Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/295

Rh only note as to the condition of the road itself between Lao-ya Kuan and Lu-fêng Hsien is—"track abominable." Margary, in his diary of his famous journey from Shanghai to Burma, describes it as outdoing everything he had so far encountered in utter badness. "It is far from being an easy task," he wrote, "to describe the incredible obstacles which are suffered to remain unheeded on this track." Perhaps there was truth in his surmise that the retreating Mohammedans "purposely destroyed the pavement in order to throw difficulties in the way of the Imperial troops." This, however, was thirty-five years ago, and the obstacles are still there.

She-tz'ŭ, a village situated in a well-cultivated plain surrounded by hills, was our halting-place for the night of February 1st. We had travelled as usual across mountain-ranges all day, the only habitations visible consisting of small collections of mud houses that could hardly be dignified by the name of village. We halted at Kuang-t'ung Hsien on the 2nd, and at Ch'u-hsiung Fu on the 3rd. The latter is a small town with a