the effect on the auricular nerves may be imagined. It is only when his food has been put away, and when the fumes of the opium-pipe, which my coolies invariably carried, have begun to work, that peace and comparative quiet descend upon the building.

On the following day we tramped about twenty-three miles to Ma-fang Chiao. The populous nature of this part of Ssŭch'uan is proclaimed on all sides by the infinite care with which every inch of ground is cultivated. Moreover, there was much traffic along the narrow stone-paved way, and many coolies and ponies carrying great bundles of cotton yarn, which has travelled all the way from the