Page:Frank Owen - Rare Earth, 1931.djvu/168

 beauty Should any warm-hearted bachelor wish, he might furnish himself with a pretty and attractive-looking wife from among the daughters of that sunny clime; but let him make no long stay there if indisposed to marry, unless he can defy the witchery of soft dark eyes, of raven tresses, and of sylph-like forms. It is a spot where leisure seems to sit at every man's doorway; drowsy as the placid sea, and idle as the huge palms, whose broad leaves nod above the old weather-beaten smug-looking houses."

The book contained 546 pages but even so Scobee and Hung Long Tom found it too short. Henry Lansdell's book, although not so picturesque in description, was interesting because it told about inland China.

"We may never get far into the interior of China," said Hung Long Tom, "but it is well that you familiarize yourself with the country and its people. The Gobi Desert is one of the dreariest and most interesting regions in the world. According to legend which present-day exploration is proving true, notably that