Across Asia on a Bicycle by Allen & Sachtleben - Full Audiobook

📖 Synopsis:
Join the remarkable journey in “Across Asia on a Bicycle” by Thomas Gaskell Allen and William Lewis Sachtleben. This audiobook chronicles the adventurous tale of two young American cyclists who embarked on an unprecedented journey across Asia in the late 19th century. Covering thousands of miles on their bicycles, Allen and Sachtleben’s narrative offers a vivid account of their experiences, challenges, and the diverse cultures they encountered. Their story is not just an adventure but a fascinating snapshot of a world on the brink of modernity, making it an essential listen for travel enthusiasts and history buffs alike.

📝 About the Author:
Thomas Gaskell Allen and William Lewis Sachtleben, graduates of Yale University, undertook this extraordinary cycling expedition shortly after completing their studies. Their journey, documented in this work, stands as a testament to their spirit of adventure and curiosity about the world.

📚 Publication Details:
Published in 1894, “Across Asia on a Bicycle” captures the essence of exploration during a time when much of the world was still unknown to many. The book offers unique insights into the regions of Asia at a turning point in history and the early days of long-distance cycling.

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Across Asia on a bicycle by Thomas gasal Allen and William Lewis Satan this volume is made up of a series of sketches describing the most interesting part of a bicycle Journey around the world our ride across Asia we were actuated by no desire to make a record in bicycle travel although we covered

15,44 Mi on the wheel the longest continuous land Journey ever made around the world the day after we were graduated at Washington University St Louis mod we left for New York then we sailed for Liverpool on June 23rd 1890 just 3 years afterward lacking 20 days we rolled into New York on our

Wheels having put a girdle around the earth our bicycling experience began at Liverpool after following many of the beaten lines of travel in the British Isles we arrived in London where we formed our plans for traveling across Europe Asia and America the most dangerous regions to be

Traversed in such a journey we were told were western China the desert of GOI and Central China never since the days of Marco Polo had a European traveler succeeded in crossing the Chinese Empire from the West to Ping crossing the channel we rode through Normandy to Paris across the

Lowland of Western France to Bordeaux Eastward over the Lesser Alps to Marseilles and along the Riviera into Italy after visiting every important city on the peninsula we left Italy at bendi on the last day of 1890 for Corfu in Greece then we traveled to patas proceeding along the Corinthian Gulf to

Athens where we passed the winter we went to Constantinople by vessel in the spring crossed the bosporus in April and began the long journey described in the following pages when we had finally completed our travels in the flowery Kingdom we sailed from Shanghai for Japan then we voyaged to San Francisco

Where we arrived on Christmas night 1892 do 3 weeks later we resumed our bices and wheeled by way of Arizona New Mexico and Texas to New York during all of this journey we never employed the services of guides or interpreters we were compelled therefore to learn a little of the language of

Every country through which we passed our independent in this regard increased perhaps the hardships of the journey but certainly contributed much toward the object we sought a close acquaintance with strange peoples during our travels we took more than 2,500 photographs selections from which are reproduced in the illustrations of this

Volume beyond the bosporus on a morning early in April the Little Steamer conveying us across from stambul touched the warf at Haider Pasha amid the rabble of Greeks Armenians Turks and Italians we trundled our bicycles across the gang plank which for us was the threshold of Asia the beginning of an inland journey

Of 7,000 miles from the bosporus to the Pacific through the morning fog which enveloped the shipping in the Golden Horn the Stars and Stripes at a single Mast head were waving farewell to two American students fresh from college who had nerved themselves for nearly 2 years of separation from the Comforts of Western

Civilization our guide to the road to his mid was the little 12-year-old son of an Armenian doctor whose guests we had been during our sojourn in stambul he trotted for some distance by our side and then pressing our hands in both of his he said with childlike

Sincerity I hope God will take care of you for he was possessed with the thought popular among ouren s of pillages and massacres by marauding bragin the idea of a trip around the world had been conceived by us as a practical finish to a theoretical education and the bicycle feature was

Adopted merely as a memes to that end on reaching London we had formed the plan of penetrating the heart of the Asiatic continent and instead of skirting its more civilized Coastline for a passport and other credentials necessary in journeying through Russia and Central Asia we had been advised to make application to the

Darar representative on our arrival at Tara as we would enter the Russian dominions from Persia and to that end the Russian minister in London had provided us with a letter of of introduction in London the secretary of the Chinese liation a Scotchman had assisted Us in mapping out a possible

Route across the celestial Empire although he endeavored from the very start to dissuade us from our purpose under SW application had then been made to the Chinese Minister himself for the necessary passport the reply we received though courteous smacked strongly of reproof western China he said is overrun

With Lawless bands and the people themselves are very much averse to foreigners your extraordinary mode of locomotion would sub object you to annoyance if not to positive danger at the hands of a people who are naturally curious and superstitious however he added after some reflection if your minister makes a

Request for a passport we will see what can be done the most I can do will be to ask for you the protection and assistance of the officials only for the people themselves I cannot answer if you go into that country you do so at your own

Risk Minister Lincoln was sitting in his private office when we called the next morning at the American legation he listened to the recital of our plans got down the huge Atlas from his bookcase and went over with us the route we proposed to follow he did not regard the undertaking

As feasible and apprehended that if he should give his official assistance he would in a measure be responsible for the result if it should prove unhappy when assured of the consent of our parents and of our determination to make the attempt at all hazards he picked up his pen and began a

Letter to the Chinese Minister remarking as he finished reading it to us I would much rather not have written it the documents received from the Chinese minister in response to Mr Lincoln’s letter proved to be indispensable when a year and a half later we left the last outpost of Western civilization and

Plunged into the GOI desert when we had paid a final visit to the Persian Ministry in London who had asked to see our bicycles and their baggage equipments he signified his intention of writing in our behalf to friends in Taran and to that Capital after cycling through Europe we were now actually on

Route since the opening of the trans bosporus Railway The Wagon Road to is mid and even the angora Military Highway Beyond have fallen rapidly into disrepair in April they were almost impassible for the wheel so that for the greater part of the way we were obliged to take to the

Track like the railway skirting the Italian Riviera and the patra’s Athens line along the ceranic gulf this trans bosphorous Road for a great distance scarps and tunnels The Cliffs along the Gulf of isid and sometimes runs so close to the water’s edge that the puffing of the

Cara Vapor or land steamer as the Turks call it is drowned by The Roaring Breakers the country between scutari and isid surpasses in agricultural advantages any part of Asiatic turkey through which we passed it’s fertile soil and the luxuriant vegetation it supports are as we afterward learned in Striking contrast with the

Sterile plateaus and mountains of the Interior many parts of which are as desolate as the deserts of Arabia in area Asia Minor equals France but the water supply of its rivers is only 1/3 one of the principal agents in the work of transforming Asia Minor is the

Railroad to which the natives have taken with unusual Readiness the locomotives already competing with the 16,000 camels employed in the peninsula Caravan trade at giva the last station on the trans bosporus Railway where we left the track to follow the angora Highway the ships of the desert are

Beginning to transfer their caros to the land steamer instead of continuing on as in former days to the bosporus the trans bosporus line in the year of our visit was being built and operated by a German company under the direct patronage of the sultan we ventured to ask some natives

If they thought the sultan had sufficient funds to consummate so gigantic a scheme and they replied with the deepest rip God has given the pesha much property and power and certainly he must give him enough money to utilize it a week’s cycling from the bosporus brought us beyond the Allah mountains

Among the barren variegated Hills that skirt the angora Plateau we had already passed through isid the ancient nicomedia and capital of Diocesan and had left behind us the heavily timbered Valley of the saaria upon whose Banks the free Booter of the be Ian Hills settled with his 400

Tents and laid the foundation of the Ottoman Empire since leaving G we had been attended by a mounted guard or zapi who was sometimes forced Upon Us by the authorities in their anxiety to carry out the wishes expressed in the letters of the grand vazir on emerging from the door of an

Inn we frequently found this unexpected guard waiting with a Winchester rifle swung over his shoulder and a fleet Steed standing by his side immediately on our appearance he would swing into the saddle and charge through the assembled rabble away we would go at a rapid Pace

Down the streets of the town or Village to the utter amazement of the natives and the great satisfaction of our vain glorious zapy as long as his horse was fresh or until we were out of sight of the village he would urge us on with cries of Dela Buck come on ride

Fast when a bad piece of road or a steep Ascent forced us to Dismount he would bring his horse to a walk roll a cigarette and draw invidious comparison between our Ste his tone however changed when we reached a decline or long stretch of reasonably good

Road then he would cut across country to head us off or shout after us at the top of his voice Yash Yash slowly slowly on the whole we found them good-natured and companionable fellows not withstanding their interest in Shish which we were compelled at last in self-defense to fix at one piaster an

Hour we frequently shared with them our Frugal and even scanty meals and in turn they assisted us in our purchases and arrangements for lodgings for their word we found was with the Common People an almost unwritten law then too they were of great assistance in Crossing streams where the depth

Would have necessitated the stripping of garments or no although their fiery little steeds sometimes objected to having an extra Rider arride their haunches and a bicycle across their shoulders They seized every opportunity to impress us with the necessity of being accompanied by a government representative

In some lonely portion of the road or in the suggestive Stillness of an evening Twilight our Turkish Don kot would sometimes cast mysterious glances around him take his Winchester from his shoulder and throwing it across the pommel of his saddle charge ahead to meet the imaginary enemy

I’m and we were more harmful than harmed for despite our most Vigilant care the bicycles were sometimes the occasion of a stampede or runaway among the Caravans and teams along the highway and we frequently assisted in replacing the loads thus upset on such occasions our pretentious Cavalier would remain on

His horse smoking his cigarette and smiling disdainfully it was in the company of one of these military Champions that we emerged on the morning of April 12 upon the plateau of Angora on the spring pasture we’re feeding several flocks of the famous angor goats and the caram manly or fat-tailed

Sheep tended by the urak Shepherds and their half wild and monstrous Collies whose half Savage nature fits them to cope with the Jackal which infest the country the Shepherds did not check their sudden Onslaught upon us until we were pressed to very close quarters and had drawn our revolvers in

Self-defense these URS are the nomadic portion of the Turkish peasantry they live in caves or rudely constructed Huts shifting their habitation at will or upon the exhaustion of the pasturage their costume is most primitive both in style and material the trousers and caps being made of sheep skin and the tunic of

Plated wheat straw in contradistinction to the urx the settled inhabitants of the country are called Turks that term however ever which means rustic or clown is never used by the Turks themselves except in derision or disdain they always speak of themselves as as manle the great length of the angora

Fleece which sometimes reaches 8 in is due solely to The Peculiar climate of the locality the same goats taken elsewhere have not thriven even the angor dogs and cats are remarkable for the extraordinary length of their fleecy covering on nearing Angora itself we raced at high speed over the undulating

Plateau our zapi on his jaded horse faded away in the dim distance and we saw him no more this was our last guard for many weeks to come as we decided to dispense with an escort that really us but on reaching uram the valley refused us permission to enter the

District of Al lashard without a guard so we were forced to take one we were now on historic ground to our right on the OAS a tributary of the sakaria was the little village of estanis where stood the ancient seed of Midas the frian king and where Alexander

The Great cut with his sword the gordian knot to prove his right to the rulership of the war on the plane over which we were now skimming the great ttar timour fought the memorable battle with bajazet I which resulted in the capture of the Ottoman conqueror since the time that the title

Of Asia applied to the small Coast province of liia this country has been the theater for the grandest events in human history the old mud houses of modern Angora as we rolled into the city contrasted strongly with the cyclopian walls of its ancient Fortress after 2 Days in Ang a we

Diverged from the direct route to cus through uzat so as to visit the city of kaisera through the efforts of the progressive Valley at Angora a macadamized road was in the course of construction to this point a part of which to the town of kerser was already complete although surrounded by unusual

Fertility and luxuriance for for an interior town the low mud houses and treeless streets give kerser that same thirsty and painfully uniform appearance which characterizes every village or city in Asiatic turkey the mud buildings of Babylon and not the marble edifices of Nineveh have served as models for the Turkish

Architect we’ve seen the Turks when making the mud straw bricks used in house building scratched dirt for the purpose from between the marble slabs and boulders that lay in profusion over the ground a few of the government buildings and some of the larger private residences are improved by a coat of

Whitewash and now and then the warm spring showers bring out on the mud roofs a relieving verdure that frequently serves as pasture for the family goat everything is low and contracted especially the doorways when a foreigner bumps his head and demands the reason for such stupid architecture he is met with that

Decisive answer adet custom the most powerful of all influences in turkey and the East our entry into kerser was typical of our reception everywhere when we were seen approaching several Horsemen came out to get a first look at our Strange horses they challenged us to a race and

Set a spanking Pace down into the streets of the town before we reach the can or in we were obliged to Dismount bin bin ride ride went up in a shout Nim can Dale it is impossible we explained in such a jam and the crowd opened up three or 4 feet ahead of

Us binbo caler ride so that we can see they shouted again and some of them rushed up to hold our steeds for us to mount with the greatest difficulty we impressed Upon Our persistent assistance that they could not help us by the time we reached the con the

Crowd had become almost a mob pushing and tumbling over one another and yelling to everyone in sight that the devil’s carts have come the inkeeper came out and we had to assure him that the mob was actuated only by curiosity as soon as the bicycles were over the threshold the doors were bolted

And braced the crowds swarmed to the windows while the kanji prepared coffee we sat down to watch the amusing by play and repar going on around us those who by virtue of their friendship with the kanji were admitted to the room with us began a tirade against the boyish curiosity of their

Less fortunate Brethren on the outside their own curiosity assumed tangible shape our clothing and even our hair and faces were critically examined when we attempted to jot down the day’s events in our notebooks they crowded closer than ever our fountain pen was an additional puzzle to them it was passed around and explained

And commented on at length our camera was a mysterious black box some said it was a telescope about which they had only a vague idea others that it was a box containing our money but our map of Asiatic turkey was to them the most curious thing of

All they spread it on the floor and hovered over it while we pointed to the towns and cities how could we tell where the places were until we had been there how did we even know their name names it was wonderful wonderful we traced for them our own

Journey where we had been and where we were going and then endeavored to show them how by starting from our homes and continuing always in an easterly direction we could at last reach our starting point from the West the more intelligent of them grasp the idea around the world they repeated

Again and again with a mystified expression relief came at last in the person of a messenger from Osman beg the Inspector General of Agriculture of the angora V bearing an invitation to supper I he stated that he had already heard of our undertaking through the Constantinople press us and desired to make our

Acquaintance his note which was written in French showed him to be a man of European education and on shaking hands with him a half hour later we found him to be a man of European origin and Albanian Greek and a cousin of the valley at Angora he said a report had gone out

That two Devils were passing through the country the dinner was one of those in congruous Turkish mixtures of sweet and sour which was by no means relieved by the harrowing Turkish music which our host ground out from an Antiquated hand although it was late when we returned to the con we found everybody

Still up the room in which we were to sleep there was only one room was filled with a crowd of loiterers and tobacco smoke some were playing games similar to our chess and back gamon While others were looking on and smoking the gurgling nargile or water pipe the bicycles had been put away

Under lock and key and the crowd gradually dispersed we lay down in our clothes and tried to lose Consciousness but the Turkish supper the tobacco smoke and the noise of the quarreling gamesters put sleep out of the question at midnight the sudden boom of a cannon reminded us that we were in the

Midst of the Turkish Ramadan the sound of tramping feet the beating of a bass drum and the whining tones of a Turkish bag pipe came over the midnight air nearer it came and louder grew the sound till it reached the Indo where it remained for some time the fast of Ramadan commemorates

The revelation of the Quran to the prophet Muhammad it lasts through the four phases of the Moon from daylight or as the Quran reads from the time you can distinguish a white thread from a black one no good muscle men will eat drink or smoke at midnight the mosques are

Illuminated and bands of music go about the streets all night making a tremendous uproar one Cannon is fired at dusk to announce the time to break the fast by eating supper another at midnight to arouse the people for the preparation of breakfast and still another at daylight as a signal for resuming the

Fast this of course is very hard on the poor man who has to work during the day one as a precaution against oversleeping a Watchman goes about just before Daybreak and makes a rousing clatter at the Gate of every muscleman house to warn him that if he wants anything to

Eat he must get it instant our roommates evidently intended to make an all night of it for they forth with commenced the preparation of their morning meal do how it was dispatched we do not know for we fell asleep and were only awakened by the muin on a neighboring

Menoret calling to morning prayer our morning ablutions were usually made Al Turk by having water poured upon the hands from a spouted vessel cleanliness is with the Turk perhaps more than ourselves the next thing to Godliness but his ideas are based upon a very different Theory although he uses no soap for

Washing either his person or his clothes yet he considers himself much cleaner than the grr for the reason that he uses running water exclusively never allowing the same particles to touch him the second time a Turk believes that all water is purified after running 6

Fet as a test of his faith we have often seen him lading up drinking water from a stream where the women were washing clothes just a few yards above as all cooking and eating had stopped at the sound of the morning Cannon we found great difficulty in gathering together even a cold breakfast

Of ecme yart and raisins ecme is a cooked brand flour paste which has the thinness consistency and almost the taste of blotting paper this is the Turkish peasants staff of life he carries it with him everywhere so did we as it was made in huge circular

Sheets we would often punch a hole in the middle and slip it up over our arms this we found the handiest and most serviceable mode of transportation being handy to eat without removing our hands from the handlebars and also answering the purpose of sales in case of a favoring

Wind yort another almost Universal food is milk curdled with renit oh this as well as all foods that are not liquid they scoop up with a roll of ecme a part of the scoop being taken with every mouthful raisins here as well as in many other parts of the country are very

Cheap we paid two piasters about 9 cents for an OA 22 lb but we soon made the discovery that a Turkish oay contained a great many stones which of course was purely accidental eggs also we found exceedingly cheap on one occasion 25 were set before

Us in response to our call for eggs to the value of one piaster 42 cents in Asiatic turkey we had some extraordinary dishes served to us in including daintily prepared leeches but the worst mixture perhaps was the Barum soup which contains over a dozen ingredients including peas prunes walnuts cherries dates white

And black beans apricots cracked wheat raisins Etc all mixed in cold water Barum is the period of feasting after the Ramadan fast on preparing to leave kerser after our Frugal breakfast we found that Turkish curiosity had extended even to the contents of our baggage which fitted in the frames of the

Machines there was nothing missing however and we did not lose so much as a button during our sojourn among them thieving is not one of their faults but they take much latitude in helping themselves many a Time an inkeeper would help us out by disposing of onethird of

A chicken that we had paid him a high price to prepare when we were ready to start the chief of police cleared a riding Space through the streets which for an hour had been filled with people as we passed among them they shouted o rugler Olsen May Good Fortune attend you

Inala if it please God we replied and waved our helmets in acknowledgement at the Village of tacle on the following night our reception was not so innocent and good-natured it was already dust when we reached the outskirts of the village where we were at once spied by a young

Man who was driving in the loow her the alarm was given and the people swarmed like so many rats from a corn bin we could see from their costume and features that they were not pure blooded Turks we asked if we could get food and lodging to which they

Replied EV EV it yes yes but when we asked them where they simply pointed ahead and shouted bin bin bin we did not bin this time because it was too dark and the streets were bad we walked or rather were pushed Along by the impatient rabble and almost

Deafened by their shouts of Bin Benin at the end of The Village we repeated our question of where again they pointed ahead and shouted bin finally an old man led us to what seemed to be a private residence where we had to drag our bicycles up a dark narrow Stairway to the second

Store the crowd soon filled the room to Suffocation and were not disposed to heed our request to be left alone one stalwart youth showed such a spirit of opposition that we were obliged to eject him upon a crowded stairway causing the mob to go down like a row of 10

Pins then the owner of the house came in and in an agitated manner declared he could not allow us to remain in his house overnight our reappearance caused a jering shout to go up from the crowd but no violence was attempted Beyond The Catching hold of the rear

Wheel when our backs were turned and the throwing of clouds of Earth they followed us on mass to the edge of the village and there stopped short to watch us till we disappeared in the darkness the knights at this High Al altitude were chilly we had no blankets and not enough

Clothing to Warrant a camp among the rocks there was not a twig on the whole Plateau with which to build a fire we were alone however and that was rest in itself after walking an hour perhaps we saw a light gleaming from a group of mud Huts a short distance off the

Road from the numerous flocks around it we took it to be a shepherd’s Village everything was quiet except the Restless sheep whose silky fleece glistened in the light of the Rising Moon peer was not yet over for we caught a whiff of its Savory odor leaving our Wheels outside we

Entered the first door we came to and following along a narrow passageway emerged into a room where four rather roughl looking Shepherds were ladling the soup from a huge Bowl in their midst before they were aware of our presence we uttered the usual salutations saala care

ALS this start some little boys who were playing in the corner who yelled and ran to the Haram look or our women’s apartment this brought to the door the female occupants who also uttered a shriek and sunk back as if in a swoon it was evident that the visits of

Gor to this place had been few and far between the Shepherds returned our salutation with some hesitation while their ladles dropped into the soup and their gaze became fixed on our huge helmets our dog skin top coats and abbreviated nether garments women by this time had sufficiently recovered from their

Nervous shock to give scope to their usual curiosity through the cracks in the partition confidence now being inspired by our own composure we were invited to sit down and participate in the evening meal although it was only a GRL of sour milk and rice we managed to make a meal off

It meantime the wheels had been discovered by some passing neighbor the news was spread throughout the village and soon an excited throng came in with our bicycles borne upon the shoulders of two powerful Turks then we were besieged with int treaties to ride and hoping that this

Would gain for us a comfortable night’s rest we yielded and amid peels of laughter from a crowd of Turkish peasants gave an exhibition in the Moonlight our only Ward when we returned to our quarters was two greasy pillows and a filthy carpet for a coverlet but the much needed rest we did

Not secure for the suspicions aroused by the first glance at our bed cover proved to be well grounded about noon on April 20th our road turned abruptly into the broad Caravan trail that runs between Smyrna and Kaiser about 10 Mi west of the latter City a long Caravan of camels was moving

Majestically up the road headed by a little donkey which the dividi camel driver was riding with his feet dangling almost to the ground that proverbially stubborn creature moved not a muscle until we came along side when all at once he gave one of his characteristic side lurches and precipitated the Rider to the

Ground the first camel with a protesting grunt began to Sidle off and the broadside movement continued down the line till the whole Caravan stood at an angle of about 45 Dees to the road the camel of Asia Minor does not share that antipathy for the equin species which is so General among their

Asiatic cousins but steel horses were more than even they could endure a sudden turn in the road now brought us in sight of old arish da which Towers 13,000 ft above the city of kaiseri and whose head and shoulders were covered with snow native tradition tells us that

Against this lofty Summit the Ark of Noah struck in the rising FL blood and for this reason Noah cursed it and prayed that it might ever be covered with snow it was in connection with this very Mountain that we first conceived the idea of making the ascent of

Ararat here and there on some of the most prominent Peaks we could distinguish little mounds of Earth the ruined Watchtower of the prehistoric hites kisarah ancient caesaria is filled with the ruins and the monuments of the 14th century celix arrowheads and other relics are every day on Earth there to serve as

Toys for the street urchins since the development of steam communication around the coast it is no longer the Caravan Center that it us used to be but even now its chy or enclosed bazaars are among the finest in Turkey being far superior in appearance to those of Constantinople these chy are nothing

More than narrow streets enclosed by Brick arches and lined on either side with booths it was through one of these that our only root to the con lay and yet we felt that in such contracted quarters and in such an excited mob as had gathered around us disaster was sure to

Follow our only salvation was to keep ahead of the jam and get through as soon as possible we started on the spurt I’m and the race began the unsuspecting merchants and their customers were suddenly distracted from their thoughts of gain as we Whirled by the crowd close behind sweeping everything before

It the falling of barrels and boxes the rattling of tin cans the crashing of Crockery the howling of the vagrant dogs that were trampled underfoot only added to the general tumult through the courtesy of Mr Pete of the American Bible house at Constantinople we were provided with letters of

Introduction to the missionaries at Kaiser as well as elsewhere along our route through Asiatic turkey and upon them we also had drafts to the amount of our deposit made at the Bible house before starting besides we owed much to the hospitality and kindness of these people the most striking feature of the

Missionary work at queseria is the education of the Armenian women whose social position seems to be even more degraded than that of their Turkish sisters with the native Armenians as with the Turks fleshiness adds much to the price of a wife the wife of a missionary is to them an

Object both of wonderment and contempt as she walks along the street they will whisper to one another there goes a woman who knows all her husband’s business and who can manage just as well as himself this will generally be followed in an undertone by the expression madana satana which means incommon parl a

Female devil at first it was a struggle to overcome this ignorant Prejudice and to get girls to come to the school free of charge now it is hard to find room for them even when they are asked to pay for their tuition the costume of the Armenian woman is

Generally of some bright colored cloth pretty trimmed her qua always elaborate sometimes includes a string of gold coins encircling the head or strung down the plat a silver belt incloses the waist and a necklace of coins calls attention to her pretty neck when washing clothes by the stream they

Frequently show a gold ring encircling an ankle in the Simplicity of their costumes as well as in the fact that they do not expose the face the Turkish women stand in strong contrast to The Armenian baggy trousers a la Bloomer a loose robe skirt opening at the sides

And a voluminous Shaw like girdle around the waist and body constitute the main features of the Turkish indoor costume on the street a shroud likee robe called yashmak usually white but sometimes Crimson purple or black covers them from head to foot when we would meet a bevy of these

Creatures on the road in the dusk of evening their white fluttering garments would give them the appearance of wed celestials the Turkish women are generally timorous of men and especially so of foreigners those of the rural districts however are not so shy as their City cousins we frequently met them at work

In groups about the villages or in the Open Fields and would sometimes ask for a drink of water if they were a party of Maidens as was often the casee they would draw back and hide behind one another we would offer one of them a ride on our very nice

Horses this would cause a general giggle among her Companions and a drawing of the yashmak closer about the neck and face the road scenes in the interior provinces are but little varied one of the most characteristic features of the Anatolian landscape are the stores which come in flocks of thousands

From their winter quarters in Egypt and build summer nests unmolested on the village housetops these like the crows magpies and swallows prove valuable allies to the husband men in their war against the Loc a still more serviceable friend in this direction is the smar a pink thrush with black

Wings besides the various Caravan trains of camels donkeys horses and mules the road is frequently dotted with Ox carts run on solid wooden Wheels without tires and drawn by that peculiar Bine species the buffalo with their distended necks elevated snouts and hog like bristles these animals present an ugly appearance

Especially when wallowing in mud puddles now and then in the villages we passed by A Primitive flower Mill moved by a small stream playing Upon A horizontal wheel beneath the floor or more primitive still by a blindfolded donkey plotting ceaselessly around in his C circular path in the streets we frequently encountered boys

And old men Gathering manure for their winter Fuel and now and then a or invalid would accost us as hkim doctor for the medical work of the missionaries has given these simple-minded folk the impression that all foreigners are Physicians coming up and extending a hand for us to feel the

Pulse they would ask us to do something for the disease which we could see was rapidly carrying them to the gra our first view of cus was obtained from the top of Mount yildo on which still stands the ruined castle of mithradates the ponan Monarch whom lucullus many times defeated but never

Conquered from this point we made a very rapid descent crossed the kizzle irac for the third time by an old ruined bridge and half an hour later saw the Stars and Stripes flying above the US Consulate in the Society of our representative Mr Henry mjet we were destined to spend several

Weeks for a day or two after our arrival one of us was taken with a slight attack of typhoid fever supposed to have been contracted by drinking from the roadside streams no better place could have been chosen for such a mishap for Recovery was Speedy in such comfortable quarters under the care of

The missionary ladies the comparative size and prosperity of cus in the midst of rather Barren surroundings are explained by the fact that it lies at the converging point of the chief Caravan Roots between the ukine Euphrates and Mediterranean besides being the capital of Rumi the former sujuk province of

Capid doia it is the place of residence for a French and American Consular representative and an agent of the Russian government for the collection of the war Indemnity stipulated in the Treaty of 78 the Dignity of office is here upheld with something of the pump and Splendor

Of the East even by the representative of democratic America in our tours with Mr JT we were escorted at the head by a circassian cavis Turkish police clothed in a long black coat with a huge dagger dangling from a belt of cartridges another native cavis with a broadsword dragging at his side usually

Brought up the rear at night he was the one to carry the huge Lantern which according to the number of candles is the Insignia of rank I must give the Turks what they want said the consul with a twinkle in his eye form and red

Tape I would not be a console in their eyes if I didn’t e to illustrate the formality of Turkish etiquette he told this story a Turk was once engaged in Saving furniture from his burning home when he he noticed that a bystander was rolling a cigarette he immediately stopped in his

Hurry struck a match and offered a light the most flagrant example of Turkish formality that came to our notice was the following address on an official document to the sultan the Arbiter the absolute the soul and body of the universe the father of all the sovereigns of the earth his Excellency the eagle

Monarch the cause of the never changing order of things the source of all honor the son of the Sultan of Sultans under whose feet we are dust whose awful Shadow protects us Abdul hammed thei tardos son of Abdul maid whose residence is in Paradise our glorious Lord to whose

Sacred body be given health and strength and endless days whom Allah keeps in his Palace and on his throne with joy and Glory forever amen this is not the flattery of a cringing subordinate for the same spirit is revealed in an address by the sultan himself to his Grand vizer most honored

Vizer maintainer of the good order of the world World director of public affairs with wisdom and Judgment accomplisher of the important transactions of mankind with intelligence and good sense consolidator of the edifice of Empire and of Glory endowed by the most high with abundant gifts and at this time of my gate of

Felicity my visir mhmed Pasha may God be pleased to preserve him long in exalted dignity though the Turks cannot be called lazy yet they like to take their time patience they say belongs to God hurry to the devil nowhere is this so well Illustrated as in the manner of shopping in

Turkey this was brought particularly to our notice when we visited the cus bazaars to examine some inlaid silverware for which the place is celebrated the customer stands in the street inspecting the articles on exhibition the merchant sits on his heels on the booth floor if the customer is of some position in

Life he climbs up and sits down on a level with the merchant if he is a foreigner the merchant is quite differential a merchant is not a merchant at all but a host entertaining a guest coffee is served then in a cigarette rolled up and handed to the guest while the various

Social and other local topics are freely discussed after coffee and smoking the question of purchase is gradually approached I been well da so why a bit not abruptly as that would involve a loss of dignity but circumspectly as if the buying of anything were a mere afterthought maybe after half an hour

The customer has indicated what he wants and after discussing the quality of the goods the customer asks the price in an off-hand way as though he weren’t not particularly interested the merchant replies oh whatever your highness pleases or I shall be proud if your highness will do me the honor to accept

It as a gift this means nothing whatever and is merely the introduction to the haggling which is sure to follow the seller with silken manners and Brazen countenance will always name a price four times as large as it should be then the real business Begins the buyer offers 1/2 or 1/4 of

What he finally expects to pay and a war of words in a blustering tone leads up to the close of this everyday farce the Superstition of the Turks is nowhere so apparent as in their fear of the evil eye jugs placed around the edge of the

Roof or an old shoe filled with garlic and blue beats Blu glass balls or rings are a sure guard against this illusion whenever a pretty child is playing upon the street the passers by Will say oh what an ugly child for fear of inciting the evil spirit against its

Beauty The Peasant classes in Turkey are of course the most superstitious because they are the most ignorant they have no education whatever and can neither read nor write stambul is the only great City of which they know Paris is a term signifying the whole outside world an American missionary was once

Asked in what part of Paris is America yet it can be said they are generally honest and always patient they earn from about 6 to 8 cents a day this will furnish them with ecme and PF and that is all they expect the tax gatherer is their only

Grievance they look upon him as a necessary evil they have no idea of being ground down under the oppressor iron heel yet they are happy because they are contented and have no Envy the poorer the more ignorant a Turk is the better he seems to be as he gets money and power and

Becomes contaminated ated by Western Civilization he deteriorates a resident of 20 years experience said in the lowest classes I have sometimes found truth honesty and gratitude in the middle classes seldom in the highest never the corruptibility of the Turkish official is almost proverbial but such is to be expected in

The land where the public treasury is regarded as a sea and who does not drink of it as a pig peculation and malversation are fully expected in the public official they are necessary evils ad custem has made them so offices are sold to the highest bidder the Turkish official is one of

The politest and most agreeable of men he is profused in his compliments but he has no conscience as to bribes and little regard for virtue as its own reward we are glad to be able to record a brilliant though perhaps theoretical exception to this general rule at kisar

On our way from cus to kisar a delay was caused by a rather serious break in one of our bicycles in the interval we were the invited guests of a district caddy a venerable looking and genial Old Gentleman whose acquaintance we had made in an official visit on the previous day

As he was then the acting kamak cam mayor his house was situated in a neighboring Valley in the shadow of a towering Bluff we were ushered into the Salam or guest apartment in company with an Armenian friend who had been educated as a doctor in America and who had

Consented to act as interpreter for the occasion batti entered with a smile on his countenance and made the usual picturesque form of salutation by describing the figure three with his right hand from the floor to his forehead perhaps it was because he wanted to be polite that he said he had

Enjoyed our company on the previous day and had determined if possible to have a more extended conversation with the usual coffee and cigarettes the caddy became informal and chatty he was evidently a firm believer in predestination as he remarked that God had for ordained our trip to that

Country even the food we were to eat and the invention of the extraordinary cart on which we were to ride the idea of such a journey in such a peculiar way was not to be accredited to the Ingenuity of man there was a purpose in it

All when we ventured to thank him for his Hospitality toward two strangers and even foreigners he said that this world occupied so small a space in God’s Dominion that we could well afford to be brothers one to another in spite of our individual beliefs and opinions we may have different religious

Beliefs said he but we all belong to the same great father of humanity just as children of different complexions dispositions and intellects may belong to one common parent we should exercise reason always and have charity for other people’s opinions from charity the conversation naturally turned to Justice we were much interested in his

Opinion on this subject as that of a Turkish judge and rather highish Justice said he should be administered to the humblest person though a king should be the offending party all alike must yield to the sacred law of Justice we must account to God for our acts and not to

Men the regular route from cus to to zeram passes through ersen John from this however we diverged at Zara in order to visit the city of kisar and the neighboring liesy mines which had been pioneered by the genoise explorers and were now being worked by a party of Englishmen this Divergence on to

Unbeaten paths was made at a very inopportune Seas season for the Rainy spell set in which lasted with scarcely any intermission for over a fortnight at the base of casid Da which stands upon the Watershed between the two largest rivers of Asia Minor the kizel her and yesel herac our

Road was blocked by a m Mountain Fresh it which at its height washed everything before it we spent a day and night on its Bank in A Primitive flower Mill which was so far removed from domestic life that we had to send three miles up in the mountains to get something to

Eat the yesel irac which we crossed just before reaching kahar was above our shoulders as we waited through holding our bicycles in baggage over our head while the Swift Current rolled the small Boulders against us and almost knocked us off our feet there were no bridges in this part of the

Country with horses and wagons the rivers were usually fordable and what more would you want with the Turk as with all asiatics it it is not a question of what is better but what will do long before we reached a stream the inhabitants of a certain town or Village

Would gather round and with troubled countenances say Christian gentlemen there is no Bridge pointing to the river Beyond and graphically describing that it was over our horses heads that would settle it they thought it never occurred to them that a Christian gentleman could take off his clothes and wait I

Would sometimes as we walked along in the mud the wheels of our bicycles would become so clogged that we could not even push them before us in such a case we would take the nearest shelter whatever it might be the night before reaching kisar we entered an abandoned stable from which

Everything had fled except the fleas another night was spent in the pine forests just on the border between Asia Minor and Armenia which were said to be the haunts of the Border robbers our surroundings could not be relieved by a fire for fear of attracting their attention when at last we reached the

Trabis and uram Highway at by boot the contrast was so great that the scaling of kopda on its comparatively smooth surface was a mere breakfast spill from here we looked down for the first time into the valley of the historic Euphrates and a few hours later we were skimming over its bottom lands

Toward the embattled heights of zeram as we neared the city some Turkish peasants in the fields caught sight of us and shouted to their companions Russians Russians there they are two of them this was not the first time we had been taken for the subjects of the

Zar the the whole country seem to be in dread of them Isam is the capital of that District which Russia will no doubt demand if the stipulated War Indemnity is not paid the entrance into the city was made to twist and turn among the ramparts so

As to avoid a rush in case of an attack but this was no proof against a surprise in the case of the noiseless wheel and we dashed with a roaring wind past the affrighted guards and were 50 yards away before they could collect their scattered senses then suddenly it dawned upon them

That we were human beings and foreigners besides perhaps even the dreaded Russian spies they took after us at full speed but it was too late before they reached us we were in the house of the common Pasha the military Governor to whom we had a letter of introduction from our Consul at

Cus that gentleman we found extremely good-natured he laughed heartily at our Escapade with the guards nothing would do but we must visit the valley the Civil governor who was also a Pasha of considerable reputation and influence we had intended but not so soon to pay an official visit to the

Volley to present our letter from the Grand viser and to ask his permission to proceed to bazid when we had planned to attempt the ascent of Mount Ararat an experience which will be described in the next chapter a few days before we heard a similar application had been made by an

English traveler from Baghdad but owing to certain suspicions the permission was refused it was with no little concern therefore that we approached the valis private office in company with his French interpreter circumstances augured ill at the very start the valley was evidently in a bad humor for we overheard him storming in a

High key at someone in the room with him as we passed under the heavy matted curtains the two attendants who were holding them up cast a rather horrified glance at our Dusty shoes in unconventional costume the valley was sitting in a large L armchair in front of a very

Small desk placed at the far end of a vacant looking room after the usual salams he motioned to a seat on the Divan and proceeded at once to examine our credentials while we sipped at our coffee and whiffed the small cigarettes which were immediately served this furnished the valley an

Opportunity to regain his usual composure he was evidently an autocrat of a severest type if we pleased him it would be all right if we did not it would be all wrong we showed him everything we had from our Chinese passport to the little photographic camera and related some of

The most amusing incidents of our journey through his country from the numerous questions he asked we felt certain of his genuine interest and were more than pleased to see an occasional broad smile on his countenance well said he as we Rose to take leave your passports will be ready anytime after

Tomorrow in the meantime I shall be pleased to have your horses quartered and fed at government expense this was a big joke for a Turk and assured us of his goodwi a bicycle exhibition which the valley had requested was given the morning of our departure for bazid on a

Level stretch of road just outside the city several missionaries and members of the consulates had gone out in carriages and formed a little group by themselves we rode up with the stars and stripes and star and crescent fluttering side by side from the handlebars it was always our custom

Especially on diplomatic occasions to have a little flag of the country associated with that of our own this little Arrangement evoked a smile from from the valy who when the exhibition was finished stepped forward and said I am satisfied I am pleased his richly caparisoned white charger was now brought

Up leaping into the saddle he waved us goodbye and moved away with his sweet toward the city we ourselves remained for a few moments to bid good bye to our hospitable friends and then once more continued our journey toward the East to Tas the ascent of Mount Ararat according

To tradition Mount AR is the scene of two of the most important events in the history of the human race in the sacred land of Eden which Armenian Legend places at its base the first of human life was born and on its solitary Peak the last

Of human life was saved from an all destroying flood the remarkable geographical position of this mountain seems to justify The Armenian view that it is the center of the world it is on the longest line drawn through the old world from the Cape of Good Hope to bearing straight

It is also on the line of the great deserts and Inland Seas stretching from Gibralter to Lake Bal in Siberia a line of continuous depressions it is equidistant from the black and Caspian seas and the Mesopotamian plain which three depressions are now watered by three distinct river systems emanating from ararat’s immediate

Vicinity no other region has seen or heard so much of a story of mankind in its Grim presence empires have come and gone cities have risen and Fallen human life has soared up on the wings of Hope and dashed against the rocks of despair to the irat presents a gently

Inclined slope of sand and Ashes Rising into a belt of green another zone of black volcanic rocks streak with snow beds and then a glittering crest of silver from the burning desert at its base to the icy Pinnacle above it rises through a vertical distance of 13,000 ft

There are but few peaks in the world that rise So High 177,000 250 ft above sea level from so low a plane 2,000 ft on the Russian and 4,000 ft on the Turkish side and which therefore present so Grand a spectacle unlike many of the world’s mountains it stands alone little erat

12,840 ft above sea level and the other still smaller Heights that dot the plane only serve as a standard by which to measure a rat’s immensity and grander little error at is the meeting point or Cornerstone of three great Empires on its conical Peak converge the

Dominions of the SAR the sultan and the Sha the Russian borderline runs from Little ararad along the High Ridge which separates it from Great Ararat through the peak of the ladder and onward a short distance to the Northwest then turns sharply to the West on the sir darac path between great

And little aarat is stationed a handful of Russian cacs to remind Lawless tribes of the guardianship of the white Sultan the two aats together form an elliptical Mass about 25 mi in length running Northwest and Southeast and about half that in width out of this massive base rise the

Two Ararat Peaks their bases being contiguous up to 8,800 Ft and their tops about 7 mes apart Volus dot little aat is an almost perfect truncated cone while great Ararat is more of a broad shouldered Dome supported by strong rough ribbed buttresses the isolated position of Ararat its structure of ous rocks the

Presence of small craters and immense volcanic fissures on its slopes and the scorer and ashes on the surrounding plain establish Beyond a doubt its volcanic origin but according to the upheaval theory of the eminent geologist Herman AB who was among the few to make the ascent of the

Mountain there never was a great Central crater and either great or little aat certain it is that no craters or signs of craters now exist on the summit of either Mountain but Mr James Bryce who made the last Ascent in 1876 seems to think that there is no

Sufficient reason why craters could not have previously existed and been filled up by their own eruptions there is no record of any eruption in historical times B the only thing approaching it was was the earthquake which shook the mountain in 1840 accompanied by Subterranean Rumblings and destructive blasts of

Wind the Tatar Village of aruri and a Kurdish encampment on the northeast slope were entirely destroyed by the precipitated rocks not a man was left to tell the story Mr Bryce and others have spoken of the astonishing height of the snow line on Mount Ararat which is placed at 14,000

Ft while in the Alps it is only about 9,000 ft and in the Caucasus on an average 11,000 ft although they lie in a very little higher latitude they assign as a reason for this the exceptionally dry region in which Ararat is situated Mr Bryce ascended the mountain

On September 12th when the snow line was at its very highest the first large snow bed he encountered being at 12,000 ft our own Ascent being made as early as July 4th in fact the earliest ever recorded we found some snow as low as 8,000 ft and large beds at 10,500

Ft the top of little Ararat was still at that time streak with snow but not covered with so many extensive snow beds one would naturally expect to find copious Brooks and streams flowing down the mountain into the plain but owing to the porous and dry nature of the soil the water is entirely

Lost before reaching the base of the mountain a even as early as July we saw no stream below 6,000 ft and even Above This height the mountain freshets frequently flowed far beneath the surface under the Loosely packed rocks bidding Defiance to our efforts to reach them not withstanding the scarcity of

Snow freshets there is a middle Zone on Mount Ararat extending from about 5,000 ft to 9,000 th000 FT elevation which is covered with good pasturage kept green by heavy Dees and frequent showers the hot air begins to rise from the desert plain as the morning sun peeps Over the Horizon and continues

Through the day this warm current striking against the snow covered Summit is condensed into clouds and moisture in Consequence the top of erat is usually during the summer months at least obscured by clouds from sometime after Dawn until sunset on the last day of our Ascent however we were particularly fortunate

In having a clear Summit until 1 15 in the afternoon among the Crags of the upper slope are found only a few specimens of the wild goat and sheep and lower down the fox wolf and Lynx the bird and insect life is very scanty but lizards and scorpions

Especially on the lowest slopes are abundant the rich pasturage of aer’s middle Zone attracts pastoral Kurdish tribes these nomadic Shepherds a few tatters at new aruri and a camp of Russian cacs at The Well of sarac are the only human beings to disturb the quiet Solitude of this grandest of Nature’s

Sanctuaries the first recorded Ascent of Mount Ararat was in 1829 by Dr Frederick parrot a Russo German professor in the University of dpad dot dot he reached the summit with a Party of Three Armenians and two Russian soldiers after two unsuccessful attempts his Ascent however was doubted

Not only by the people in the neighborhood but by many men of Science and position in the Russian Empire not withstanding his clear account which has been confirmed by subsequent observers and in spite of the testimony of the two Russian soldiers who had gone with him one two of the Armenians who reached

The summit with him declared that they had gone to a great height but at the point where they had left off had seen much higher tops Rising around this thereupon became the opinion of the whole country after Antonoff in 183 the geologist made his valuable Ascent in

1845 he reached the Eastern Summit which is only a few feet lower than the Western and only a few minutes walk from it but was obliged to return at once on account of the threatening weather when he produced his companions as Witnesses before the authorities at irvan they turned against

Him and solemnly swore that at the point which they had reached a higher Peak stood between them in the western Horizon this strengthened The Armenian belief in the inaccessibility of Ararat which was not dissipated when the Russian military engineer General scho and an English party made the ascent in

1856 nor were their prejudiced Minds convinced by the ascent of Mr Bryce 20 years later in 1876 two days after his Ascent that gentleman paid a visit to the Armenian Monastery at eagin and was presented to the Aram andri as the Englishmen who had just ascended to the top of

Mesus no said the ecclesiastical dignitary that cannot be no one has ever been there it is impossible Mr Bryce himself says I am persuaded that there is not a person living within sight of Ararat unless it be some exceptionally educated Russian official at irvan who believes that any human foot

Since father Noah has trodden that sacred Summit so much stronger is Faith than sight or rather so much stronger is Prejudice than evidence we had expected on our arrival in bazid to find in waiting for us a Mr Richardson and an American missionary from [Laughter] arum 2 years later on our arrival home

We received a letter explaining that on his way from Van he had been captured by Kurdish brigands and held a prisoner until released through the intervention of the British ccil at öz it was some such fate as this that was predicted for us should we ever attempt the ascent of

Mount Ararat through the Lawless Kurdish tribes upon its slopes our first Duty therefore was to see the mutas serif of bayazid to whom we bore a letter from the grand vizer of turkey in order to ascertain what protection and assistance he would be willing to give

Us we found with him a circassian who belonged to the Russian camp at s darolac on the erat pass and who accompanied General chatko on his Ascent of the mountain in 1856 both both he and the mutas serif thought an Ascent so early in the year was

Impossible that we ought not to think of such a thing until two months later it was now 6 weeks earlier than the time of General catco’s Ascent August 11 to 18th then the earliest on record they both strongly recommended the Northwestern slope as being more gradual dotwa this is the one that parrot

Ascended in 1829 and where AB was repulsed on his third attempt AB was repulsed on his third attempt though entirely inex experienced in mountain climbing we ourselves thought that the southeast slope the one taken by General chco the English party and Mr Bryce was far more feasible for a small

Party one thing however the mutas serif was determined upon we must not approach the mountain without an escort of Turkish zapis as an emblem of government prote ction besides he would send for the chief of the Ararat Kurds and Endeavor to arrange with him for our safety and guidance up the mountain

Why as we emerged into the streets an Armenian Professor Gravely shook his head ah said he you will never do it then dropping his voice he told us that those other ascents were all fictitious that the summit of Maus had never yet been reached except by

Noah and that we were about to attempt what was an utter impossibility in bayazid we could not procure even proper wood for alpen stocks Willow branches 2 in thick very dry and brittle were the best we could obtain light as this wood is the alpen stocks weighed at least 7 lb a piece

When the iron Hooks and points were riveted on at the ends by the native blacksmith for whom we cut paper patterns of the exact size for everything we wanted we next headed large Nails driven into the soles of our shoes by a local Shoemaker who made them for us by hand

Out of an Old English file and who wanted to pull them all out again because we would not pay him the exorbitant price he demanded in buying Provisions for the Expedition we spent 3 hours among the half dilapidated bazaars of the town which have never been in repaired since the disastrous Russian

Bombard the most difficult task perhaps in our work of preparation was to strike a bargain with an Armenian muleteer to carry our food and baggage up the mountain on his two little donkeys evening came and no word from either the mutas shif or the Kurdish Chief although we were EX extremely

Anxious to set off on the Expedition before bad weather set in we must not be in a hurry for the military governor of kak Kissa was now the guest of the muut serif and it would be an interference with his social duties to try to see him until after his guest had

Departed on the tomorrow we were sitting in our small dingy room after dinner when a cavalcade hastened up to our Inn and a few minutes later we were surprised to hear ourselves addressed in our native tongue before us stood a dark complexioned young man and at his side a

Small wiry Old Gentleman who proved to be a native Austrian ties who followed the profession of an artist in Paris he was now making his way to aravan in Russia on a site seeing tour from trisand His companion was a Greek from salonica who had lived for several years

In London once he had departed not many weeks before for to herin Persia these two Travelers had met in Constantinople and the young Greek who could speak English Greek and Turkish had been acting as interpreter for the artist they had heard of the devil’s carts when in Van and it made straight

For our Quarters on their arrival in bazid at this point they were to separate when we learned that the Old Gentleman ignes raffle by name was a member of an Alpine club and an experienced mountain climber we urged him to join in the Ascent though his shoulders were Bent by

The cares and Troubles of 63 years we finally induced him to accompany our party cana the Greek reluctantly agreed to do likewise and proved to be an excellent interpreter but a poor climber the following morning we paid the mutas serif a second visit with Cana as interpreter in as much as the Kurdish

Chief had not arrived the mutas serif said he would make us bearers of a letter to him two zap were to accompany us in the morning While others were to go ahead and announce our Approach at 10 minutes of 11: on the morning of the second of July our small

Cavalcade with the two exasperating donkeys at the head Laden with mats bags of Provisions extra clothing alpen stocks spiked shoes and coils of stout rope filed down the streets of bid followed by a curious rabble as bayazid lies hidden behind a projecting spur of the mountains we

Could obtain no view of the peak itself until we had tramped some distance out on the plane its huge giant mass broke upon us all at once we stopped and looked and looked again no mountain peak we have seen though several have been higher has ever inspired the feeling which filled us

When we looked for the first time upon towering Ararat we had not proceeded far before we descried a party of Kurdish Horsemen approaching from the mountain K what arap Advanced rather cautiously to meet them with rifles thrown across the pommels of their Saddles after a rather mysterious parley arap signaled that all was

Well on coming up they reported that these Horsemen belong to the party that was friendly to the Turkish government kir the Kurds they said were at this time divided among themselves a portion of them having adopted conciliatory measures with the government and the rest holding aloof but we rather considered their

Little performance as a scheme to extort a little more Backes for their necessary presence the plane we were now on was was drained by a tributary of the Aries River a small stream reached after 2 hours steady tramping from the bordering hillocks we emerged in a short time upon another

Vast Plateau which stretched far away in a gentle rise to the base of the mountain itself nearby we discovered a lone Willow Tree the only one in the whole sweep of our vision under the gracious foliage of which sat a band of Kurds retired from the heat of the

Afternoon sun their horses feeding on some swamp grass near at hand attracted by this sign of water we drew near and found a copious spring a few words from the zaps who had Advanced among them seemed to put the Kurds at their ease though they did not by any means appease their

Curiosity they invited us to partake of their Frugal lunch of ecme and goats milk cheese our clothes and baggage were discussed piece by piece with loud expressions of mert until one of us arose and stealing behind the group snapped the cam what was that said a Burly member of the group as

He looked around with scowling face at his companions yes what was that they echoed and then made a rush for the manipulator of the black box which they evidently took for some instrument of the black art oh black the photographer stood serenely innocent and winked at the zapi to give the proper

Explanation he was equal to the occasion that said he is an instrument for taking time by the Sun at this the Box went the round each one gazing intently into the lens then scratching his head and casting a bewildered look at his nearest neighbor we noticed that every one of

About us was armed with knife revolver and Martini rifle a belt of cartridges surrounding his waist it occurred to us that turkey was adopting a rather poor method of clipping the wings of these Mountain Birds by selling them the very best equipments for war legally none but government guards are permitted to carry

Arms and yet both guns and ammunition are sold in the bazaars of almost almost every city of the Turkish Dominion the existence of these people in their wild semi-independent State shows not so much the power of the Kurds as the weakness of the Turkish government which desires to use a people

Of so Fierce a reputation for the suppression of its other subjects after half an hour’s rest we prepared to De camp and so did our Kurdish companions they were soon in their Saddles and Galloping away in front of us with their arms clanking and glittering in the afternoon

Sunlight at the spring we had turned off the trail that led over the SDAR buac pass into Russia and we’re now following a horse path which winds up to the Kurdish encampments on the the Southern Slope of the mountain the plane was strewn with sand

And rocks with here and there a bunch of tough wiry grass about a foot and a half High which though early in the year was partly dry it would have been hot work except for the rain of the day before and a strong Southeast wind as it was our feet were blistered

And bruised the thin leather sandals worn at the out said offering very poor protection the atmosphere being dry though not excessively hot we soon began to suffer from thirst although we searched diligently for water we did not find it till after 2 hours more of constant

Marching when at a height of about 6,000 ft 50 yard from the path we discerned a picture of esque Cascade of sparkling Cold Mountain Water the Old Gentleman raffle joined heartily in the gity induced by this clear cold water from erat’s melting snows our Ascent for 2 and a half hours

Longer was through a luxuriant vegetation of flowers grasses and weeds which grew more and more scanty as we Advanced prominent among the specimens were the wild pink poppy and Rose one small fragrant herb that was the most abundant of all we were told was used by the Kurds for making

Tea all these filled the evening air with perfume as we trudged along passing now and then a Kurdish lad with his flock of sheep and goats feeding on a mountain grass which was here much more luxuriant than below Looking Backward we saw that we were higher than the precipitous Cliffs which

Over Tower the town of bayazid and which are perhaps from, 1500 to 2,000 ft above the lowest part of the plane The View over the plateau was now Grand though we were all fatigued by the day’s work the cool moisture Laden air of evening revived our flagging

Spirits we forged ahead with Nimble step joking and singing a variety of national heirs the French marceles in which the Old Gentleman heartily joined echoed and re-echoed among the rocks and caused the shepherd Lads and their flocks to Crane their heads in wonderment even the Armenian muleteer so

Far overcame his fear of the Kurdish robbers as to indulge in one of his accustomed funeral durges but it stopped short never to go again when we came in sight of the Kurdish encampment the poor fellow instinctively grabbed his donkeys about their necks as though they were about to plunge over a precipice

The zapis dashed ahead with the mutas sherif’s letter to the Kurdish Chief but we followed slowly on foot while the Armenian and his two pets kept at a respectful distance in the rear the disc of the sun had already touched the Western Horizon when we came to the black tents of the Kurdish

Encampment which at this time of the day presented a rather busy scene the women seemed to be doing all the work while their Lords sat round on their haunches some of the women were engaged in milking the sheep and goats in an enclosure others were busy making butter

In a churn which was nothing more than a skin vessel 3 ft long of the shape of a Brazil nut suspended from a rude tripod this they swung to and fro to the tune of a weird Kurdish Song behind one of the tents on a primitive weaving machine some of them

Were making tent Roofing and matting others still were walking about with a ball of wool in one hand and a dis staff in the other spinning yarn the flocks stood round about bleeding and lo or chewing their cud in quiet contentment all seemed very domestic and peaceful except the Kurdish dogs which

Set upon us with loud Fierce growls and nashing teeth not so was it with the Kurdish chief who by this time had finished reading the muta’s message and who now Advanced from his tent with salams of Welcome as he stood before us in the glowing Sunset he was a rather tall but

Well-proportioned man with black eyes and dark mustache contrasting well with his brown tanned complexion upon his face was the Stamp of a rather wild and retiring character although treachery and deceit were by no means one he wore a headgear that was something between a hat and a turban and

Over his baggy Turkish trousers hung a long Persian coat of bright colored large figured cloth bound at the waist by a belt of cartridges across the shoulders was slung a Bree loading Martini rifle and from his neck dangled a heavy gold chain which was probably the spoil of some predatory

Expedition a quiet dignity sat on Ismail devish stalwart form I starart form it was with no little pleasure that we accepted his invitation to a cup of tea after our walk of 19 miles in which we had ascended from 3,000 to 7,000 ft we were in fit condition to appreciate a

Rest that Kurdish tent as far as we were concerned was a veritable Palace although we were almost blinded by the smoke from the green pine branches on the smoldering fight we said that the chief invited us to a cup of tea so he did but we provided the

Tea and that too not only for our own party but for half a dozen of the chief’s personal friends uh there being only two glasses in the camp we of course had to wait until our Kurdish acquaintances had quenched their burning thirst in thoughtful mood we gazed around through the evening

Twilight far away on the Western Slope we could see some Kurdish women plotting along under heavy burdens of pine branches like those that were now fumigating our eyes and nostrils across the hills the Kurdish Shepherds were driving home their herds and flocks to the tinkling of bells all this to us was deeply

Impressive such peaceful scenes we thought could never be the haunt of warlike robbers the flocks at last came home the shouts of the Shepherds ceased Darkness fell and all was quiet one by one the lights in the tents broke out like the stars above as the darkness deepened they

Shone more and more brightly across the amphitheater of the encampment the tent in which we were now sitting was oblong in shape covered with a mixture of goats and sheep’s wool carded spun and woven by the Kurdish women this tame was all of a dark brown or black

Color the various strips were badly joined together allowing the snow and rain during the stormy night that followed to penetrate plentifully a wickerwork fencing about 3 ft High made from the reads gathered in the swamps of the Aras River was stretched around the bottom of

The tent to keep out the cattle as well as to afford some little protection from the elements the same material of the same width or height was used to partition off the apartments of the women far from being veiled and shut up in Herms like their Turkish and Persian

Sisters the Kurdish women come and go among the men and talk and laugh as they please the thinness and lowness of the partition walls did not disturb their astonishing equinity in their relations with the men the women are extremely free during the evening we frequently found ourselves surrounded by a

Concourse of these Mountain Beauties who would sit and stare at us with their black eyes call attention to our personal Oddities and laugh among themselves now and then their joke jokes at our expense would produce hilarious laughter among the men the dress of these women consisted of baggy trousers better described in

This country as divided skirts a bright colored overskirt and tunic and a little round cloth cap encircled with a band of red and black through the right lobe of the nose was hung A peculiar button-shaped ornament studded with precious stones this picturesque costume well set off their Rich Olive complexions and

Black eyes beneath dark brown lashes there were no signs of an approaching evening meal until we opened our provision bag and handed over certain articles of raw food to be cooked for us Tim no sooner were the vians entrusted to the care of our hosts than two sets of

Pots and Kettles made their appearance in the other compartments in half an hour our host and Friends proceeded to indulge their voracious appetites when our own meal was brought to us sometime after we noticed that the 14 eggs we had doled out had been reduced to six and the other materials suffered a

Similar reduction the whole thing being so patent as to make their attempt at innocence absurdly ludicrous we thought however if Kurdish highway robbery took no worse form than this we could well afford to be content ew supper over we squatted round a slow burning fire on the thick felt mats

Which served as carpets drank tea and smoked the usual cigarettes by the Light of the glowing Embers we could watch the faces about us and catch their horrified glances when reference was made to our intended Ascent of Akada the mysterious Abode of the Gin before turning in for the night we

Reconed our situation the lights in all the tents save our own were now extinguished not a sound Was Heard except the heavy breathing of some of the slumbering animals about us or the bark of a dog at some distant encampment the huge Dome of arat though

6 to 8 miles farther up the slope seemed to be towering ing over us like some giant monster of another world we could not see the summit so far was it above the enveloping clouds we returned to the tent to find that the zapis had been given the best

Places and best covers to sleep in and that we were expected to accommodate ourselves near the door wrapped up in an old Kurdish carpet policy was evidently a better developed trait of Kurdish character than Hospitality although we arose at 47 o saw us still at the encampment 2 hours vanished before our

Gentleman zap condescended to rise from their peaceful slum numbers then a great deal of time was unnecessarily consumed in eating their special breakfast we ourselves had to be content with ecme and yort blotting paper bread and curdled milk as over they concluded not to go on without sandals to take the

Place of their heavy military boots as at this Point their horses would have to be discarded after we had employed a kurd to make these for them they declared they were afraid to proceed without the company of 10 Kurds armed to the teeth why

W we knew that this was only a scheme on the part of the Kurds with whom the zap were in League to extort money from us we still kept cool and only casually insinuated that we did not have enough money to pay for so large a party this announcement worked like a

Charm the interest the Kurds had up to this time taken in our Venture died away at once even the three Kurds who as requested in the message of the mutas shif were to accompany us up the mountain to the Snow Line refused absolutely to go the mention of the mutas serifs name

Awakened only a sneer we had also relied upon the Kurds for blankets as we had been advised to do by our friends in bayazid those we had already hired they now snatched from the donkey standing before the tent all this time our tall gaunt Meek looking muleteer had stood

Silent now his turn had come how far was he to go with his donkeys he didn’t think it possible for him to go much Beyond this point patience now ceased to be a virtue we cut off discussion at once told the muleteer he would either go on or lose what he had already

Earned and formed the zapy that whatever they did would be reported to the mutas serif on our return under this rather forcible persuasion they stood stood not on the order of their going but sullenly followed our little procession out of Camp before the crestfallen Kurds in the absence of guides we were

Thrown Upon Our Own resources far from being an assistance our zapi is proved a nuisance they would carry nothing not even the food they were to eat and were absolutely ignorant of the country we were to Traverse from our observations on the previous days we had decided to strike

Out on a Northeast course over the gentle slope until we struck the rocky ridges on the southeast butress of the Dome on its projecting rocks which extended nearer to the summit than those of any other part of the mountain we could avoid the slippery precipitous snow beds that stretched far

Down the mountain at this time of the year immediately after leaving the encampment the ascent became steeper and more difficult the small volcanic stones of yesterday now increased to huge obstructing Boulders among which the donkeys with difficulty made their way they frequently tipped their loads or got wedged in between two unyielding

Walls in the midst of our efforts to extricate them we often wondered how Noah ever managed with the animals from the ark these donkeys not been of a philosophical Turn of Mind they might have offered forcible objections to the way we extricated them from their straightened circumstances a remonstrance on our part

For carelessness in driving brought from the muleteer a burst of Turkish profanity that made the rocks of Ararat ReSound with indignant Echo the spirit of insubordination seemed to be increasing in direct ratio with the height of our Ascent we came now to a comparatively smooth green slope which led up to the highest

Kurdish encampment met on the the line of our Ascent about 7500 ft when in sight of the black tents the subject of Kurdish guides was Again broached by the zapis and immediately they sat down to discuss the question one we ourselves were through with discussion and fully determined to have

Nothing to do with a people who could do absolutely nothing for us we stopped at the tents and asked for milk yes they said we have some but after waiting for 10 minutes we learned that the milk was still in the goat’s possession several hundred yards away among the

Rocks it dawned upon us that this was only another trick of the zapis to get AR rest we pushed on the next 500 feet of the ascent without much trouble or controversy the silence broken only by the muleteer who took the rocky bottle off the donkey’s pack and asked if he could

Take a drink as we had only a limited Supply to be used to dilute the snow water we were obliged to refuse him at 8,000 ft we struck our first snow drift into which the donkeys sank up to their bodies it required our United efforts to lift them out and half carry them

Across then on we climbed till 10 o to a point about 9,000 ft where we stopped for lunch in a quiet Mountain Glenn by the side of a Rippling Mountain reil this snow water we drank with racki the view in the meantime had been growing more and more

Extensive the plane before us had lost nearly all its detail and color and was merged into one vast hole though less picturesque it was incomparably grander now we could see how in ages past the lava had burst out of the lateral fissures in the mountain and flowed in huge streams for miles down

The slope and out on the plane below these beds of lava were gradually broken up by the action of the elements and now presented the appearance of Ridges of broken volcanic rocks of the most varied and fantastic shapes it was here that the muleteer showed evident signs of weakening which

Later undeveloped into a total collapse we had come to a broad snow field where the donkeys stuck fast and rolled over helpless in the snow even after we had unstrapped their baggage and carried it over on our shoulders they could make no Headway the muleteer gave up in Despair

And refused even to help us carry our loads to the top of an adjoining Hill with the zapas had proceeded to wait for us in consequence raffle and we were compelled to carry two donkey loads of baggage for half a mile over the snow beds and boulders followed by the sulking

Muleteer who had deserted his donkeys rather than be left alone himself on reaching the zap we sat down to hold a council on the situation but the clouds which during the day had occasionally obscured the top of the mountain now began to thicken and it was not long before a

Shower compelled us to beat a hasty Retreat to a neighboring ledge of rocks the clouds that were rolling between us and the mountain Summit seemed but a token of the storm of circumstances one thing was certain the mueter could go no farther up the mountain and yet he was mortally afraid

To return alone to the Kurdish robbers he sat down and began to cry like a child this predicament of their accomplice furnished the zapis with a plausible excuse they now absolutely refused to go any further without him our interpreter the Greek again joined the majority he was not going to risk the

Ascent without the Turkish guards and besides he had now come to the conclusion that we had not sufficient blankets to spend a night at so high an altitude disappointed but not discouraged we gazed at the silent Old Gentleman at our side in his determined continence we read his

Answer long shall we remember ignaz raffle as one of the pluckiest most persevering of old men there was now only one plan that could be pursued selecting from our supplies one small blanket a felt mat two long Stout ropes enough food to last us two days

A bottle of cold tea and a can of Turkish racki we packed them into two bundles to strap on our backs we then instructed the rest of the party to return to the Kurdish encampment and await our return the sky was again clear at 2 30 p.m. when we bade goodbye to our

Worthless comrades and resumed the ascent we were now at a height of 9,000 ft and it was our plan to camp at a point far enough up the mountain to enable us to complete the ascent on the following day and return to the Kurdish encampment by Nightfall

By Beyond us was a region of snow and Barren rocks among which we still saw a small purple flower and bunches of lyans which grew more as we Advanced our course continued in a Northeast Direction toward the main Southeast Ridge of the mountain sometimes we were floundering

With our heavy loads in the deep snow beds or scrambling on hands and knees over the huge Boulders of the rocky seams 2 hours and a half of climbing brought us to the crest of the main Southeast Ridge about 1,000 ft below the base of the precipitous

Dome at this point our course changed from Northeast to Northwest and continued so during the rest of the ascent little a rat was now in full view we could even distinguish upon its Northwest side a deep cut Gorge which was not visible before upon its smooth and perfect

Slopes remained only the tatters of its last Winter’s garments we could also look far out over the sarula ridge which connects the two arits and on which the cacs are encamped it was to them that the mutas serif had desired us to go but we had subsequently determined to make the

Ascent directly from the Turkish side following up this Southeast Ridge we came at 5 45 p.m. to a point about 11,000 ft here the thermometer registered 39 F and was constantly falling if we should continue on the cold during the night especially with our scanty clothing would become

Intolerable and then too we could scarcely find a spot level enough to sleep on WE therefore determined to stop here for the night and to continue the ascent at dawn some high rugged Crags on the ridge of above us attracted our attention as affording a comparatively protected

Lodging among these we spread our carpet and piled stones in the intervening spaces to form a complete enclosure thus busily engaged we failed for a time to realize the Grandeur of the situation over the vast and and Misty Panorama that spread out before us the lingering rays of the Setting Sun shed a

Tinge of gold which was communicated to the snowy beds around us behind the peak of little Ararat a brilliant rainbow stretched in one grand Archway above the Weeping clouds but this was only one turn of Nature’s Kaleidoscope the arch Mo faded away and the Shadows lengthened and deepened

Across the plain and mingled till all was lost to view behind the falling curtains of the night the Kurdish tents far down the slope and the white curling smoke from their evening campfires we could see no more only the occasional bark of a dog was borne upward through the Imp impenetrable

Darkness colder and colder grew the atmosphere from 39 the thermometer gradually fell to 36 to 33 and during the night dropped below freezing point the snow which fell from the clouds just over our heads covered our Frugal supper table on which were placed a few hard boil eggs some tough Turkish

Bread cheese and a bottle of tea mixed with Rocky B iced tea was no doubt a luxury at this time of the year but not on Mount Ararat at the height of 11,000 ft with the temperature at freezing point M raffle was as cheerful as could be expected under the circumstances

He expressed his delight at our progress thus far and now that we were free from our gentleman attendance he considered our chances for Success much brighter we turned in together under our single blanket with the Old Gentleman between us he had put on every article of clothing including gloves hat Hood cloak and

Shoes for pillows we use the provision bags and Camera the bottle of cold tea we buttoned up in our coats to prevent it from freezing on both sides and above us lay the pure white snow below us a huge Abyss into which the Rocky Ridge descended like a

Darkened Stairway to the lower regions the awful Stillness was unbroken save by the whistling of the wind among the rocks dark masses of clouds seemed to Bear down upon us every now and then opening up their trap doors and letting down a heavy fall of snow the heat of our bodies melted the

Ice beneath us and our clothes became saturated with ice water although we were surrounded by snow and ice we were suffering with a burning thirst as in separating from our companions we had found no water whatever while the single bottle of cold tea we had must be preserved for the

Marrow sleep under such circumstances and in our cramped position was utterly impossible at 1:00 the morning star peeped above the Eastern Horizon this we watched hour after hour as it Rose in unrivaled Beauty toward the Zenith until it last it began to fade away in the first gray streaks of the

Morning by the light of a flickering candle we ate a hurried breakfast fastened on our spiked shoes and strapped to our backs a few indispensable articles leaving the rest of our baggage at the camp until our return just at Daybreak three 55 a.m. on the 4th of July we

Started off on what proved to be the hardest day’s work we had ever accomplished we struck out at once across the broad snow field to the second Rock rib on the right which seemed to lead up to the only line of rocks above the surface of these large snow

Beds had Frozen during the night so that we had to cut steps with our ice picks to keep from slipping down their glassy surface up this Ridge we slowly climbed for three weary hours leaping from Boulder to Boulder or dragging ourselves up their precipitous sides the Old Gentleman halted

Frequently to rest and showed evident signs of weariness it is hard we must take it slowly he would say in German whenever our impatience would get the better of our Prudence at 7:00 we reached a point about 13,000 500 ft Beyond which there seemed to be nothing but the snow

Covered slope with only a few projecting rocks along the edge of a tremendous Gorge which now broke Upon Our astonished gaze toward this we directed our course and an hour later stood upon its very Verge our venerable Companion now looked up at the precipitous slope above us where only some stray projecting rocks

Were left to guide us through the Wilderness of snow boys said he despondently I cannot reach the top I have not rested during the night and I am now falling asleep on my feet besides I am very much fatigued this came almost like a sob from a breaking

Heart although the old gentleman was opposed to the ascent in the first instance his old Alpine Spirit arose within him with all its former Vigor when once he had started up the mountain slope and now when almost in sight of the very goal his strength began to fail him

After much persuasion and encouragement he finally said that if he could get half an hour’s rest and sleep he thought he would be able to continue we then wrapped him up in his great coat and dug out a comfortable bed in the snow while one of us sat down

With back against him to keep him from rolling down the mountain side we were now on the chasms brink looking down into its UNF fathomable depths this gigantic rent hundreds of feet in width and thousands in depth indicates that northwest southeast line along which the volcanic forces of Ararat have acted most

Powerfully this fisure is perhaps the greatest with which the mountain is seed and out of which has undoubtedly been discharged a great port portion of its lava starting from the base of the Dome it seemed to pierce the shifting clouds to a point about 500 ft from the

Summit this line is continued out into the plane and a series of small volcanoes the craters of which appear to be as perfect as though they had been in activity Only Yesterday the solid red and yellow Rock which lined the sides of the great Chasm projected above the opposite Brink in

Jagged and appalling Cliffs the hole was encased in a mass of huge fantastic icicles which glittering in the sunlight gave it the appearance of a natural Crystal Palace no more Fitting Place than this could the fancy of the Kurds depict for the home of the terrible

Jin no better symbol of nature for the awful jaws of death our Companion now awoke considerably refreshed and the ascent was continued close to the chasms brink here were the only rocks to be seen in the vast snow bed around us cautiously we proceed with cat like tread following directly in one

Another’s footsteps and holding on to our alpen St stocks like Grim death a loosened Rock would start at first slowly gain momentum and fairly fly striking against some projecting ledge it would bound a 100 ft or more into the air and then drop out of sight among the clouds

Below every few moments we would stop to rest our knees were like lead and the High Altitude made breathing difficult now the trail of rocks led us within 2 ft of the chasms edge we approached it cautiously probing well for a rock foundation and gazing with Dizzy heads into the

Abyss the slope became steeper and steeper until it abutted in an almost precipitous Cliff coated with snow and glistening ice there was no escape from it for all around the snow beds were too Steep and slippery to venture an Ascent upon them cutting steps with our ice picks and half crawling half dragging

Ourselves with the alpen stocks hooked into the Rocks above we scaled its height and advanced to the next abutment now a cloud as warm as exhausted steam enveloped Us in the midst of this ice and snow when it cleared away the sun was reflected with intenser brightness our faces were already

Smarting with blisters and our dark glasses afforded but little protection to our aching eyes at 11:00 a.m. we sat down on the snow to eat our last morsel of food the cold chicken and bread tasted like sawdust for we had no saliva with which to masticate

Them our single bottle of tea had given out and we suffered with thirst for several hours again the word to start was given we Rose at once but our stiffened legs quivered beneath us and we leaned on our alpen stocks for Port still we plotted on for two more

Weary hours cutting our steps in the icy Cliffs or Sinking to our thighs in the treacherous snow beds we could see that we were nearing the top of the great Chasm for the clouds now entirely cleared away left our view unobstructed we could even descri the black Kurdish tents upon the Northeast slope

And far below the ARs River like a streak of silver threading its way into the purple distance the atmosphere about us grew colder and we buttoned up our now two scanty garments we must be nearing the top we thought and yet we were not certain for a huge precipitous Cliff just in front

Of us cut off the view slowly slowly feebly shouted the Old Gentleman as we began the attack on its precipitous sides now stopping to brush away the treacherous snow or to cut some steps in the solid ice we pushed and pulled one another almost to the top and then with one more

Desperate effort we stood upon a vast and gradually sloping snow bed down we plunged above our knees through the yielding surface and staggered and fell with failing strength then Rose once more and plotted on until at last we sank exhausted upon the top of AR for a moment Only We Lay gasping for

Breath then a full realization of our situation dawned upon us and fanned the few faint Sparks of enthusiasm that remained in our exhausted bodies we unfurled upon an alpen stock the small silk American flag that we had brought from home and For the First Time The Stars and Stripes was given to the

Breeze on the mountain of the Ark four shots fired from our revolvers in commemoration of Independence day broke the Stillness of the Gorges far above the clouds which were rolling below us over three of the most absolute monarchies in the world was celebrated in our simple way a great event of

Republicanism mount eret it will be observed from the accompanying sketch has two tops a few hundred yards apart sloping the are on the eastern and western extremities into rather prominent abutments and separated by a Snow Valley or depression from 50 to 100 ft in depth the Eastern top on which we were

Standing was quite extensive and 30 to 40 ft lower than its Western neighor both tops are hummocks on the huge Dome of Ararat like the humps on the back of of a camel on neither one of which is there a vestage of anything but snow there remained just as little trace

Of the crosses left by parrot and chco as of the Ark itself we remembered the pictures we had seen in our Nursery books which represented this Mountaintop covered with green grass and Noah stepping out of the Ark in the bright warm sunshine before for the receding

Waves and now we looked around and saw this very spot covered with Perpetual snow nor did we see any evidence whatever of a former existing crater except perhaps the snow filled depression we have just mentioned there was nothing about this Perpetual snow snow field and the freezing atmosphere that was chilling us

To the Bone to remind us that we were on the top of an extinct volcano that once trembled with the convulsions of subterranean heat the view from this towering height was immeasurably extensive and almost to Grand all detail was lost all color all outline even the surrounding mountains

Seem to be but excrescent Ridges of the plane then to we could catch only occasional glimpses as the clouds shifted to and fro at one time they opened up beneath us and revealed the arys valley with its glittering ribbon of silver at an abysmal depth below now and then we could describe the

Black volcanic peaks of Ali Gaz 40 Mi away to the Northwest and and on the Southwest the low mountains that obscured the town of bazid of the cocases the mountains about urum on the west and Lake van on the south and even of the Caspian Sea all of

Which are said to be in erat’s Horizon we could see absolutely nothing had it been a clear day we could have seen not only the Rival peaks of the Caucasus which for so many years formed the northern wall of the Civilized world but far to the South we might have

Described the mountains of Cordo land where caldian legend has placed the landing of the Ark we might have gazed in philosophic mood over the whole of the arys valley which for 3,000 years or more has been the scene of so much misery and conflict as monuments of two extreme

Events in this historic period two spots might have attracted our attention one right below us the ruins of Arctic Sada which according to tradition was built as the story goes after the plans of the roving conqueror Hannibal and stormed by the Roman Legions ad. 58 and farther away to the north the

Modern fortress of cars which so recently reverberated with the Thunders of the Turkish we were suddenly aroused by the rumbling of thunder ther below us a storm was rolling rapidly up the southeast slope of the mountain the atmosphere seemed to be boiling over the heated plane below higher and higher came the clouds

Rolling and seething among the Grim Crags along the chasm and soon we were caught in its embrace the thermometer dropped at once below freezing point and the dense Mists driven against us by the hurricane formed icicles on our blistered faces and froze the ink in our fountain pens our summer clothing was wholly

Inadequate for such an unexpected experience we were chilled to the Bone to have remained where we were would have been jeopardizing our health if not our lives although we could scarcely see far enough ahead to follow back on the track by which we had ascended yet we were

Obliged to attempt it at once for the storm around us was increasing every moment we could even feel the charges of electricity whenever we touched the iron points of our alen stocks carefully peering through the clouds we managed to follow the trail we had made along the gradually sloping

Summit to the head of the great Chasm which now appeared more terrible than ever we here saw that it would be extremely perilous if not actually impossible to attempt a descent on the Rocks along its treacherous Edge in such a hurricane the only alternative was to take the precipitous snow covered

Slope plan in our ice hooks deep in the snow behind us we started at first the stron head wind which on the top almost took us off our feet somewhat checked our downward career but it was not long before we attained a velocity that made our hair stand on

End it was a thrilling experience we seem to be sailing through the air itself for the clouds obscured the slope even 20 ft below finally we emerged beneath them into the glare of the afternoon sunlight but we dashed for 6,000 ft leaning heavily on the trailing stocks

Which threw up an icy spray in our wake we never once stopped until we reached the bottom of the Dome at our last night’s Camp among the rocks in less than an hour we had dashed down through a distance which had had taken us 9 and 1/2 hours to

Ascend the camp was reached at 400 p.m. just 12 hours from the time we left it Gathering up the remaining baggage we hurried away to continue The Descent we must make desperate efforts to reach the Kurdish encampment by Nightfall for during the last 27 hours

We had had nothing to drink but half a pint of tea and our Thirst by this time became almost intolerable the large snow bed down which we had been sliding now began to show signs of treachery the snow at this low altitude had melted out from below to supply the

Subterranean streams leaving only a thin crust at the surface it was not long before one of our party fell into one of these pitfalls up to his shoulders and floundered about for some time before he could extricate himself from his unexpected snow bath over the rocks and boulders The

Descent was much slower and more tedious for 2 hours we were thus busily engaged when all at once a shout rang out in the clear evening air looking up we saw sure enough our two zap and mueter on the very spot where we had left them the evening

Before even the two donkeys were on hand to give us a welcoming Bray they had come up from the encampment early in the morning and had been scanning the mountain all day long to get some clue to our whereabouts they reported that they had seen us at one time during the morning

And had then lost sight of us among the clouds this solicitude on their part was no doubt prompted by the fact that they were to be held by the mutas Sur of bazid as personally responsible for our safe return and perhaps too by the hope that they might thus retrieve the good graces

They had lost the day before and thereby increase the amount of the forthcoming bakish nothing now was too heavy for the donkeys and even the zapis themselves condescended to relieve us of our alpen stocks that night we sat again around the Kurdish campfire surrounded by the same group of curious

Faces it was interesting and even amusing to watch the bewildered astonishment that overspread their countenances as we related our experiences along the slope and then upon the very top of aad they listened throughout with found attention then looked at one another in silence and Gravely shook their heads they could not believe

It it was impossible older rats stood above us grim and terrible beneath the twinkling stars to them it was as it always will be be the same mysterious untrodden height the Palace of the Jin Tre through Persia to samand it is all Bush was the all but

Universal opinion of bazid in regard to our alleged Ascent of arody n but the Persian Cil and the muta serif himself dained to profess a belief in it and the gift of several letters to Persian officials and a Sumptuous dinner on the eve of our departure went far toward proving their

Sincerity on the morning of July 8 in company with a bodyguard of zapis which the mutas forced upon us we wheeled down from the ruined EMB battlements of beaz doess the assembled Rabel raised a Lusty cheer at parting an hour later we had surmounted the casle ghoul and the land of Iran was

Before us at our feet lay the turo Persian battle Plains of CH Duran spreading like a desert expanse to the parched Barren Hills Beyond and dotted here and there with clumps of trees in the village OES and this then was the land where as the poet say the night Andale sings and

The rose tree blossoms and where a flower is crushed at every step more truth we thought in the scotch Travelers description which divides Persia into two portions one desert with salt and the Other Desert without salt in time we came to McGregor’s opinion as expressed in his description of corasan I’m tell fed

[Applause] we we should fancy said he a small green circle around every village indicated on the map and shade all the rest in brown the mighty hosts Whose onward sweep from the indis westward was checked only by The Grecian fanks upon the field of marathon must have come from the scattered ruins

Around which reminded us that Iran was she is no more those Myriad ranks of yis Khan and tamarlane brought death and desolation from Tran to Iran which so often meant to act and react upon one another that both are now only landmarks in the sea of Oblivion our honorary escort accompanied

Us several miles over the border to the Persian Village of kisak and they committed us to the hospitality of the district KH with whom we managed to Converse in the Turkish language which strange to say we found available in all the countries that lay in our transcontinental pathway

As far as the Great Wall of China toward evening we rode in the garden of the Herm of the KH and at Daybreak the next morning we’re again in the saddle by a very early start we hoped to escape the burden of excessive Hospitality in other words to get rid of

An escort that was an expensive nuisance at the next Village we were confronted by what appeared to be a shouting gesticulating Maniac on dismounting we learned that a Harbinger had been sent by the con the evening before to have a guard ready to join us as we passed

Through in fact two armed fishes were Galloping toward us armed as we afterward learned with American rifles and the usual cam or huge dagger swinging from a belt of cartridges these fellows like the zapis were fond of ostentation they frequently led us a roundabout way to show us off to their

Relatives or friends in a neighboring Village nature at last came to our deliverance as we stood on a prominent Ridge taking a last look at Mount Ararat now more than 50 miles away a storm Came Upon Us showering hailstones as large as wall the fair ases with frantic steeds

Dashed ahead to seek a place of shelter and we saw them no more 5 days in Persia brought us to the shores of lake or umia the salest body of water in the world that early the next morning we were waiting the chilly Waters of the

chai and a few hours later found us in the English consulate at TBR where we were received by the Persian secretary the English government it seemed had become embroiled in a local love affair just at a time when Colonel Stewart was off on diplomatic Duty on the Russian transcaspian border an

Exceptionally bright Armenian Beauty a graduate of the American missionary schools at this place had been abducted it was claimed by a young Kurdish Cavalier and carried away to his Mountain Home her father who happened to be a naturalized English subject had applied for the assistance of his adopted country in obtaining her release

The negotiations were at once set on foot between London and Taran which finally led to a formal demand upon the Kurds by the Sha himself upon their repeated refusal 7,000 Persian troops it was said were ordered to soak bulac under the command of the the vice Consul Mr

Pat the matter at length assumed such an importance as to give rise in the House of Commons to the question who is caddy Greenfield this in time was answered by that lady herself who declared under oath that she had become a muhammadan and was in love with the man with whom she had

Eloped more than this it was learned that she had not a drop of English blood in her veins her father being an Austrian and her mother a native Armenian whereupon the Persian Troopers with their much disgusted leader beat an in glorious Retreat leaving caddy Greenfield Mistress of the situation and of a Kurdish

Heart in Breeze there is one object sure to attract attention this is the ark or ancient fortified castle of the Persian rulers high on one of the sides which a recent earthquake has rent from top to bottom there’s a little porch when these Persian blue beards or rather red beards

Were want to hurl unruly members of the Herm under the shadow of these gloomy walls was enacted a tragedy of this Century time ABM is by no means the only heresy that has sprung from the speculative Genius of Persia but it is the one that has most

Deeply moved the Society of the present age and the one which still obtains though in in secret and without a leader its founder s Muhammad Ali better known as bab or gate promulgated the doctrine of Anarchy to the extent of sparing the rod and spoiling the child and still worse perhaps of

Refusing to the ladies no finery that might be at all becoming to their person while not a communist as he has sometimes stimes been wrongly classed he exhorted the wealthy to regard themselves as only Trustees of the poor with no thought at first of acquiring civil power he and his rapidly

Increasing following were driven to revolt by the persecuting malas and the sanguinary struggle of 1848 followed bab himself was captured and carried to this most fanatical city of Persia the burial place of the sons of Ali on this very spot a company was ordered to dispatch him with a

Volley but when the smoke cleared away bab was not to be seen none of the bullets had gone to the mark and the bird had flown but not to the safest Refuge had he finally escaped the miracle thus performed would have made babism Invincible but he was recaptured and

Dispatched and his body thrown to the canine scavengers to bria’s Fever dispelling was a misnomer in our case our sojourn here was prolonged for more than a month by a slight attack of typhoid fever which this time seized satle aban and again the kind nursing of the missionary ladies hastened

Recovery our male in the meantime having been ordered to Taran we were granted the privilege of intercepting it for this purpose we were permitted to overhaul the various piles of letters strewn over the dirty floor of the Distributing office oath the Turkish and Persian male is carried in saddle bags

On the backs of rainless horses driven at a rapid Gallop before the mounted mail carrier or herdsman owing to the carelessness of the postal officials legations and consulates employ special couriers the proximity of t to the Russian border makes it politically as well as commercially one of the most important cities in

Persia for this reason it is the place of residence of the Emir naam leader of the army or prime minister as well as the valad or Prince Imperial this Prince is the Russian candidate as opposed to the English candidate for the prospective vacancy on the throne both of these dignitaries invited

Us to visit them and showed much interest in our wonderful wind horses of the speed of which exaggerated reports had circulated through the country we were also favored with a special letter for the journey to the capital on this stage we started August 15th stopping the first night at

Turkmani the little village where was signed the famous Treaty of 1828 by virtue of which the Caspian Sea became a Russian the next morning we were on the road soon after Daybreak and on approaching the next Village overtook a curious cavalcade just concluding a long night’s Journey this consisted of a Persian

Palanquin with its long pole shaft saddled upon the back of a mule at each end with servants on foot and a bodyguard of mounted Soldiers the occupant of this peculiar conveyance remained concealed throughout the Stampede which our sudden appearance occasioned among his hearse bearing mules for as such they will appear in the

SE in our first article we mentioned an interview in London with Malcolm Khan the representative of the Sha at the court of St James since then it seemed he had fallen into disfavor during the late visit of the Sha to England certain members of his retinue were so young both in appearance and

Conduct as to be a source of mortification to the europeanized minister this reached the ears of the Sha sometime after his return home and a summons was sent for the accused to repair to Herod Malcolm Khan however was too well-versed in Oriental craft to fall into such a

Trap and announced his purpose to devote his future Leisure to airing his knowledge of Persian politics in the London press the Persian Minister of Foreign Affairs must ashar El dowlet then residing at to breze who was accused of carrying on a seditious correspondence with Malcolm Khan was differently situated

Unfortunately it was during our sojourn in that City that his palacial household was raided by a party of soldiers and he was carried to prison as a common felon being unable to pay the high price of Pardon that was demanded he was forced away a few days before our

Departure on that dreaded Journey to the capital which few if any ever complete for onun away they are usually met by a messenger who propers them a cup of coffee a sword and a rope from which they are to choose the method of their Doom this then was the occupant of the

Mysterious palankin which now was opened as we drew up before The Village caravaner out stepped a man tall and portly with beard and hair of venerable gray his Keen Eye clear-cut features and dignified bearing bespoke for him respect even in his downfall while his stooped shoulders and Haggard countenance betrayed the weight

Of sorrow and sleepless nights with which he was going to his tomb at Manana that town made Infamous by its venomous insect is located one of the storage Stations of the Indo-European Telegraph company its straight lines of iron poles which we followed very closely from TBR

To Taran form only a link in that great wire and cable chain which connects Melbourne with London we we spent the following night in the German operator’s room the weakness of the Persian for mendacity is proverbial one instance of this National weakness was attended with considerable inconvenience To

Us by some mischance we had run by the village where we intended to stop for the night which was situated some distance off the road meeting a Persian lad we inquired the distance he was ready at once with a cheerful falsehood one far sack four miles he

Replied although he must have known at the time that the village behind us in order to proceed if possible the approaching Darkness for although traditionally the land of a double Dawn Persia has only one Twilight and that closely merged into Sunset and darkness one two far saacks were placed

Behind us and still there was no sign of a human habitation at length Darkness fell we were obliged to Dismount to feel our way by the gradually Rising ground and the Rocks we knew we were off the road dropping our Wheels we groped round on hands and knees to find if possible

Some trace of water with a burning thirst a chilling atmosphere and swarms of mosquitoes biting through our clothing we could not sleep with a slight drizzle began to descend during our gloomy vigil we were glad to hear the sounds of a caravan toward which we groped our

Way Discerning at length a long line line of camels marching to the music of their Lantern bearing leader when our nickel plated bars and white helmets flashed in the lantern light there was a shriek and the lantern fell to the ground the rear guard rushed to the front with drawn

Weapons but even they started back at the sound of our voices as we attempted in broken Turkish to reassure them explanations were made and the camels soon quieted thereupon we were surrounded with lanterns and firebrands while the remainder of the Caravan party was called to the front finally we moved on walking side

By side with the lantern bearing leader who ran ahead now and then to make sure of the RO the night was the blackest we had ever seen suddenly one of the camels disappeared in a ditch and rolled over with a groan fortunately no bones were broken and the load was

Replaced but we were off the road and a search was begun with lights to find the beaten p and hungry with an almost most intolerable thirst we trudged along till morning to the ding-dong ding dong of the deep toned camel Bells finally we reached a sluggish

River but did not dare to satisfy our thirst except by washing out our mouths and by taking occasional swallows with long intervals of rest in one of which we fell asleep from sheer exhaustion when we awoke the midday Sun was shining and a party of Persian Travelers was bending over

Us from the highlands of azerbijan where strange to say nearly all Persian pestilences arise we dropped suddenly into the casine plain a portion of that triangular dried up Basin of the Persian Mediterranean now for the most part A Sandy Seline desert the argillaceous dust accumulated on the cvan plain by the weathering of

The surrounding Uplands resembles in appearance the yellow Earth of the Hoang ho District in China but it remains sterile for the lack of water even the little moisture that obtains beneath the surface is sapped by the canots or underground canals which bring to the fevered lips of the desert

Oases the fresh Cool Springs of the El Birds these are dug with uniring Instinct and preserved with jealous Care by means of shafts or slanting Wells dug at regular intervals across the plane into these we would occasionally descend to relieve our reflection burned or as a Persian would say snowb burned

Faces while the thermometer 20 in the shade over the level 90m stretch between casine and the capital a so-called Carriage Road has recently been constructed close to the base of the mountain a sudden turn round a mountain spur and before us was presented to view Mount demavand and Taran

Soon the paved streets sidewalks lamp posts Street Railways and even steam Tramway of of the half modern Capital were as much of a surprise to us as our wind horses were to the Curious crowds that escorted us to the French hotel from Persia it was our plan to

Enter Russ Russian Central Asia and then to proceed to China or Siberia to enter the transcaspian territory the Border province of the Russian possessions the sanction of its governor general kurup patking would be quite sufficient but for the rest of the journey through turkistan a Russian minister in

Teran said we would have to await a general permission from St Petersburg 6 weeks were spent with our English and American acquaintances and still no answer was received winter was coming on and something had to be done at once if we were to be debarred from a

Northern route we would have to attempt a passage into India either through Afghanistan which we were assured by all was quite impossible or across the deserts of Southern Persia and beluchistan for this latter we had already obtained a possible route from the noted traveler Colonel Stewart whom we met on his way

Back to his cular post at tze but just at this juncture the Russian Minister advised another plan in order to save time he said we might proceed to mes at once and if our permission was not telegraphed to us at that point we could then turn South to beluchistan as a last

Resort this our friends unanimously declared was a musite trick to evade an absolute refusal the Russians they assured us would never permit a foreign inspection of their doings on The Afghan border and furthermore we would never be able to cross the uninhabited deserts of beluchistan against all protest we waved farewell to

The foreign and Native Throne which had assembled to see us off and on October 5 wheeled out of the Fortified Square on the Pilgrim Road to mesh before us now lay 600 miles of barren Hills swampy kers Brier covered wastes and salty deserts with here and there some canoed

Oases to the South lay the lifeless desert of Luth the Persian Sahara the humidity of which is the lowest yet recorded on the face of the globe and compared with which the GOI of China and the kizel of Central Asia are fertile regions it is our extended and rather

Unique experience on the former of these two that prompts us to refrain from further description of desert travel here where the hardships were in a measure amiliar by frequent stations and by the use of cucumbers and pomegranates both of which we carried with us on the long desert

Stretches melons 2 the finest we have ever seen in land frequently obviated the necessity of drinking the strongly brackish water yet this experience was sufficient to impress us with the fact that the national poets Hafiz and sadii like Thomas Moore have sought in fancy what the land of Iran denied them

Those spicy Groves echoing with the night Andale song Those Rosy Bowers and pearling Brooks on the whole exist so far as our experience goes only in the poet’s dream leaving on the right the sand swept ruins of verman that capital of Persia before Taran was even thought

Of we traversed the the pass of Cera identified by some as the famous Caspian gate and early in the evening entered the village of aridan the usual crowd hemmed Us in on all sides yelling men men ride ride which took the place of the Turkish refrain of Bin

Bin as we rode toward the caravaner they shouted faster faster F and when we began to distance them they caught at the rear wheels and sent a shower of stones after us denting our helmets and bruising our coatless backs this was too much we dismounted and exhibited the ability to defend ourselves whereupon

They tumbled over one another in their Hast to get away but they were at our Wheels again before we reached the Caravan ser here they surged through the narrow gang way and knocked over the fruit stands of the bazars we were shown to a room or windowless cell in the honeycomb

Structure that surrounded an open quadrangular court at the time filled with a caravan of pilgrims carrying triangular white and black flags with the Persian coat of arms the same we have seen over many doorways in Persia as warnings of the danger of trespassing upon the religious Services held within the cadaverous stench revealed

The presence of half-dried human bones being carried by relatives and friends for interment in the Sacred City of the silent thus dead bodies in Loosely nailed boxes are always traveling from one end of Persia to the other among the pilgrims were blue and green turban sides direct descendants of

The Prophet as well as white turbaned malas all were sitting about on the suu or raised platform just finishing the evening meal but presently one of the malas ascended the mound in the middle of the stable yard and in the manner of the muin called to prayer all kneeled and bowed their heads

Toward Mecca then the horses were saddled the long narrow boxes attached upright to the pack mules and the kikas or double boxes adjusted on the backs of the horses of the ladies into these the veiled creatures entered and Drew the curtains while the men leaped into the saddle at a

Signal and with the tree cornered flag at their head the cavalcade moved out on its long night pilgrimage we now learned that the village contained a chaperon one of those places of rest which have recently been provided for the use of foreigners and others who travel chapper or by relays of post

Horses these structures are usually distinguished by a single room built on the roof and projecting some distance over the eaves to this we repaired at once its keeper evinced unusual Pride in the cleanliness of his apartments for we were asked to take off our shoes before entering but while our boastful host was

Kicking up the mats to convince us of the truth of his assertions he suddenly retired behind the scenes to rid himself of some of the pests throughout our Asiatic tour eggs were our chief means of subsistence but p plow or boiled rice flavored with grease we found more particularly used

In Persia like yort in Turkey this was prepared with chicken whenever it was possible to purchase a fowl and then we would usually make the discovery that a Persian fowl was either wingless legless or otherwise defective after being prepared by a Persian fizzle or Foreigner servant who it is said

Shrinks from no baseness in order to eat though minus these particular appendages it would invariably have a head for the fanatical Shia frequently snatched a chicken out of our hands to prevent us from ringing or chopping its head off even after our meal was served we would keep a sharp Lookout upon the

Unblushing pilferers around us who had called to pay their respects and to fill the room with clouds of smoke from their chuks and gurgling cens for a fanatical Shia will sometimes stick his Dirty Fingers into the dishes of an unbeliever even though he may subsequently throw away the contaminated

Vessel and this extreme fanaticism is to be found in a country noted for its extensive latitude in the profession of religious beliefs a present from the village KH was announced insteed two men bearing a huge tray filled with melons apricots sugar rock candy nuts pistachios

Etc all of which we must of course turn over to the cankeeper and his servants and pay double their value to the bearers as a present this polite method of extortion was followed the next morning by one of a bolder and more perm nature not withstanding the Feast of the

Night before at our expense and in addition to Furnishing us with bed clothes which we really ought to have been paid to sleep in our oily host now insisted upon three or for prices for his lodgings we refused to pay him more than a certain sum and started to vacate the

Premises thereupon he and his grown son caught hold of our bicycles remonstrances proving of no avail and being unable to force our Passage through the narrow doorway with the bicycles in our hands we dropped them and grappled with our anten an agonists a noisy scuffle and then a

Heavy fall ensued but luckily we were both on the upper side this unusual disturbance now brought out the inmates of the adjoining anderon in a moment there was a den of feminine screams and a flutter of garments and then a crashing of our pith helmets beneath the blows of pokers and

Andirons the villagers thus aroused came at last to our rescue and at once proceeded to patch up a compromise this in view of the Amazonian reinforcements who were standing by in Readiness for a second onset we were more than pleased to accept from this in glorious combat we came off without Serious

Injury but with those gentle poker Taps were knocked out forever all the sweet delusions of the light of the Hera the great Antiquity of this Taron meshed road which is undoubtedly a section of that former commercial Highway between two of the most ancient Capitals in history Nineveh and

B is very graphically shown by the Caravan ruts at lasgard these have been worn in many places to a depth of 4 feet in the solid rock it was not far beyond this point that we began to feel the force of that famous Daman wind socalled from the city of that name

Of course this wind was against us in fact throughout our Asiatic tour easterly winds prevailed and should we ever attempt another transcontinental spin we would have a care to travel in the opposite direction our peculiar mode of travel subjected us to great Extremes in our mode of

Living sometimes indeed it was a change almost from the sublime to the ridiculous and vice versa from a stable or Sheepfold with a diet of figs and bread and an irrigating ditch for a lavatory to a palace itself an oriental palace with all the Delicacies of the

East and a host of servants to attend to our slightest WI so it was at Boston the residence of one of Persia’s most influential hakims or Governors literally pillars of State who was also a cousin to the Sha himself this potentate we visited in company with an English engineer whom we

Met in transit at shurup it was on the evening before when at supper with this gentleman in his tent that a special messenger arrived from the governor requesting us as the invitation ran to take our brightness into his presence as we entered the governor Rose from his seat on the floor a courtesy

Never shown Us by a Turkish official even the politest of them would just at this particular moment be conveniently engrossed in the examination of some book or paper his courtesy was further extended by locking up our horses and making us his prisoners until the following morning at the dinner which Mr Evans and

We were invited to eat with his Excellency benches had to be especially prepared as there was nothing like a to be found on the premises the governor himself took his accustomed position on the floor with his own private dishes around him from these he would occasionally fish out with his fingers some Choice

Lamb kebab or cabbage dolma and have it passed over to his guests an act which is considered one of the highest forms of Persian hospitality with a shifting of the scenes of travel we stood at sunset on the summit of the bolude mountains overlooking the Valley of the cashif

Fruit our two weeks Journey was almost ended for the city of mesh was now in view 10 miles away around us were piles of little stones to which each Pious Pilgrim adds his quota when first he sees the holy Shrine which we beheld shining like a

Ball of fire in the glow of the setting sun while we were building our pyramid a party of returning pilgrims greeted us with machete at last not yet we answered for we knew that the gates of the Holy City closed promptly at Twilight yet we determined to make the

Attempt on WE sped but not with the speed of the falling night dusk over took us as we reached the plane a moving form was revealed to us on the bank of the irrigating Canal which skirted the edge of the road backward it fell as we dashed by

And then the sound of a splash and splutter reached us as we disappeared in the darkness on the marrow we learned that the spirits of Hassan and Hussein were seen skimming the Earth in their flight toward the holy city we reached the bridge and crossed the moat but the gates were

Closed we knocked and pounded but a hollow Echo was our only response at last the light of a lantern illumined the crevices in the weather beaten doors and a weird looking face appeared through the Midway opening who’s there said a voice whose sepulcral tones might have belonged to the seon of the Holy

Tomb we are fairing this we said and must get into the City tonight we are that is impossible he answered for the gates are locked and the keys have been sent away to the governor’s palace with this the night air grew more chill but another thought struck us at

Once we would send a note to General McAn the English Council General who was already expecting us this our interlocutor for a certain enm or Persian bakish at length agreed to deliver a general as we afterward learned sent a servant with a special request to the governor’s

Palace here without delay a squad of Horsemen was detailed and ordered with the keys to the herat gate uh the crowds in the streets attracted by this unusual turnout at this unusual hour followed in their wake to the scene of disturbance there was a click of locks

The clanking of chains and the creaking of rusty hinges the great doors swung open and a crowd of expectant faces received Us in the holy city mesh claims our attention chiefly for its famous dead in its sacred dust lie buried our old hero harun Al Rashid for Dai Persia’s greatest epic

Poet and the holy Imam RZA within whose Shrine every criminal may take refuge from even the Sha himself until the payment of a blood tax or a debtor until the giving of a guarantee for debt no Infidel can enter there mesh was the pivotal Point upon which our Wheel of Fortune was to

Turn we were filled with no little anxiety therefore when on the day after our arrival we received an invitation to call at the Russian Consulate General with great ceremony we were ushered into a suite of elegantly furnished rooms and received by the cul General and his English wife in full

Dress Madame deaso was radiant with smiles as she served s by the side of her steaming silver samovar she could not wait for the circumlocution of diplomacy but said it is all right gentlemen General kuropat King has just telegraphed permission for you to proceed to aabad this precipitate remark evidently

Disconcerted the consul who could only nod his head and say we wee an affirmation this news lifted a heavy load from our minds our desert journey of 600 miles therefore had not been made in vain and the prospect brightened for a trip through the heart of Asia between the Rival Hospitality of

The Russian and English consulates our health was now in Jeopardy from excess of kindness among other social attentions we received an invitation from sahib Dean the governor of corasan who next to the Sha is the richest man in Persia although 76 years of age on the

Day of our visit to his Palace he was literally covered with diamonds and precious stones with the photographer to the Sha as German interpreter we spent half an hour in an interesting conversation among other topics he mentioned the receipt a few days before of a peculiar telegram from the

Sha cut off the head of anyone who attempts opposition to the tobacco regi and this was followed a few days after by the inquiry how many heads have you taken a retinue of about 300 corders followed the governor as he walked out with feeble steps to the parade ground

Here a company of Persian Cavalry was detailed to clear the field for the wonderful steel horses which as was said had come from the capital in 2 days a distance of 600 miles the governor’s extreme pleasure was afterward expressed in a special letter for our journey to the

Frontier the mil Military Road now completed between Asad and mesh reveals the extreme weakness of Persia’s defense against Russian aggression elated by her recent successes in the matter of a Russian Consul at mesh Russia has very forcibly invited Persia to construct more than half of a road which in connection with the

Transcaspian railway makes Kuran almost an exclusive Russian market and opens Persia’s richest Province to Russia’s troops and cannon on the prospective march to Hera at this very writing if the telegraph speaks the truth the Persian border province of DZ is another session by what the Russians are pleased to call their Persian

Vassel in addition to its increas in commercial traffic this road is patronized by many Shia devotees from the north among whom are what the natives term the silent pilgrims these are large stones or Boulders rolled along a few feet at a time by the passers by toward the holy

City we ourselves were employed in this Pious work at the close of our first Day’s Journey from mesh when we were suddenly aroused by a bantering voice behind us looking up we were hailed by stagno Navaro the inspector of the Persian Telegraph who was employed with his men on a neighboring

Line not with this gentleman we spent the following night in a telegraph station and passed a pleasant evening chatting over the wires with friends in mesh cuchen our next stopping Place lies on the almost imperceptible Watershed which separates the heret Valley from the Caspian Sea

Do this city only a few months ago was entirely destroyed by a severe earthquake under date of January 28th 1894 the American Press reported Dr the bodies of 10,000 victims of the awful disaster have already been recovered 50,000 cattle were destroyed at the same time the once important and beautiful

City of 20,000 people is now only a scene of death desolation and Terror from this point to ascad the construction of the military Highway speaks well for Russia’s engineering skill it crosses the copit da mountains over seven distinct passes in a distance of 80 miles but this we determined to cover if

Possible in one day in as much as there was no intermediate stopping place and as we were not a little delighted by the idea of at last emerging from semi barbarism into semi civilization at Sunset we were scaling the fifth Ridge since leaving cochan at Daybreak and a few minutes later rolled

Up before the Persian custom house in the valley below there was no evidence of the proximity of a Russian Frontier except the extraordinary size of the tea glasses from which we SL flaked our intolerable thirst during the day we had had a surfit of cavernous gorges and commanding Pinnacles but very little

Water the only copious spring we were able to find was filled at the time with the unwashed linen of a Persian traveler Who Sat by smiling in derision as we up braided him for his disregard of the tra traveling public it was already dusk when we came

In sight of the Russian custom house a tin roofed Stone structure contrasting strongly with the Persian mud HS we had left behind a Russian official hailed us as we shot by but we could not stop on the downgrade and besides Darkness was too rapidly approaching to Brook any delay

Escad was 28 mil away and although wearied by an extremely hard day’s work we must sleep that night if possible in a Russian hotel our Pace increased with the growing Darkness until at length we were going at the rate of 12 mil per sa hour down a narrow Gorge like Valley

Toward the seventh and last Ridge that lay between us and the desert at 9 30 p.m. we stood upon its Summit and before us stretched the Sandy wastes of kakum and shrouded in Gloom thousands of feet below us the city of Asad was a blaze with light

Lights shining like beacons on the shore of the desert sea strains of music from a Russian band stole faintly up through the darkness as we dismounted and contemplated the strange scene until the shriek of a locomotive whistle startled us from our Ries across the desert a train of the transcaspian Railway was gliding

Smoothly along toward the city a hearty welcome back to civilized life was given us the next evening by General Kura patkin himself the governor general of trans gaspa during the course of a dinner with him and his friends he kindly assured us that no further recommendation was needed than

The fact that we were American citizens to entitle us to travel from one end of the Russian Empire to the other from ascad to samand there was a break in the continuity of our bicycle Journey our Russian friends persuaded us to take advantage of the transcaspian Railway and not to Hazard a journey

Across the dreaded caracum Sands such a journey made upon the railroad track where water and food were obtainable at regular intervals would have entailed only a small part of the hardships incurred on the deserts in China yet we were more than anxious to reach before the Advent of winter a

Point whence we could be assured of reaching the Pacific during The Following Season through the kindness of the Railway authorities at bakara station our car was sidetracked to enable us to visit 10 m away way that ancient city of the east on November 6th we reached samand

The ancient capital of tamarlane and the present Terminus of the transcaspian Railway F3 the journey from samand to kulia on the morning of November 16th we took a last look at the Blue Domes and minettes of somand intermingled with the ruins of palaces and tombs and then wheeled away

Toward the banks of the zeran our 4 days journey of 180 Mi along the regular Russian Post Road was attended with only the usual vicissitudes of ordinary travel waiting in our Russian top boot through the treacherous Fords of the snake defile we passed the pyramidal Slate Rock known as the Gate of

Tamarlane and emerged upon a strip of the kizel step stretching hence in painful monotony to the bank of the Saria River this we crossed by a rude rope Ferry filled at the time with a passing Caravan and then began at once to ascend the Valley of the churchi toward

Tashad the blackened cotton which the natives were gathering from the fields the lowering snow line on the mountains the muddy roads the chilling atmosphere and the Falling Leaves of the giant poppers all warmed us of the approach of winter we had hoped at least to reach ver a provincial capital near the converging

Point of the turkistan Siberian and Chinese boundaries whence we could continue on the opening of the following spring either through Siberia or across the Chinese Empire but in this we were doomed to disappointment the delay on the part of the Russian authorities in granting us permission to enter transgas IA had

Postponed at least a month our arrival in tashkin and now owing to the early Advent of the rainy season the roads leading North were almost impassible even for the native carts this fact together with the reports of heavy snowfalls beyond the alexandrovski mountains on the road to

Veroy lent a rather cogent influence to the persuasion of our friends to spend the winter among them then to such a plan we thought might not be unproductive of future advantages thus far we had been journeying through Russian territory without a passport we had no authorization except

The telegram to come on received from General kuropat Kean at asob and a verbal permission of count rosters off at Sand to proceed to tashkin furthermore the passport for which we had just applied to Baron Revy the governor general of turkistan would be available only as far as the border of

Siberia where we should have to apply to the various Governors General along our course to the Pacific in case we should find the route across the Chinese Empire impracticable a general permission to travel from tashkin to the Pacific coast through southern Siberia could be obtained from St Petersburg only and that only through

The chief executive of the province through which we were passing permission to enter turkistan is by no means easily obtained as is well understood by the student of Russian policy in Central Asia we were not a little surprised therefore when our request to spend the winter in its capital was graciously

Granted by Baron Revy as well as the privilege for one of us to return in the meantime to London this we had determined on in order to secure some much needed bicycle supplies and to complete other arrangements for the success of our Enterprise by lot the return trip fell to sat

Laben proceeding by the transcaspian and trans Cassis railroads the Caspian and black Seas to Constantinople and then by the Overland Express to Belgrade Vienna Frankfurt and Cala he was able to reach London in 16 days tashkin though nearly in the same latitude as New York is so protected by the

Alexandrovski mountains from the Siberian blizzards and the scorching Winds of the caracum desert as to have an even more moderate climate a tributary of the churchi river forms the line of demarcation between the the native and the European portions of the city although the population of the

Latter is by no means devoid of a native element both together cover an area as extensive as Paris though the population is only 120,000 of which 100,000 are congregated in the native or sart Court there is a floating element of kashgarian bakarat Persians and Afghans and a resident majority of kures

Tters Jews Hindus Gypsies and sarts the latter being a generic title for the urban as distinguished from The Nomad people our winter quarters were obtained at the home of a typical Russian family in company with a young Reserve officer he having finished his University career and time of military

Service was engaged in Tash kand in the interest of his father a wholesale Merchant in Moscow with him we’re able to converse either in French or German both of which languages he could speak more purely than his native Russian our good-natured corpulent host had immigrated in the pioneer days from

The steps of Southern Russia and had grown wealthy through the unearned increment the Russian samovar is the characteristic feature of the Russian household besides a big bowl of cabbage soup at every meal a Russian host would start in with a half tumbler of vodka dispose of a bottle of beer in the

Intervals and then top off with two or three glasses of tea the Mistress of the household being Limited in her beverages to tea and soup would usually make up in quantity what was lacking in Variety in fact one day she informed us that she had not em bibed a drop of

Water for over 6 years for this however there is a very plausible excuse with the water at tashkin as with that from the Zera Shan at bokara a dangerous worm called racea is absorbed into the system K you nowhere have we drunk better tea than around the steaming samovar of our tashkin host

No peasant is too poor either in money or in sentiment to buy and feel the cheering influence of tea even the casac in his foray into the Wilds of Central Asia is sustained by it unlike the Chinese the Russians consider sugar a necessary concomitant of tea drinking there are three methods of sweetening

Tea to put the sugar in the glass to place a lump of sugar in the mouth and suck the tea through it to hang a lump in the midst of a tea drinking Circle to be swung around for each in turn to touch with his tongue and then to take a swallow of

Tea the meaning of the name tashen is city of stone but a majority of the houses are one-story mud structures built low so as to prevent any disastrous effects from earthquakes the roofs are so flat and poorly constructed that during the rainy season a dry ceiling is rather the exception than the

Rule every building is covered CED with white wash or white paint and fronts directly on the street there are plenty of back and side yards but none in front H this is not so bad on the Broad Streets of a Russian town and in tashkin they are exceptionally

Wide with ditches on each side through which the water from the churchi ripples along beneath the double and even quadruple rows of poppers acaas and Willows these trees grow here with remarkable luxuriance from a mere twig stuck into the ground although 20 years of Russian irrigation has given nature a chance to

Rear thousands of trees on former Barren wastes yet wood is still comparatively scarce in Deer the administration buildings of the city are for the most part exceedingly plain and unpretentious a striking contrast is the new Russian Cathedral the recently erected school and a large retail store

Built by a resident Greek all of which are a fine specimens of Russian architecture among its institutions are an observatory a museum containing an embryo collection of of turkistan products and Antiquities and a medical dispensary for the natives where vaccination is performed by graduates of medicine in the tashkin

School the rather extensive library was originally collected for the chancell of the governor general and contains the best collection of Works on Central Asia that is to be found in the world including in its scope not only books and pamphlets but even magazines and newspaper articles for amusements the city has a

Theater a small imitation of the Opera House at Paris and the military club which with its Billiards and gambling and weekly reunions balls and concerts though a regular feature of a Russian Garrison town is especially pretentious in Tashkent in size architecture and appointments the clubhouse has no equal

We were told outside the capital in mosow Tashan has long been known as a refuge for damaged reputations and shattered fortunes or the official Purgatory following upon the emperor’s displeasure one of the finest houses of the city is occupied by the Grand Duke Nikolai constan noic Romanov son of the late General admiral

Of the Russian Navy and first cousin to the Zar who seems to be cheerfully resigned to his life in Exile most of his time is occupied with the business of his silk Factory on the outskirts of tashkin and at his farm near hent which a certain firm in Chicago at

The time of our sojourn was stocking with irrigating Machinery all of his bills are paid with checks drawn on a St Petersburg trustees his private life is rather unconventional and even Democratic visitors to his household are particular ly impressed with the beauty of his wife and the size of his liquor

Glasses the example of the Grand Duke illustrates the sentiment in favor of industrial Pursuits which is growing among the military classes and even among the nobility of Russia the government itself thanks to the severe lesson of the Crimean War has learned that a great nation must stand

Upon a foundation of something more than aristocracy and nobility to this influence is largely due the present growing prosperity of tashk which in military importance is rapidly giving way to Asad the key to Herod that Spirit of equality and fraternity which characterizes the government of a Russian mirror or V

Has been carried even into Central Asia we have frequently seen Russian peasants and natives occupying adjoining apartments in the same household while in the process of trade all classes seem to fraternize in an easy and even cordial manner the same is true of the children who play together indiscriminately in the street

Many a one of these heterogeneous groups we have watched playing marbles with the ankle bones of sheep and listened with some amusement to their half Russian half-native jargon schools are now being established to educate the native children in the Russian language and methods and Native apprentices are being taken in by

Russian Merchants for the same purpose in tashk kand as in every European city of the Orient drunkenness and gambling and social laxity have followed upon the introduction of Western morals and culture jealousy and Intrigue among the officers and functionaries are also not strange perhaps at so great a distance from

Headquarters we the only Avenue to distinctions seems to lie through the public service at the various dinner parties and Sociables given throughout the winter the topic of War always met with General welcome on one occasion a report was circulated that abdan Khan the Amir of Afghanistan was lying at the point of

Death great preparations it was said we’re being made for an expedition over the pamir to establish on the throne the Russian candidate is sha Khan from samand before aayu Khan the Rival British Protege could be brought from India the young officers at once began to discuss their chances for promotion

And the number of decorations to be forthcoming from St Petersburg the social Gatherings at tashk were more convivial than sociable I am I’m you are I acquaintances can eat and drink together with the greatest of good cheer but there is very little sympathy in Conversation it was difficult for them to understand why we had come so far to see a country which to many of them was a place of Exile an early spring did not mean an early departure from Winter quarters impassable roads kept us anxious prisoners for a month and a half

After the necessary papers had been secured these included in addition to the local passports a cart blanch permission to travel from tashen to Vladivostok through turkistan and Siberia a document obtained from St Petersburg through the United States Minister The Honorable Charles Emory Smith of this route to the Pacific we

Were therefore certain and yet despite the universal opinion that a bicycle journey across the celestial Empire was impracticable we had determined to continue on to the borderline and there to seek better information I’m going to China were the last words of our many kind friends as

We wheeled out of tashkin on the 7th of May at shimen our course turned abruptly from what was once the main route between Russia’s European and Asiatic Capal capitals and along which theps in his letter to the SAR proposed a line of rail road to connect orenberg

With Saran a distance about equal to that between St Petersburg and Odessa 1483 mies this is also the Keystone in that wall of forts which Russia gradually raised around her unruly Nomads of the steps and where according to gorchakov Circular of 1864 both interest and reason required her to

Stop and yet at that very time General CHF was advancing his forces upon the present Capital Tashkent here too we began that journey of 1500 miles along the celestial mountain range which terminated only when we scaled its Summit Beyond barkle to descend again into the Burning Sands of the desert of

Goat here runs the great historical Highway between China and the west from Ali ETA Eastward we had before us about 200 mil of a vast step region near the mountains is a Wilderness of lakes swamps and streams which run dry in summer this is the country of the Thousand Springs mentioned by the

Chinese Pilgrim Huen sang what and where was established the kingdom of black China supposed by many to have been one of the kingdoms of prester John but far away to our left were the White Sands of the AK over which the cloudless atmosphere Quivers incessantly like the blasts of a

Furnace of all these deserts occupying probably one half of the whole turkistan step none is more terrible than that of the gadia step or step of hunger to the north of the White Sands now before us even in the cool of evening it is said The Souls of the wayfarer’s feet

Become scor Ed and the dog accompanying him finds no Repose till he is burrowed below the burning surface the monotonous appearance of the step itself is only intensified in winter when the snow Smooths over the broken surface and even necessitates the placing of mud posts at regular

Intervals to Mark the roadway for the kgis Post drivers but in the spring and Autumn its arid surface is clothed as if by enchantment with verdur and Prairie flowers both flowers and birds are gorgeously colored one variety about half the size of the jackdaw which infests the houses

Of tashk kand and samand has a bright blue body and Red Wings another resembl our field Lark in size and habits combines a pink breast with black head and wings but already this spring tide Splendor was beginning to disappear beneath the glare of approaching summer the long wagon trains of lumber

And the occasional Travelers tarantas rumbling along to the Discord of stab Bells were enveloped in a cloud of suffocating dust now and then we would overtake a party of Russian peasants migrating from the famine stricken districts of European Russia to the Pioneer colonies along this turkistan highway the peculiarity of these

Villages is their extreme length all the houses facing on the one wide Street most of them are merely mud Huts others make pretensions to doors and windows and a coat of whitewash nearby usually stands the old battered Telo which served as a home during many months of travel over the orberg

Highway it speaks well for the colonizing capacity of the Russians that they can be induced to come so many hundreds of miles from their native land to settle in such such a primitive way among the half wild tribes of the steps as yet they do very little farming

But live like the kgis by raising horses cows sheep and goats and in addition the Russian hog the last resembling very much the wild swine of the jungles instead of the former military colonies of plundering cacs who really become more assimilated to the kgas than these to their

Conquerors the Mir or communal system is now penetrating these fertile districts and systematically replacing the Mongolian culture but the ignorance of this lower class of Russians is almost as noticeable as that of the natives themselves as soon as we entered a village the blacksmith left his Anvil

The carpet his bench the storekeeper his counter and the milkmaid her task after our parade of the principal Street the crowd would gather around us at the station house all sorts of queries and would pass among them one would ask are these gentlemen baptized are they really Christians on account of their extreme

Ignorance these Russian colonists are by no means able to cope with their German colleagues who are given the poorest land and yet Make a Better Living the step is a good place for learning patience with the absence of landmarks you seem never to be getting anywhere it presents the appearance of a

Boundless level EXP expans the very undulations of which are so uniform as to conceal the intervening troughs into these Horsemen and sometimes whole Caravans mysteriously disappear in this way we were often enabled to surprise a herd of gazel grazing by the roadside they would stand for a moment

With necks extended and then Scamper away like a shot springing on their pipe stem limbs 3 or 4 feet into the air our average rate was about 7 m an hour although the roads were sometimes so soft with dust or sand as to necessitate the laying of straw for a

Foundation there was scarcely an hour in the day when we were not accompanied by from 1 to 20 kuris Horsemen Galloping behind us with cries of yakshi good they were especially curious to see how we crossed the roadside streams standing on the bank they would watch intently every move as we stripped

And waited through with B I Les and clothing on our shoulders then they would challenge us to a race and if the road permitted we would Endeavor to reveal some of the possibilities of the devil’s carts on an occasion like this occurred one of our few mishaps the road was lined by the

Occupants of a neighboring tent Village who had run out to see the race one of the kgas turned suddenly back in the opposite direction from which he had started the wheel struck him at a rate of 15 mph lifting him off his feet and hurling over the handlebars the rider

Who fell upon his left arm and twisted it out of place with the assistance of the bystanders it was pulled back into the socket and bandaged up till we reached the nearest Russian village here the only physician was an old blind woman of the faith cure persuasion her massage treatment to

Replace the muscles was really effective and was accompanied by prayers and by signs of the cross a common method of treatment among the lower class of Russians in one instance a cure was supposed to be affected by writing a prayer on a piece of buttered bread to be eaten by the

Patient one there but not patrons of the Russian post roads we were not legally entitled to the conveniences of the post stations tipping alone as we found on our journey from samand was not always sufficient to preclude a request during the night to vacate the best quarters for the Post

Traveler especially if he happened to wear the regulation brass button to secure us against this inconvenience and to gain some special attention a letter was obtained from the overseer of the turkistan post and Telegraph District this proved advantageous on many occasions and once at Ali ET a was even

Necessary we were surveyed with suspicious glances as soon as we entered the Station House and when we asked for water to La our hands and face we were directed to the irrigating ditch in the street our request for a better room was answered by the question if the one we

Had was not good enough and how long we intended to occupy that evidently our English conversation had gained for us the covert reputation of being English spies and this was verified in the minds of our hosts when we began to ask questions about the city prisons we had passed on our

Way to every interrogation they replied I don’t know but Presto change on the presentation of documents apologies were now profuse and besides tea breed and eggs the usual rations of a Russian post station we were exceptionally favored with chicken soup and verc the latter consisting of cheese wrapped and boiled

In dough and then served in butter it has been the custom for travelers in Russia to decry the Russian post station but the fact is that an appreciation of this rather primitive form of accommodation depends entirely upon whether you approach it from a European hotel or from a Persian

Con some are clean While others are dirty uh nevertheless it was always a welcome sight to see a small white building looming up in the dim Horizon at the close of a Long Day’s ride and on near approach to observe the black and white striped Post in front and idle tantis around

It at the door would be found the usual crowd of kgus post drivers after the presentation of Doc to the stoa who would hesitate at first about quartering our horses in the Traveler’s room we would proceed at once to place our dust covered heads beneath the spindle of the washing tank although by

This dripping pan arrangement we would usually succeed in getting as much water down our backs as on our faces yet we were consoled by the thought that too much was better than not enough and as had been the case in turkey and Persia then we would settle down before

The steaming samovar to meditate in solitude and quiet while the Rays of the declining Sun Shone on the Gilded icon in the corner of the room and on the Chromo covered walls when darkness fell and the simmering music of the samovar had gradually died away when the flitting swallows in the

Room had ceased their chirp and settled down upon the rafters overhead we ourselves would turn in under our fur-lined coats upon the leather covered benches in consequence of the first of a series of accidents to our Wheels we were for several days the guests of the director of the Botanical Gardens at pishek

As a branch of the crown Botanical Gardens at St Petersburg some valuable experiments were being made here with foreign seeds and plants peaches we were told do not Thrive but apples pears cherries and the various kinds of berries grow as well as they do at home Rye however takes three years to

Reach the height of one year in America through the Russians these people have obtained high flown ideas of America and Americans we saw many chromos of American celebrities in the various station houses and the most numerous was that of Thomas a Edison his photograph we were told had

Already made its appearance in pishek but the natives did not seem to realize what it was why they said we have often heard better music than that Dr Tanner was not without his share of Fame in this far away country during his fast in America a similar though not voluntary feat was

Being performed here makes messenger who had been dispatched into the mountains during the winter was lost in the snow and remained for 28 days without food he was found at last crazed by hunger when asked what he would have to eat he replied everything they foolishly gave him

Everything and in two days he was dead for a long time he was called the Dr Tanner of turkistan a Divergence of 75 mil from the regular post route was made in order to visit Lake isik Cole which is probably the largest lake for its elevation in the world being

About 10 times larger than Lake Geneva and at a height of 5300 ft its slightly brackish water which never freezes teams with several varieties of fish many of which we helped to unhook from a Russian Fisherman’s line and then helped to eat in his primitive Hut near the

Shore a Russian casac who had just come over the snow caps alatau of the shade from Fort nurin was also present and from the frequent glances cast at the fisherman’s daughter we soon discovered the object of his visit the ascent to this Lake through the famous bam defile or happy pass

Afforded some of the grandest scenery on our route through Asia it’s seething foaming irresistible torrent needs only a large volume to make it the equal of the Rapids at Niagara our return to the Post Road was made by an unbeaten track over the alatau mountains from the Shu Valley dotted

Here and there with kirgis tent Villages and their grazing flocks and herds we pushed our wheels up the broken path which wound like a mythical stairway far up into the lwh hanging clouds we trudged up one of the steepest ascents we have ever made with a wheel the scenery was Grand but

Lonely a wild tulips pinks and verbas dotting the green slopes furnished the only Pleasant diversion from our arduous labor just as we turned the highest Summit the clouds shifted for a moment and revealed before us two kg’s Horsemen they started back in astonishment and gazed at us as though

We were Demons of the air until we disappeared again down the opposite and more gradual slope late in the afternoon we emerged upon the plane but no Post Road or Station House was in sight as we expected nothing but a few kgis kitas among the straggling rocks like the tents of the

Egyptian Arabs among the Fallen stones of the pyramids toward these we now directed our course and in view of a rapidly approaching storm asked to purchase a knight’s lodging this was only too willingly granted in anticipation of the coming to Masha or exhibition the milkmaids as they went out to the

Rows of sheep and goats tied to the lines of Woolen rope and the horsemen with rainless horses to drive in the ranging herds spread the news from tent to tent by the time Darkness fell the kibitka was filled to overflow it we were given the seat of Honor

Opposite the doorway bolstered up with blankets and pill pillows By the Light of the fire curling its smoke upward through the central opening in the roof it was interesting to note the faces of our hosts we had never met a people of a more peaceful temperament and on the

Other hand none more easily frightened a dread of the evil eye is one of their characteristics we had not been set long before the asan or itinerant dervish was called in to drive away the evil spirits which the devil’s carts might possibly have brought immediately on entering he began

To shrug his shoulders and to shiver as though passing into a State of Trance our dervish acquaintance was a man of more than average intelligence he had traveled in India and had even heard someone speak of America this fact alone was sufficient to Warrant him and posing as instructor

For the rest of the assembly while we were drinking tea a habit they have recently adopted from the Russians he held forth at Great length to his audience about the American the rain now began to descend in torrents the felt covering was drawn over the central opening and propped up

At one end with a pole to emit the clouds of smoke from the smoldering fire this was shifted With the veering Wind although a mere circular rib framework covered with white or or brown felt according as the occupant is Rich or poor the kgus kibitka or more properly

Yurt is not as a house build it upon the sand even in the fiercest storm its stenness and comfort are surprising when we consider the rapidity with which it may be taken down and transported in half an hour a whole village may vanish immigrating northward in summer and South Southward in

Winter many a kg cavalcade was overtaken on the road with long tent ribs and Felts tied upon the backs of two humped camels for the B and Dromedary has not been able to endure the severities of these Northern climates the men would always be mounted on the camels or horses backs while the

Women would be perched on The Oxen and Bullocks trained for the saddle and as beasts of birth the men never walk if there is any leading to be done it falls to the women the constant use of the saddle has made many of the men bandy-legged which in connection with their usual obesity

With them a mark of dignity gives them a comical appearance after their curiosity regarding us had been partly satisfied it was suggested that a sheep should be slaughtered in our honor neither meat nor bread is ever eaten by any but the rich kgus their Universal cus corresponding to the Turkish yo or

Or coagulated milk and other forms of lacal dishes sometimes mixed with meal form the chief diet of the poor the wife of our host a buxom woman who as we had seen could leap upon a horses back as readily as a man now entered the doorway carrying a full

Grown Sheep by its woolly coat this she twirled over on its back and held down with her knee while the butcher artist drew a dagger from his belt and held it aoft until the assembly stroked their scant beards and uttered the solemn Bismillah tired out by the day’s ride we

Fell asleep before the arrangements for the feast had been completed when awakened near midnight we found that the Savory odor from the huge calron on the fire had only increased the attraction and the crowd the choicest bits were now selected for the guests these consisted of pieces of

Liver served with lumps of fat from the tail of their peculiarly fat tailed sheep as an act of the highest Hospitality our host dipped these into some liquid grease and then reaching over placed them in our mouths with his fingers it required considerable effort on this occasion to subject our feelings

Of nausea to a sense of kgis politeness in keeping with their characteristic generosity everyone in the kibitka must partake in some measure of the feast although the women who had done all the work must be content with with remnants and Bones already picked over by the host but this disposition to share

Everything was not without its other aspect we also were expected to share everything with them we were asked to bestow any little trinket or knick-knack exposed to view any extra nut on the machine a handkerchief a packet of tea or a lump of sugar excited their cupidity at

Once the latter was considered a bon bon by the women and younger portion of the spectator the attractive daughter of our host kumas John amused herself by stealing lumps of sugar from our pockets what when the feast was ended the Beards were again stroked the name of Allah

Solemnly uttered by way of thanks for the Bounty of heaven and then each gave utterance to his appreciation of the meal before retiring for the night the dervish led the prayers just as he had done at Sunset the praying mats were spread and all heads bowed toward meca the only preparation for retiring

Was the spreading of blank gets from the pile in one of the kibas the kgas are not in the habit of removing many garments for this purpose and under the circumstances we found this custom a rather convenient one six of us turned in on the floor together forming a semicircle with our

Feet toward the fire kumas John who was evident ly the pet of the household had a rudely constructed cut at the far end of the kitka vernoy the old almati with its Broad Streets lowwood and brick houses and Russian sign boards presented a Siberian aspect the ruins of its many disastrous

Earthquakes lying low on every hand told us at once the cause of its deserted thoroughfares the terrible shocks of the year before our visit killed several hundred people and a whole mountain in the vicinity sank the only hope of its persistent residence is a branch from the Trans

Siberian or transcaspian railroad or the reannexation by Russia of the Fertile province of el to make it an IND dispensable Depot despite these periodical calamities vernoy has had and is now constructing Under The Genius of the French architect Paul L gorde some of the finest edifices to be found in

Central Asia a orphan Asylum a magnificent three-story structure is now being built on experimental lines to test its strength against earthquake shocks one of the chief incidents of our Pleasant sojourn was afforded by Governor Ivanov we were invited to head the procession of the cacs on their annual

Departure for their summer encampment in the mountains after the usual religious ceremony they filed out from the city parade ground being unavoidably detained for a few moments we did not come up until some time after the column had started as we dashed by to the front with the American and Russian Flags

Fluttering side by side from the handlebars cheer after cheer arose from the ranks and even the governor and his party doed their caps in acknowledgement at the camp we were favored with a special exhibition of horsemanship by a single Twist of the rain the steeds would fall to the ground

And their Riders Crouch down behind them as a bull workk in battle then dashing forward at full speed they would spring to the ground and leap back again into the saddle or hanging by their legs would reach over and pick up a handkerchief cap or a soldier supposed to be

Wounded all these movements we photographed with our camera of the endurance of these cacs and their kgus horses we had a practical test overtaking a CAC Courier in the early part of a Day’s Journey he became so interested in the velocipede as the Russians call the bicycle that he

Determined to see as much of it as possible he stayed with us the whole day over a distance of 55 miles his chief compensation was in witnessing the surprise of the natives to whom he would shout across the fields to come and see the tamasha adding an explanation that we

Were the American gent gentlemen who had ridden all the way from America our speed was not slow and frequently the poor fellow would have to resort to the Whip or shout slowly gentlemen my horse is tired the town is not far away it is not necessary to hurry

So the fact is that in all our experience we found no horse of even the famed kgas or turkman breed that could travel with the same ease and rapidity as ourselves even over the most ordinary Road at Verno we began to gleam practical information about China but

All except our genial host M gorde counseled us against our proposed Journey he alone as a traveler of experience advised a Divergence from the Siberian route at Alton Amel in order to visit the Chinese city of kulja where as he said with the assistance of the resident

Russian conso we could test the validity of the Chinese passport received as before mentioned from the Chinese minister at London a few days later we were rolling up the Valley of the Eli having crossed that River by the well- constructed Russian bridge at Fort Elis the head of

Navigation for the boats from Lake balash new faces here met our curious gaze as an ethnological transition between the inhabitants of Central Asia and the Chinese we were now among two distinctly agricultural races the Dungan and Teran branches as the invited guests of these people on several occasions we were

Struck with their extreme cleanliness economy and industry but their deep set eyes seem to express Reckless cruelty the muhammadan mosques of this people are like the Chinese pagodas in outward appearance while they seem to be Chinese in half kgas garments their women too do not Veil themselves

Although they are much more shy than their rugged Sisters of the steps tenacious of their word these people were also scrupulous about returning favors our exhibitions were usually rewarded by a spread of sweets and yellow Dungan tea of this we would partake beneath the shade of their well-trained grape

Barbers while listening to the music or rather Discord of a peculiar stringed instrument played by the boy its bow of two parts was so interlaced with the strings of the instrument as to play upon two at every draw another musician usually accompanied by beating little sticks on a

Saucer these are the people who were interest reduced by the Manu to replace the calmu in the Kia district and who in 1869 so terribly Avenged upon their masters the blood they previously caused to flow the fertile province of kja with a population of 2,500,000 was reduced by their massacres to one vast

Necropolis on all sides are canals that have be come swamps abandoned Fields wasted forests and towns and villages in ruins in some of which the ground is still strewn with the bleached bones of the murdered as we ascended the ili valley piles of stones marked in succession the sites of the towns of

Turan Jaren Aken and coros names which the Russians are already Reviving in their Pioneer settlements the largest of these Jaren is the coming Frontier Town to take the place of evacuated kja about 22 Mi east of this point the large white russian Fort of coros stands

Bristling on the bank of the river of that name which by the Treaty of 18 1881 is now the boundary line of the celestial Empire on a ledge of rocks overlooking the Ford a Russian Sentinel was walking his beat in the Solitude of a dreary Outpost he stopped to watch us as we

Plunged into the flood with our Russian Tela for a fery booat alls well we heard him cry as bumping over the rocky bottom we pass passed from Russia into China ah yes we thought alls well that ends well but this is only the beginning a few minutes later we dashed

Through the arched driveway of the Chinese custom house and were several yards away before the lounging officials realized what it was that flitted across their Vision stop up come back they shouted in broken Russian amid a confusion of chattering voices rustling gowns clattering shoes swinging pigtails and clouds of opium

And tobacco smoke we were brought into the presence of the head official putting on his huge spectacles he read aloud the VIS written Upon Our American passports by the Chinese minister in London B his wonderment was increased when he further read that such a journey was being made on the foot moved

Carriages which were being curiously fingered by the attendants our garments were minutely scrutinized especially the buttons while our caps and dark colored spectacles were taken from our head and passed round for each to try on in turn amid much laughter owing to the predominant influence of Russia in these

Northwestern consigns our Russian papers would have been quite sufficient to cross the border into kulja it was only Beyond this point that our Chinese passport would be found necessary and possibly invalid after the usual VIs had been stamped and written over we were off on what proved to be our six months

Experience in the Middle Kingdom or Central Empire as the natives call it for to Chan there is a fifth point to the compass the center which is China not far on the road we heard the clatter of hoofs behind us a muuk was dashing toward us with a portentous look on his

Features we dismounted in apprehension he stopped short some 20 ft away leaped to the ground and crawling up on hands and knees began to Chin Chin or knock his head on the ground before us this he continued for some moments and then without a word gazed at us in Wild

Astonishment our perplexity over this performance was increased when at a neighboring Village a bewildered sprang out from the speechless crowd and threw himself in the road before by a dexterous turn we missed his head and passed over his extended queue kulja with its Russian console and casac station still maintains a Russian

Telegraph and Postal Service the mail is carried from the border in a train of three or four Telos which rattle along over the Primitive roads in a cloud of dust with armed cacs Galloping before and after and a Russian flag carried by The Herald in

Front even in the Kia post office a he fully armed picket stands guard over the money chest this postal Caravan we now overtook encamped by a small stream during the glaring heat of the afternoon we found that we had been expected several days before and that

Quarters had been prepared for us in the postal station at the town of suon here we SP spent the night and continued on to kulja the following morning although built by the Chinese who call it ninan kulja with its houses of beaten Earth strongly resembles the towns of Russian

Turkistan since the evacuation by the Russians the Chinese have built around the city the usual quadrangular wall 30 ft in height and 20 ft in width with parapets still in the course of construction but the rows of popl the whitewash and the telas were still left to remind us of the temporary Russian

Occupation for several days we were objects of excited interest to the mixed population the doors and window Windows of our Russian quarters were besieged by crowds in defense of our host we gave a public exhibition and with the consent of the two tii made the circuit on the top of the city

Walls fully 3,000 people lined the streets and housetops to witness the race to which we had been challenged by four Dungan Horsemen riding Below on the encircling roadway the distance around was 2 miles the horsemen started with a rush and at the end of the first mile were

Ahead at the third turning we overtook them and came to the Finish 200 yds ahead amid great excitement Ian the commander of the Kia forces was was brushed aside by the chasing Rabel V over the Gobi desert and through the Western gate of the Great Wall Russian influence which even now predominates at

Kia was forcibly indicated the day after our arrival during our investigations as to the validity of our Chinese p passports for the journey to Ping the Russian Consul whose favor we had secured in advance through letters from Governor ivanof at vernoy had pronounced them not only good

But by far the best that had been presented by any traveler entering China at this point after endeavoring to dissuade us from what he called a fool hearty undertaking even with the most valuable papers he sent us with his interpreter to the kai for the proper Vis that dignitary although deeply

Interested was almost amused at the boldness of our Enterprise he said that no passport would ensure success by the method we proposed to pursue that before he could allow us to make the Venture we must wait for an order from P King this he said would subject us to

Considerable delay and expense even if the Telegraph and post were utilized through Siberia and kiata this was discouraging indeed but when we discovered a few minutes later that His Highness had to call in the Learned secretary to trace our proposed route for him on the map of

China and even to locate the capital P King we began to question his knowledge of Chinese diplomacy the matter was again referred to the consul who reported back the following day that his previous assurances were reliable that the two I would make the necessary vises and send away at once by the

Regular relay post across the Empire an open letter that could be read by the officials along the Route and be delivered long before our our arrival at P King such easy success we had not anticipated the difficulty as well as necessity of obtaining the proper cred credentials for traveling in China was

Impressed Upon Us by the arrest the previous day of three Afghan visitors and by the fact that a German traveler had been refused just a few weeks before permission even to cross the Mozart pass into casgar so much we thought for Russian friendship upon this assurance at least

Official consent to Hazard the journey to Ping a telegram was sent to the chief of police at tomsk to whose care we had directed our letters photographic material and bicycle supplies to be sent from London in the expectation of being forced to take the Siberian route these last could not have been

Dispensed with much longer as our cushion tires ball bearings and axles were badly worn while the rim of one of the rear wheels was broken in places for the lack of spokes these supplies however did not reach us till 6 weeks after the date of our telegram to which a prepaid reply

Was received after a week’s delay asking in advance for the extra postage this with that prepaid from London amounted just $50 a warm weather after the extreme cold of a Siberian winter had caused the tires to stretch so much beyond their intended size that on their arrival they were almost unfit for

Use some of our photographic material also had been spoiled through the useless inspection of postal officials the delay thus caused was well utilized ized in familiarizing ourselves as much as possible with the language and characteristics of the Chinese for as we were without guides interpreters or servants and in some places lacked even

Official assistance no Travelers perhaps were ever more dependent upon the people than ourselves the Chinese language the most primitive in the world is for this very reason perhaps the hardest to learn its Poverty of words reduces its grammar almost to a question of syntax and intonation

You many a time our Expressions by a wrong inflection would convey a meaning different from the one intended even when told the difference our ear could not detect it our work of preparation was principally a process of elimination we now had to prepare for a forced March in case of

Necessity handlebars and seat posts were shortened to save weight and even the leather baggage carriers fitting in the frames of the machines which we ourselves had patented before leaving England were replaced by a couple of sleeping bags made for us out of Woolen Shaws and Chinese oiled

Canvas the cutting off of buttons and extra parts of our clothing as well as the Shaving of our heads and faces was also included by our friends in the list of curtailments for the same reason one of our cameras which we always carried on our backs and refilled at night under the bed

Clothes we sold to a Chinese photographer at suun to make room for an extra provision bag the Surplus film with our extra baggage was shipped by post via Siberia and kiata to meet us on our arrival in ping and now the money problem was the most perplexing of

All this alone said the Russian Council if nothing else will defeat your plans those Western Bankers who advertise to furnish letters of credit to any part of the world are to say the least rather sweet weeping in their assertions at any rate our own London letter was of no use beyond the bosporus

Except with the Persian Imperial Banks run by an English Syndicate at the American Bible house at Constantinople we were allowed as a personal favor to buy drafts on the various missionaries along the route through Asiatic turkey but in Central Asia we found that the Russian bankers and Merchants would

Not handle English paper and we were therefore compelled to send our letter of credit by mail to Moscow VI we had recently sent it on leaving Tash Gand with instructions to remit in currency to utk Siberia we now had to Telegraph to that point to re forward over the kiata post route to

Ping with the cash on hand and the proceeds of the camera sold for more than half its weight and silver 4 and 13B we thought we had sufficient money to carry us or rather as much as we could carry to that point for the weight of the Chinese

Money necessary for a journey of over 3,00 ,000 miles was as the Russian Council thought one of the greatest of our almost insurmountable obstacles in the interior of China there is no coin except the Chen or sapix an alloy of copper and tin in the form of a

Disc having a hole in the center by which the coins may be strung together the very recently coined Liang or tail the Mexican piaster specially minted for the Chinese market and the other foreign coins have not yet penetrated from the coast for 600 mil over the Border

However we found both the Russian money and language serviceable among the tatter Merchants while the Tanga or casgar silver piece was preferred by the natives even beyond the being much handier than the larger or smaller bits of silver broken from the yamba bricks all however would have to be

Weighed in the tinza or small Chinese scales we carried with us and on which were marked the fun Chan and Liang of the monetary skap but the value of these terms is reckoned in Chen and changes with almost every District this necessity for vigilance together with the frequency of bad silver and loaded

Yamas and the propensity of the Chinese to knock down on even the smallest purchase tends to convert a traveler in China into a veritable there being no banks or exchanges in the interior we were obliged to purchase at CIA all the silver we would need for the entire journey of over 3,000

Mil how much would it take was the question that our past experience in Asiatic travel now aided us to answer that our calculations were close is proved by the fact that we reached ping with silver in our pockets to the value of half a dollar our money now constituted the

Principal part of our luggage which with camera and film weighed just 25 lb a piece most of the silver was chopped up into small bits and placed in the hollow tubing of the machines to conceal it from Chinese inquisitiveness if not something worse we are glad to say however that no

Attempt at robbery was ever discovered although efforts at extortion were frequent and sometimes as will appear of a serious nature the blowing of the long horns and boom of the mortar can at the Fort awoke us at daylight on the morning of July 13 farewells had been said the night before a

Only our good-hearted Russian host was up to put an extra morsel in our provision bag for as he said we could get no food until we reached the kgis aols on the high plateau of the talki pass by which we were to cut across over unbeaten paths to the regular so-called

Imperial Highway running from suun from the Catholic mission Aries at Kia we had obtained very accurate information about this route as far as the GOI desert the expression tianan pilu or Northern Tian Shan root in opposition to the Tian Shen andl or Southern Tian Shen roote shows that the Chinese had fully appreciated

The importance of this historic Highway which continues the road running from the extreme Western gate of the great wall obliquely across Mongolian can Su from here the two natural highways lead one to the head waters of the black erish the other to the passes leading into the elely valley and other routes

Of the aalo Caspian depression the latter route which is now commanded at intervals by by Chinese Forts and Military settlements was recently relinquished by Russia only when she had obtained a more permanent footing on the former in the trading posts of chuchuk and Cabo for she very early recognized the

Importance of this most natural entry to the only feasible route across the Chinese Empire in a glowing sunset at the end of a hot day’s climb we looked for the last time over the elely valley and at dusk an hour later rolled into one of the Kiza walls that are here scattered

Among the rich pasturage of the plateau even here we found that our reputation had extended from kja the chief Advanced with amens of welcome and the heavy matted curtains in the kibitka doorway were raised as we passed in token of Honor when the refreshing cumus was served around the evening campfire the

Dangers of the journey through China were discussed among our hosts with frequent looks of misgiving thus From First to Last every judgment was against us and every prediction was a failure if not of something worse and now as we stole out from the tent By the Light Of The Rising Moon even the

Spectre like mountain peaks around us like symbols of coming events were casting their Shadows before it there was something so elusive in the scene as to make it very impressive in the morning early a score of Horsemen were ready to escort us on the road at parting they all dismounted and

Uttered a prayer to Allah for our safety and then as we rode away Drew their fingers across their throats in silence and waved a solemn goodbye such was the almost superstitious fear of these Western Nomads for the land which one once sent forth a yis can along this very Highway

Down the narrow Valley of the cun which flows into the ebi no startling the mountain deer from the brink of the tree arched rivulet we reached a spot which once was the haunt of a band of those border robbers about whom we had heard so much from our apprehensive

Friends at the base of a volcano-shaped mountain lay the ruins of their former dens from which only a year ago they were want to Sally Forth on the passing Caravans when they were exterminated by the government the head of their Chief with its dangling queue was mounted on a pole

Nearby and preserved in a cage from birds of prey as a warning to all others who might aspire to the same notoriety in this lonely spot we were forced to spend the night as here occurred through the carelessness of the Kia Russian blacksmith a very serious break in one of our gear

Wheel it was too late in the day to walk back the 16 miles to the kges encampment and there obtained horses for the remaining 58 mil to kulja for nowhere else we can included could such a break be mended our sleeping bags were now put to a severe test between the damp ground

And the heavy Mountain Dew the penetrating cold and the occasional Panther like Cry of some prowling animal kept us awake the greater part of the night awaiting with revolvers in hand some expected Attack 5 days later we had repass this spot and were toiling over the sand and

Seline covered depression of the great Han high or dried up sea the mountain freshets dissolving the salt from their Sandy channels carry it down in solution and deposit it with evaporation in massive layers forming a comparatively hard roadway in the midst of the shifting sand dunes over these ladder our progress was extremely

Slow one stretch of 15 miles which it took us 6 hours to cover was as formidable as any part of the turkman desert along the transcaspian railway at an altitude of only 600 ft above the sea according to our anoid bar ometer and beneath the Rays of a July

Sun against which even our felt caps were not much protection we were half dragging half pushing our Wheels through a foot of sand and slapping at the mosquitoes swarming upon our necks and faces these pests which throughout this low country are the largest and most numerous we have ever

Met are breed in the intermediate swamps which exist only through the negligence of the neighboring villagers at night smoldering fires which half suffocate the human inmates are built before the doors and windows to keep out the intruding insects all travelers wear gloves and a huge Hood covering the head and face up

To the eyes and in their hands carry a horsetail switched to lash back and forth over their shoulders being without such protection we suffered both day and night the mountain freshets all along the road to urumi were more frequent and dangerous than any we had yet encountered toward evening the melting

Snows and the condensing currents from the plane heated during the day fill and overflow the channels that in the morning are almost dry one stream with its 10 branches swept the stones and boulders over a shifting channel one mile in width it was when waiting through such

Streams as this where every effort was required to balance ourselves and our luggage that the mosquitoes would make up for lost time with impunity the river before reaching Manas was so Swift and deep as to necessitate the use of regular government carts a team of three horses on making a

Misstep were shifted away from the Ford into deep water and carried far down the stream a caravan of Chinese traveling Vans loaded with goods from India were crossing at the time on their way to the outlying provinces and the Russian border General Balman at vernoy had informed us

That in this way English goods were swung clear around the circle and brought into Russia through the unguarded back door with constant waiting and tramping our Russian shoes and stockings one of which was almost torn off by the sly grab of a Chinese spaniel were no longer fit for use

In their place we were now obliged to purchase the short white cloth Chinese socks and string sandals which for mere cycling purposes and waiting streams proved an excellent substitute being light and soft on the feet and very quickly dried the calves of our legs however being left bare we were obliged for

State occasions at least to retain and utilize the upper portion of our old stockings it was owing to this scantiness of wardrobe that we were obliged when taking a bath by the roadside streams to make a quick wash of our linen and put it on wet to dry or allow

It to flutter from the handlebars as we rode along it was astonishing even to ourselves how little a man required when Once Beyond The Pale of Western conventionalities from Manas to urami we began to strike more tillage and fertility maze wheat and rice were growing but rather low and

Thin the last is by no means the staple food of China as is commonly supposed except in the southern portion in the Northern and especially the outlying provinces it is considered more a luxury for the wealthy Mill and coarse flour from which the me or do strings are made is the

Foundation at least for more than half the subsistence of the common classes nor is there much truth we think in the assertion that China men eat rats although we sometimes regretted that they did not after a month or more without meat a dish of rats would have been relished

Had we been able to get it on the other hand we have learned that there is a society of China men who are vegetarians from choice and still another that will eat the meat of no animal such as the ass horse dog Etc which can serve man in a better

Way urami or hania red Temple of the Chinese still retains its ancient prestige in being the seat of government for the vice royalty of sinang which includes all that portion of western China lying without the limit of Mongolia and Tibet thanks to its happy position it is always rapidly recovered after every fresh

Disaster sh it now does considerable trade with Russia through the town of chuch and with China through the great gap which here occurs in thean Shan range it lies in a picturesque Amphitheater behind the solitary holy Mount which Towers above a well- constructed Bridge across its swiftly flowing

River this city was one of our principal landmarks across the Empire a long stage of the journey was here completed on entering a Chinese City we always made it a rule to run rapidly through until we came to an end and then lock up our Wheels before the crowd could

Collect rumpy however was too large and intricate for such a maneuver we were obliged to Dismount in the principal thoroughfare the excited throng pressed in Upon Us among them was a who could talk a little Russian and who undertook to direct us to a comfortable Inn at the far end of the

City this street parade gathered to the inard an overwhelming mob and announced to the whole community that the foreign horses had come it had been posted we were told a month before that two people of the new world were coming through on strange iron horses and everyone was requested not to molest

Them by this public curiosity was raised to the highest pitch when we returned from supper at a neighboring restaurant we were treated to a novel scene the doors and windows of our Apartments had been blocked with boxes bales of cotton and huge cartwheels to keep out the irrepressible

Throng our host was agitated to tears he came out ringing his hands and urging upon us that any attempt on our part to enter would cause a rush that would break his house down we listened to his in treaties on the condition that we should be allowed

To mount to the roof with a ladder to get away from the annoying curiosity of the crowd there we sat through the evening Twilight while the crowd below somewhat boked but not discouraged stood taking in every move Nightfall and a drizzling rain came at last to our

Relief the next morning a squad of soldiers was dispatched to raise the siege and at the same time presents began to arrive from the various officials from the songu or vicroy down into the superintendent of the local prisons the matter of how much to accept

Of a Chinese present and how much to pay for it in the way of a tip to the bearer is one of the finest points of that finest of Fine Arts Chinese Ed and yet in the midst of such an abundance and variety we were hopelessly at Sea fruits and teas were brought

Together with meats and chickens and even a live sheep our Chinese visiting cards with the Chinese the great Insignia of rank were now returned for those sent with the presents and the hour appointed for the exhibition of our appointed for the exhibition of our bicycles as requested long before the time the

Streets and housetops leading from the end to the viseris Palace at the far end of the city began to fill with people and soldiers were detailed at our request to make an opening for us to ride through a breast this however did not prevent the crowd from pushing us against each other or

Sticking sticks in the wheels or throwing their hats and shoes in front of us as we rode by when in sight of the viceroy’s palace they closed in on us entirely it was the worst Jam we had ever been by no possibility could could we Mount our machines although the mob was

Growing more and more impatient they kept shouting for us to ride but would give us no room those on the outside pushed the inner ones against us with the greatest difficulty could we preserve our equilibrium and prevent the wheels from being crushed as we surged along toward the palace gate

While all the time our Russian interpreter mafu on Horseback in front continued to shout and gesticulate in the wildest manner above their heads 20 soldiers had been stationed at the palace gate to keep back the mob with cudgels when we reached them they pulled us and our Wheels quickly through into the

Enclosure and then tried to stem the tide by belaboring the heads and shoulders in reach including those of our unfortunate interpreter mafu but it was no use everything was swept away before this surging wave of humanity the vicroy himself who now came out to receive us was

Powerless all he could do was to request them to make room around the palace Courtyard for the coming exhibition thousands of thumbs were uplifted that afternoon in Praise of the wonderful twe TA or two wheeled carts as they witnessed our modest attempt at trick riding and special maneuvering after refreshments in the

Palace to which we were invited by the Viceroy we were counseled to leave by a rear door and return by a roundabout way to the Inn leaving the mob to wait till dark for our exit from the front the restaurant or tea house in China takes the place of the western Club room

Met all the current news and gossip is here circulated in disgust over their eating or gambling one of their games of chance which we have frequently noticed seems to consist in throwing their fingers at one another and shouting at the top of their voices it is really a matching of

Numbers for which the chinen make signs on their fingers up to the numeral 10 our entry into a crowded Dungan or native muhammadan restaurant the next morning was the signal for exciting accounts of the events of the previous day we were immediately invited to take tea with this one a morning dish of

Tongue Posas or nut and sugar dumplings with another while a third came over with his can of Soju or Chinese Jin with an invitation to join him the Chinese of all Nations seem to live in order to eat and from this race of epicures has developed a nation of excellent

Cooks Our Fair in China outside the GOI District was far better than in turkey or Persia and for this reason we were better able to endure the increased hardships a plate of sliced meat stent with vegetables and served with a piquent sauce sliced radishes and onions with

Vinegar two loaves of Chinese Momo or steamed bread and a pot of tea would usually cost us about 3 and 1/4 cents a piece everything in China is sliced so that it can be eaten with the chopsticks these we at length learned to manipulate with sufficient dexterity to pick up a

Dove’s egg the highest attainment in the Chopstick art the Chinese have rather a sour than a sweet tooth sugar is rarely used in anything and never in tea the steeped tea flowers which the higher classes use are are really more tasty without it in many of the smaller towns our

Visits to the restaurant would sometimes result in considerable damage to its Keepers for the crowd would swarm in after us knocking over the table stools and Crockery as they went and collect in a circle around us to watch the foreigners eat and to add their opium and tobacco smoke to the suffocating atmosphere

A visit to the local mint in rumy revealed to us the Primitive method of making the chin or money discs before mentioned each is molded instead of cut and stamped as in the west by its superintendent we were invited to a special breakfast on the morning of our

Departure the Chinese are the the only people in the orient and so far as we know in the European and Asiatic continents who resemble the Americans in their love for a good substantial morning meal this was much better adapted to our purpose than the Russian custom which

Compelled us to do the greater part of our days work on merely bread and weak tea from urumi we had decided decided to take the northern route to hamy Via guchin and barou in order to avoid as much as possible the Sands of the teram Basin on

The Southern Slope of the Tian Shan mountains I’m two guards were commissioned by the Viceroy to take us in charge and hand us over to the next relay station papers were given them to be signed by the succeeding authorities on our safe arrival this plan had been adopted by

Every Chief Mandarin along the Route in order not only to follow out the request of the London minister as written on the passport uh principally to do us honor in return for the favor of a bicycle exhibition but many times we would leave our discomforted guards to return with unsigned

Papers had we been traveling in the ordinary way not only these favors might not have been shown us but our project entirely defeated by local obstructions as was the case with many who attempted the same journey by Caravan To The Good Will of the mandarins as well as the people people

An indispensable concomitant of a journey through China our bicycles were after all our best passports they everywhere overcame the antipathy for the Foreigner and made us cordially welcome the costumes of our soldiers were strikingly picturesque over the front and back of the Scarlet waste Coats were works in Black Silk letters their military

Credentials over their full baggy trousers were drawn their writing overalls which cover only the front and sides of the legs the back being cut out just above the cloth top of their Chinese boots instead of a cap they wear a piece of printed cloth wrapped tightly around the head like the American washer

Women their well cushioned Saddles did not save them from the constant jolting to which our high speed subjected them at every stopping place they would hold forth at length to the Curious crowd about their roadside experiences it was amusing to hear their graphic descriptions of the mysterious

Ding by which they referred to the Ring of the cyclometer at every mile but the phrase quy hen very fast which concluded almost every sentence showed what feature impressed them most then too they disliked very much to travel in the heat of the day for all summer traveling in China is done at

Night I they would wake us up many hours before daylight to make a start despite our previous request to be left alone our week’s run to barle was made with a good natural Road in favoring conditions at the rate of 53 m per day 8 mil more than our general average across the

Empire from kulja to the Great Wall where our cyclometer broke we took accurate measurements of the distances in this way we soon discovered that the length of a Chinese Lee was even more changeable than the value of the tail according to time and place from 185 to 250 were variously reckoned to a

Degree while even a difference in direction would very often make a considerable difference in the distance it is needless to say that at this rate the guards did not stay stay with us official courtesy was now confined to dispatches sent in advance through this exceptionally wild District were encountered several herds of antelope

And wild asses which the natives were hunting with their long heavy Fork resting rifles through the exceptional tameness of the jack rabbits along the road we were sometimes enabled to procure with a Revol the luxury of a meat supper at baral tatter the first evidence of English influence began to

Appear in the place of the fading Russian although the traces of Russian manufacturer were by no means wanting far beyond the Great Wall English pulverized sugar now began to take the place of Russian lump India rubber instead of the russianized French elastique was the native name for our rubber

Tires English letters too could be recognized on the secondhand paper and bagging appropriated to the natives use and even the Gilded buttons worn by the solders bore the stamp of treble guilt from here the road to hamy turns abruptly South and by a pass of over 9,000 ft crosses the declining Spurs of

The Tian Shan mountains which stand like a barrier between the two great historic highways deflecting the westward waves of migration some to cashara and others to Zaria on the Southern Slope of the pass we met with many large Caravans of donkeys dragging down Pine logs to serve as

Polls in the proposed extension of the telegraph line from sucho to urum in June of this year the following item appeared in the newspapers within a few months peing will be United by wire with St Petersburg and in consequence with the telegraph system of the entire civilized

World according to the latest issue of The turkistan Gazette the telegraph line from ping has been brought as far west as the city of kashgar the European end of the line is at Ash and a small stretch of about 140 Mi now alone breaks the direct Telegraph communication from the Atlantic to the

Pacific ha is one of those cities which may be regarded as indispensable at the edge of the great GOI and the converging point of the nanlu and PUO that is the Southern and Northern roads to the Western World this Oasis is a necessary resting place during our stop of two days to

Make necessary repairs and recuperate our strength for the hardships of the desert the usual calls were exchanged with the leading officials in the matter of social politeness the Chinese especially the Literati have reason to look down upon the barbarians of the West politeness has been likened generally to an air

Cushion there’s nothing in it but it eases the jolts wonderfully as a mere ritual of technicalities it has perhaps reached its highest point in China dot dot the multitude of honorific titles so bewildering and even maddening to The Accidental are here used simply to keep in view the fixed relations of graduated

Superiority when wishing to be exceptionally courteous to the foreigners the more experienced mandarins would lay their doubled Fists in the palms of our hands instead of raising them in front of their foreheads with the usual salutation ma in shaking hands with a we thus very often had our hands

Full after the exchange of visiting cards as an indication that their visits would be welcome they would come on foot in carts or pamin according to their Rank and always attended by a larger or smaller Rue our return visits would always be made by request on the wheels either alone or with our

Interpreter if we could find one for our Chinese was as yet painfully defective Russian had served us in good stead though not always directly in a conversation with the tut taii of shico for instance a Russian had to be translated into turkey and then interpreted in Chinese the more intelligent of these

Conversations were about our own and other countries of the world especially England and Russia who it was rumored had gone to war on the Afghanistan but the most of them generally consisted of a series of trivial interrogations beginning usually with how old are you owing to our beards which were now

Full grown and which had gained for us the frequent title of yay Ren or wild men the guesses were far above the mark one was even as high as 60 years for the reason as was stated that no could raise such a beard before that age we were frequently surprised at

Their persistence in calling us Brothers when there was no apparent reason for it and were finally told that we must be because we were both named Mr on our passports it was already dusk on the evening of August 10 when we drew up to the Hamlet of Shang luwe at the end of

The hamy Oasis the great GOI in its awful loneliness stretched out before us like a vast ocean of endless space the growing Darkness threw its mantle on the scene and left imagination to picture for us the nightmare of our Boyhood days we seemed as it were to be standing

At the end of the world looking out into the realm of nowhere for boing thoughts Disturbed our Repose as we contemplated the 400 miles of this Barren stretch to the Great Wall of China with an early morning start however we struck out at once over the 85 miles of the tacam maon

Sands this was the worst we could have for beyond the Caravan station of Kushi we would strike the projecting limits of Mongolian Cano this narrow tract now lying to our left between hamy and the Nan Shan mountains is characterized by considerable diversity in its surface soil and climate traversed by several copious

Streams from the Nan Shan mountains and the moisture Laden currents from the Bay of Bengal and the brahmaputra valley its desert stretches are not the Dismal solitudes of the TM Basin or the black and red Sands of Central Asia water is found almost everywhere near the surface and springs Bubble Up

In the hollows Often encircled by exterior oases everywhere the ground is traversable by horses and carts this comparatively fertile tract cutting the GOI into two great sections has been ever since its Conquest 2,000 years ago of vast importance to China being the only feasible Avenue of communication with the Western provinces

And the more important Link in the only great Highway across the Empire a regular line of Caravan stations is maintained by the constant traffic both in winter and summer but we were now on a bit of the genuine goby that is Sandy Desert of the Mongolian or shamoo of the

Chinese everywhere was the same interminable picture of vast undulating Plains of Shifting reddish Sands interspersed with quartz Pebbles agots and carnelians and relieved here and there by patches of wiry shrubs used as fuel at the desert stations or lines of hilock succeeding each other like waves on the surface of the shoreless

Deep the wind even more more than the natural barrenness of the soil prevents the growth of any vegetation except low plant herbage withered plants are uprooted and Scattered by the Gale like patches of foam on the stormy sea these terrible winds which of course were against us with the frequently

Heavy cart tracks would make it quite impossible to ride the monotony of many weary hours of plotting was relieved only by the bones of some abandoned Beast of Burden or the occasional train of Chinese carts or rather two wheeled Vans loaded with merchandise and drawn by five to six horses or

Mules for miles away they would see us coming and cran their necks in wondering gaze as we approached the molish leaders with distended ears would view our Strang looking vehicles with suspicion but and then Lurch far out in their 20ft traces pulling the heavily loaded vehicles from the deep rded

Track but the drivers were too busy with their eyes to notice any little Divergence of this kind he dumb with astonishment they continued to watch us till we disappeared again toward the opposite Horizon further on we would meet a party of Chinese immigrants or Exiles on their

Way to the fertile regions that skirt the northern and southern slopes of the Tian Shan Mountain by these people even the distant Valley of the Eli is being largely populated being on foot with their extraordinary loads balanced on flexible shoulder poles these poor fellows could

Make only one station or from 12 to 20 M A day in the presence of their patience and endurance we were ashamed to think of such a thing as hard ship the station houses on the desert were nothing more than a collection of mud Huts near a surface well of strongly brackish

Water here most of the Caravans would put up during the day and travel at night there’s no such thing as a restaurant each one by turn must do his own cooking in the in kitchen open to all all we of course were expected to carry our own provisions and do our own

Culinary work like any other respectable Travelers this we had frequently done before where restaurants were not to be found many a time we would enter an inn with our arms filled with Provisions purchased at the neighboring bazars take possession of the oven and cooking utensils and proceed to get up an

American meal while all the time 100 eyes or more would be staring at us in blank amazement but here on the desert we could buy nothing but very coarse flour when asked if they had an egg or a piece of vegetable they would shout Ma you there is none in atonement of rebuke

As much as to say my conscience man what do you expect on the Gobi we would have to be content with our own tea made in the iron pot fitting in the top of the mud oven and a kind of sweetened bread made up with our supply of sugar brought from

Hammy this we nicknamed our GOI cake although it did taste rather strongly of brackish water and the garlic of previous contents of the one common cooking pot we would usually take a large supply for Road use on the following day or as sometimes proved for the midnight meal of the half starved in

Dog the interim between the evening meal and bedtime was always employed in writing notes by the feeble during Light Of A Primitive taper lamp which was the best we had throughout the Chinese Journey a description of traveling in China would by no means be complete without some mention of the Vermin which infest

Not only ins and houses but the persons of nearly all the lower classes Lys and fleas seem to be the S quanan of Chinese life and in fact the itching with some seems to furnish the the only occasion for exercise we have seen in shopkeepers before their doors on a sunny afternoon

Amusing themselves by picking these Insidious creatures from their inner garments they are one of the necessary evils it seems and no secret is made of it the sleeping kangs of the Chinese in which are made of beaten Earth and heated in winter like an oven Harbor these pests the year round

Not to mention the filthy coverlets and greasy pillows that were sometimes offered us had we not had our own sleeping bags and used the camera provision bag and coats for pillows our life would have been intolerable as it was there was but little rest for the weary the longest station on the desert

Was 31 Mi this was the only time that we suffered at all with thirst in addition to the high mean elevation of the Gobi about 4,000 ft we had cloudy weather for a considerable portion of the journey and in the Cano District even a heavy Thunders shower these these occasional summer

Rains form here and there temporary mirrors and lakes which are soon evaporated leaving nothing behind except a selan efflorescence elsewhere the ground is furrowed by sudden torran tearing down the slopes of the occasional Hills or mountains these dried up River beds furnished the only continuously hard surfaces we found on the GOI

Although even here we were sometimes brought up with a round turn in a Chuck hole with the sand flying above our heads our anoid barometer registered approximately 6,500 ft when we reached at dusk the summit of the highest range of Hills we encountered on the desert Journey but instead of the station Hut

We expected to find we were confronted by an old Mongolian Monastery these institutions we had found were generally situated as this one at the top of some difficult Mountain Pass OR at the mouth of some cavernous Gorge where the pious intercessors might to the best Advantage strive to appease the wrathful forces of

Nature in this line of duty the Llama was no doubt engaged when we walked into his feebly lighted room but like all orientals he would let nothing interfere with the performance of his religious duties with his gaze centered upon one spot his fingers Flew Over the string of

Beads in his lap and his tongue over the stereotyped prayers with a rapidity that made our heads swim we stood unnoticed till the end when we were at once invited to a cup of tea and directed to our destination five lie Beyond toward this we plotted through the growing darkness and rapidly cooling

Atmosphere for in its extremes of temperature the Gobi is at once both Siberian and Indian and that too within the short period of a few hours some of the mornings of what proved to be very hot days were cold enough to make our extremities fairly tingle a constant diet of bread and tea

Together with the hard physical exercise and mental anxiety caused our strength at length to fail the constant drinking of brackish water made one of us so ill that he could retain no food a high fever set in on the evening of August 15th and as we pulled into the

Station of beun sa he was forced to go to bed at once the other with the aid of our small medicine Supply endeavored to ward off the ominous symptoms in his anxiety however to do all that was possible he made a serious blunder instead of anti Pyon he

Administered the poison sulfate of zinc which we carried to relieve our eyes when inflamed by The Alkali dust this was swallowed before the truth was discovered it was an anxious moment for us both when we picked up the paper from the floor and read the inscription

We could do nothing but look at each other in silence happily it was an overdose and the vomiting which immediately followed relieved both the patient and the anxious doctor what to do we did not know the patient now suggested that His companion should go on without him and

If possible send back Medical Aid or proper food but not to remain and get worse himself he on the other hand refused to leave without the other then two the outlying town of ningan C Cha the first where proper food and water could be obtained was only one Day’s Journey

Away another effort was decided P but when morning came a violent hurricane from the southeast swept the sand in our faces and fairly blew the sick man over on his wheel famishing with thirst tired Beyond expression and burning with fever as well as the withering heat we reached at

Last the bank of the asula ho eager ly we plunged into its sluggish Waters and waited through under the walls of enan sichu enano was almost completely destroyed during the late Dungan Rebellion little is now to be seen except heaps of rubbish ruined temples and the scattered fragments of idols

The neglected Gardens no longer check the advancing Sands which in some places were drifting over the ramparts through its abandoned Gateway we almost staggered with weakness and directed our course to the miserable bizaar the only meat we could find was pork that shth between muhammadanism and Confucianism the dongan restaurant keeper would not

Cook it and only after much persuasion consented to have it prepared outside and brought back to be eaten beneath his roof with better water and more substantial food we began from this time on to recuperate but before us still a stron headed wind was sweeping over the many

Desert stretches that lay between the oases along the suah ho and with the constant walking our sandals and socks were almost worn away for this reason we were delayed one evening in reaching the town of Dau menhan in the lonely Stillness of its Twilight a Horseman was approaching across the barren

Plane bearing a huge Chinese lantern in his hand and singing aloud as is a chinaman’s custom to drive off the evil spirits of the night better he started back as we suddenly appeared and then dismounted hurriedly to throw his Lantern’s glare upon us are you the two

Americans he asked in an agitated manner his question was surprising out in this desert country we were not aware that our identity was known or our visit expected he then explained that he had been instructed by the magistrate of Dau Menan to go out and look for us and escort us into the

Town he also mentioned in this connection the name of Ling Darin a name that we had heard spoken of almost with veneration ever since leaving urumi who this personage was we were unable to find out beyond that he was an influential Mandarin in the city of sucha now only a Day’s Journey

Away near that same 40th parallel of latitude on which our Asiatic Journey was begun and ended we now struck at its extreme Western limit the Great Wall of China the KIU Kuan or Jade gate by which it is here intersected was originally so-called from the fact that it led into

The kotan country once the Chinese Traders brought back the precious mineral this with the Shanghai Quan near the Sea and the yuam Kuan on the nanca pass are the principal gateways in this wall of 10,000 Lake which until forced by yenis Khan protected the Empire from the Mongolian

Nomads for a period of 14400 years in its present condition the Great Wall belongs to various epochs with the sudden and violent transitions of temperature in the severe Mongolian climate it may be doubted whether any portion of Shi hoenes original work still survives nearly all the Eastern section

From ordos to the Yellow Sea was rebuilt in the fth century and the double Rampart along the Northwest Frontier of the Plains of Peking was twice restored in the 15th and 16th north of ping where this prodigious structure has mean height of about 26 ft and width of 20

Ft it is still in a state of perfect repair whereas in many Western districts along the GOI Frontier as here before us it is little more than an earth in Rampart of 15 ft in height while for considerable distances as along the road from from sucho to cancha it has entirely

Disappeared for miles at a stretch both the gate and the wall at this point had been recently repaired we could now see it rising and falling in picturesque undulations as far as the Tibetan ranges there it stops altogether after a Westward course of over 1500

Miles in view of what was before us we could not but Smile as we thought of that French AB who undertook in an elaborate volume to prove that the Great Wall of China was nothing more than a myth we were now past another long anticipated landmark and before us far

Down in the plain lay the city of sucha which as the terminal point of the Chinese Telegraph line would bring us again into electric touch with the Civilized world but between us and our goal lay the Adena River now SW Sten by a recent fresh we began to Wade cautiously

Through with luggage and wheels balanced on our shoulders just at that moment we perceived approaching from the distance what we took to be a mounted Chinese Mandarin and his servant leading behind him two richly caparisoned and riderless horses at sight of us they spurred ahead and reached the opposite Bank just as we

Passed the middle of the stream I the leader now Rose in his stirrups waved his hat in the air and shouted in clear though broken English well gentlemen you have arrived at last to hear mother tongue so unexpectedly spoken in this out of the way part of the world was

Startling this strange individual although clad in the regular Mandarin Garb was light complexioned and had an Auburn instead of a black CU dangling from his shaven head e he grasped us warmly by the hand as we came dripping out of the water while all the time his benevolent countenance fairly beamed with

Joy I am glad to see you gentlemen he said I was afraid you would be taken sick on the road ever since I heard you had started across China I just got the news 5 minutes ago that you were at Kayo Kuan and immediately came out with these two

Horses to bring you across the river which I feared would be too deep and Swift for you Mount Your ponies and we will ride into the city together it was some time before the idea flashed across our minds that this might indeed be the mysterious lame durin about whom we had heard so

Much yes said he that is what I am called here but my real name is Spenard he then went on to tell us that he was a Belgian by birth that he had traveled extensively through China as the companion of Baron rich hofen and had thus become so thoroughly

Acquainted with the country and its people that on his return to the coast he had been offered by the Chinese government the position of custom Mandarin at sucho a position just then established for the levying of Duty on the Russian Goods passing in through the Northwest provinces that he had adopted the

Chinese dress and mode of living and had even married many years ago a Chinese girl educated at the Catholic schools in tianen we were so absorbed in this romantic history that we scarcely noticed the crowds that lined the streets leading to the Ling Darren’s Palace until the boom of a cannon

Recalled us to our situation from the smile on the Jolly face beside us we knew at once whom we could hold responsible for this reception the palace Gates were now thrown open by a host of servants and in our rags and tatters we rolled at once from the hardships of the inhospitable

Desert into the lap of luxury a surplus is not always so easily disposed of as a deficit at least we’re inclined to think so in the case of our sucho diet the Ling daren’s table which for the exceptional occasion was set in the foreign fashion with knives and forks

Fairly teamed with abundance and variety there was even butter made from the milk of the Tibetan yak and condensed milk from our coffee the first we had tasted since leaving turkey more than a year before the Ling Darren informed us that a can of this milk which he once

Presented to Chinese friends had been mistaken for a face cosmetic and was so used by the ladies of the family the lack of butter has led many of the missionaries in China to substitute lard while the Chinese fry their fat cakes in various oils eling Darren’s wife we found an excellent and

Even artistic cook while his Buxom twin daughters could read and write their own language a rare accomplishment for a Chinese woman being unaccustomed to foreign manners they would never eat at the same table with us but would come in during the evening with their mother to join the family Circle and read aloud

To us some of their father’s official dispatches this they would do with remarkable fluency and intelligence as guests of our highly respected and even venerated host we were visited by nearly all the magistrates of the city the lingerin was never before compelled to answer so many questions in self-defense he was at last

Forced to get up a stereotype speech to deliver on each social occasion the people too besieged the palace Gates and clamored for an exhibition Although our own clothes had been sent away to be boiled we could not plead this as an excuse the flowing Chinese garments which had been provided from the private

Wardrobe of the Ling durin fluttered wildly in the breeze as we rote hour our Chinese shoes also were constantly slipping off and as we raised the foot to readjust them a shout went up from the crowd for what they thought was some fancy touch in the way of

R from the barrenness of the GOI to the rank vegetation of the Adena Valley where the grass and grain were actually falling over from excessive weight was a most relieving change water was everywhere even the roadway served in many places as a temporary irrigating Canal on the journey to Cana we were

Sometimes compelled to ride on the narrow mud wall fences that separated the flooded fields of wheat melee and sorghum the prevailing cereals north of the Hang ho River Fields of rice and the opan and Poppy were sometimes met with but of the silk worm and tea plant which furnished the great Staples

Of the Chinese export trade we saw absolutely nothing on our route through the northern provinces apart from the yellow lands of the Hoang ho which need no manure the arable regions of China seem to have maintained their facundity for over 4,000 years entirely through the thoughtful care of

The peasantry and restoring to the soil under another form all that the crops have taken from it the plowing of the Chinese is very poor they scarcely do more than scratch the surface of the ground with their bent stick plows wooden tooth drills and wicker work arrows and instead of straight lines so

Dear to the eye of a western farmer The Ridges and furrows are as crooked as serpents the real secret of their success seems to lie in the care they take to replenish the soil all the sewage of the towns is carried out every morning at Daybreak by special coolies to be preserved for

Manure where the dried herbs straw roots and other vegetable refu are economized with the greatest care fuel the Chinese peasant offsets the rudess of his implements with manual skill he weeds the ground so carefully that there is scarcely a leaf above the ground that does not pertain to the crop

All kinds of pumps and hydraulic wheels are worked either by the hand animals or the wind the system of tillage therefore resembles Market gardening rather than the broad method of cultivation common in Europe and America the land is too valuable to be devoted to pasture and the forests nearly

Everywhere have been s sacrificed to tillage to such an extent that the material for the enormously thick native coffins has now to be imported from abroad streams and irrigating ditches were so frequent that we were continually saturated with water or covered with mud our bare arm arms and legs were so

Tanned and coated that we were once asked by a group of squalled villagers if foreigners ever bathed like themselves on dashing down into a village we would produce consternation or fright especially among the women and children but after the first onset giggling would generally follow for our appearance especially from the

Rear seem to strike them as extremely ridiculous the wheel itself presented various aspects to their ignorant fancies it was called The Flying Machine and foot goinging Carriage while some even took it for the Firewheel cart or locomotive about which they had heard only the vaguest rumors their ignorance of its source of

Motive Power often prompted them to name it the self-moving cart just as the natives of Shanghai are want to call the electric light the self coming moon in one out ofth way Village of Northwestern China we were evidently taken for some species of centaurs the people came up to examine

Us while on the Wheel to see whether or No Rider and wheel were one we became so harassed with importunities to ride that we were compelled at last to seek relief and subterfuge for an absolute refusal we found was of no avail we would promise to ride for a

Certain sum of money thinking thus to throw the burden of refusal on themselves but nothing daunted they would pass round the Hat on several occasions when told that eggs could not be bought in the community an offer of an exhibition would bring them out by the Dozen in the same way we received

Presents of tea and by this means our cash expenses were considerably curtailed the interest in the foreign horses was sometimes so great as to stop business and even amusements a rather notable incident of this kind occurred on one of the Chinese holidays the flag decked streets as we

Rode through were filled with the neighboring peasantry attracted by some traveling theatrical troop engaged for the occasion in fact a performance was just then in progress at the open air theater close at hand before we were aware of it we had rolled into its crowded Auditorium J the women were sitting on improvised

Benches Fanning and gossiping while the men stood about in listless groups but suddenly their attention was aroused by the counter attraction and a general Rush followed to the great detriment of the temporary pedders stands erected for the occasion although entirely deserted and no doubt consumed with curiosity the actors could not lose what

The Chinese call Face they still continued their hideous noises pantomimes and dialogues to the empty seats the last 50 mies into liangchao a city founded by a Catholic over 200 years ago we were compelled to make on foot a know accident that caused us serious trouble all through the remainder of our Chinese

Journey in a rapid descent by a narrow pathway the pedal of one of the machines struck upon a protuberance concealed by a tuft of grass snapping off the axle and scattering the ball bearings over the ground for some miles we pushed along on the bare axle inverted in the pedal crank

T but the wrenching the machine thus received soon began to tell with a sudden jolt on a steep descent it collapsed entirely and precipitated the rider over the handlebars the lower part of the frame had broken short off where it was previously cracked and had bent the top bar almost double in the

Fall in this sad plight we were rejoiced to find in the city under the shade the scotch missionary Mr laughon who had founded here the most remote of the China Inland missions but even with his assistance and that of the best native mechanic our repairs were ineffective

At several points along the Route we were delayed on this account at last the front and rear parts of the machine became entirely separated there was no such thing as steel to be found in the country no tools fit to work with and no one who knew the first principles of soldering

After endeavoring to convince the native blacksmiths that a delicate bicycle would not stand pounding like a Chinese cartwheel we took the matter into our own hands an iron bar was placed in the hollow tubing to hold it in shape and a band of telegraph wire passed round from front to

Rear along the upper upper and lower rods and then Twisted so as to bring the two parts as tightly together as possible with a waddling frame and patched rear wheel describing eccentric revolutions we must have presented a rather comical appearance over the remaining thousand miles to the

Coast across the yellow ho ho which is the largest river we encountered in Asia a pontoon Bridge leads into the city of lania Fu its strategical position at the point where the Hoang ho makes its Great Bend to the north and where the Gateway of the West Begins as well as its picturesque

Location in one of the greatest fruit bearing districts of China makes it one of the most important cities of the empire on the commanding Heights across the river we stopped to photograph the picturesque scene as usual the crowd swarmed in front of the camera to gaze into the mysterious

Lens all the missionaries we had met cautioned us against taking photographs in China lest we should do violence to the many popular superstitions but the only trouble we ever experienced in this respect was in arousing popular curiosity I soon learned that in order to get something besides Chinese heads

In our pictures it was necessary first to point the camera in the opposite direction and then wheel suddenly round to the scene we wish to take as we crossed the River the bridge of boats so creaked and swayed beneath the rushing rabble that we were glad to stand once

More upon the Terra Firma of the city streets which were here paved with granite and marble blocks as we rode down the principal thoroughfare amid the usual den and uproar A well-dressed rushed out from one of the stores and grabbed Us by the arm do you speak

English He shouted with an accent so like an American that we leaped from our wheels at once and grasped his hand as that of a fellow Countryman is in fact he proved to be in everything but birth he was one of that party of Mandarin’s Sons which had been sent over

To our country some years ago as an experiment by the Chinese government to receive a thorough American training we cannot here give the history of that experiment as Mr Woo related it how they were subsequently accused of cutting off their cues and becoming denationalized how in consequence they

Were recalled to their native land and degraded rather than elevated both by the people people and the government because they were foreign in their sentiments and habits and how at last they gradually began to force recognition through the power of Merit alone they had now been sent out by the

Government to engineer the extension of the telegraph line from sucha to urumi for it was feared by the government that the employment of a foreigner in the this capacity would only increase the power for evil which the natives already attributed to this foreign Innovation the similarity in the phrases

Telegraph pole and dry Heaven had inspired the common belief that the line of poles then stretching across the country was responsible for the long existing drought in one night several miles of poles were short off by The Secret order of a banded conspiracy after several decapitations the poles were now being

Restored and labeled with the words put up by order of the emperor in company with the English missionary Mr Redfern while attempting to get out of the city on the way to his Mountain Home we were caught in another Jam he counseled us to conceal the weapons we were carrying in our belts

For fear the sight of them should incite the mob to some act of violence our own experience however had taught us that a revolver in China was worth nothing if not shown for persistence this mob surpassed any we had ever seen they followed us out of the city

And over the 3 miles stretched to the mission premises and they’re announced their intention of remaining in definitely again Mr Redfern feared some outbreak and counseled us to return to the city and apply to the Viceroy himself for protection this proved a good move a special exhibition on the palace

Parade grounds gained for us the valuable favor of one who was only fourth in rank to the emperor himself a bodyguard of soldiers was furnished not only during our sojourn in the city but for the journey to sing and Fu on which a good reception was Everywhere ensured by an official

Dispatch sent in advance in order to secure for US future resp ECT a small flag with the government stamp and of yellow color was given us to fly by the side of our stars and stripes on this was inscribed the title of the traveling students as well as

Answers to the more frequent of the common questions are nationality destination and age the best mechanic in the local Canon Foundry was then ordered to make at government expense whatever repairs were possible on our disabled machines this however as it proved was not much most of his time was spent in

Taking measurements and patterns for another purpose if his intentions have been carried out Lan chof fu is today possessed of a foot moving Carriage of Home production our sojourn in this city is especially associated with the three names of woo Chu and moo names by no means uncommon in Chinese

Nomenclature we heard of a boy named the abstract numeral 65 because his grandfather happened to reach that age on the very day of his birth Mr Moo was the local Telegraph operator with whom we and our friends woo andu of Shanghai Associated all operators in the Chinese Telegraph system are required to read

And write English the school established for this purpose at Lano we occasionally visited and assisted the Chinese School Master to hear the recitation from routes spelling book he in turn was a frequent partaker of our foreign Chows which our English-speaking friends served with knives and forks borrowed from the

Missionaries Lily and bamboo Roots sharks fins and swallows nests and many other Chinese Delicacies were now served in abundance and with the ever accompanying Bowl of rice in the matter of eating and drinking Chinese formality is Extreme f a round table is the only one that can be used in an aristocratic

Household the seat of honor is always the one next to the wall not a mouthful can be taken until the host raises his Chopsticks in the air and gives the signal silence then prevails for confucious says when a man eats he has no time for

Talk when a cup of tea is served to anyone in a social party he must offer it to everyone in the room room no matter how many there are before proceeding to drink himself the real basis of Chinese politeness seems to be this they must be polite enough to offer

And you must be polite enough to refuse our ignorance of this great underlying principle during the early part of the Chinese Journey led us into errors both many and Grievous in order to show a desire to be sociable we accepted almost everything that was offered us to the great Chagrin we fear

Of the courteous don’t the was you were th life an interview with the prime minister of China our departure from lanu was not we thought regretted by the officials themselves for we heard that apprehension was expressed lest the crowds continuing to collect around the telegraph office should indulge in a

Riot however we were loathed to leave our genial friends for the Society of opium smokers for we were now in that province of China which next to sein is most addicted to this habit From Dusk Till bedtime the streets of The Villages were almost deserted for the squalled Opium

Dens even our soldier attendant as soon as the wooden saddle was taken from his sore backed government Steed would produce his portable lamp and proceed to melt on his needle the wax like contents of a small black box when of the proper consistency the paste

Was rolled on a metal plate to point it for the aperture in the flute shaped pipe half the night would be given to this process and a considerable portion of the remaining half would be devoted to smoking small pinches of tobacco in the peculiar Chinese water pipe according to an official note

Issued early in 1882 by Mr Hart Inspector General of Chinese Customs considerably less than 1% of the population is addicted to Opium smoking while those who smoke it to excess are few more to be feared is the use of opium as a poison especially among Chinese women the government raised es large

Sums from the import Duty on opium and tacitly connives at its cultivation in most of the provinces where the Traders and mandarins share between them the profits of this officially prohibited drug this part of a great historic highway on which we were now traveling between the two bends of the hoong ho

Was found more extensively patronized than hereto for besides the usual Caravans of horses donkeys and two wheeled Vans we occasionally met with a party of shaven-headed Tibetans traveling either as emissaries or as traders in the famous Tibetan sheep skins and furs and the strongly scented bags of the musk deer a

Funeral cor was also a very frequent site Chinese custom requires that the remains of the Dead be brought back to their native place no matter how far they may have wandered during life and as the carriage of a single body would often be expensive they are generally interred in temporary cemeteries or Mortuary

Villages until a sufficient number can be got together to form a large Convoy anderin however in death as in life travel alone and with retinue one coffin we met which rested upon poles supported on the shoulders of 32 men above on the coffin was perched the usual white rooster which is supposed to

Incorporate during Transportation the spirit of The Departed in funeral ceremonies especially of the father custom also requires the children to give public expression to their grief besides many other filial observances the eldest son is in Duty bound to render the journey easy for The Departed by scattering fictitious paper

Money as Spirit toll at the various roadside temples sing and Fu the capital of the Middle Kingdom Under the sin Dynasty and a city of the first importance more than 2,000 years ago is still one of the largest places in the empire being exceeded in population probably by Canton

Alone each of its four walls facing the cardinal points is over 6 Mi long and is pierced in the the center by a Monumental gate with lofty Pavilions it was here among the ruins of an old historian church built several centuries before that was found the

Famous tablet now sought at a high price by the British museum the harassing mobs gathered from its teeming population as well as the lateness of the Season prompted us to make our sojourn as or as hter Naes only a day sufficed to reach Tang Kuan which is the central stronghold of

The hoong ho Basin and one of the best defended points in China here between precipitous Cliffs this giant stream rushes madly by as if in protest against its sudden deflection our fery this time was not not the back of a Chinese nor a jolting Ox cart but a spacious flat boat

Made to accommodate one or two vehicles at a time this was rad at the stern like the gondolas of Venice the mob of hundreds that had been dogging our footsteps and making life miserable during our brief stop for food watched our embarcation we reached the opposite Shore a mile below the starting point

And began to ascend from the River Basin to the highlands by an excavated fissure in the famous yellow Earth this gives its name not only to the river it discolors but from the extensive region comprised even to the emperor himself who takes the title of yellow Lord as

Equivalent to Master of the world the thickness of this the richest soil in China un very which according to Baron rich tofen is nothing more than so much dust accumulated during the course of Ages by the winds from the northern deserts is in some places at least 2,000

Ft much Ingenuity has been displayed in overcoming the difficulties offered to free communication by the perpendicular walls of these yellow lands some of the most frequented roads have been excavated to depths of from 40 to 100 ft being seldom more than 8 or 10 ft wide the wheel traffic is conducted by

Means of sightings like the stations in the Suez Canal being undrained or unswept by the winds these walled up tracks are either dust beds or quagmires according to the season for us the Autumn rains had converted them into the ladder although on one of the Imperial highways which once excited the

Admiration of Marco Polo we were now treated to some of the worst stretches we have ever seen the mountain ascents especially those stairlike approaches to the Heavenly Gates before reaching the PE chilly Plains were steep gradeless inclines strewn with huge upturned blocks of stone over which the heavy

Carts were fairly lifted by the sheer force of additional horse flesh the bridges too whose Roman like Masonry attests the high degree of Chinese civilization during the Middle Ages have long since been abandoned to the ravages of time while over the whole country the late Dungan Rebellion has left its countless

Ruins the people of shansi Province are noted for their special Thrift but this quality we observed was sometimes exhibited at the expense of the higher virtue of honesty one of the most serious of the many cases of attempted extortion occurred at a remote Country Town where we arrived late one

Evening after learning to our dismay that one of our remarkably few mistakes in the road had brought us just 50 Mi out of the way unusually weird perod as we were by the Cross Country Cuts we desired to retire early in fact on this account we were

Not so observant of Chinese formality as we might have been we did not heed the hinted requests of the visiting officials for a Moonlight exhibition nor go to the IND door to Bow them respectfully out we were glad to take them at their word when they said with the usual

Hypocritical smirk now don’t come out any farther this indiscretion on our part caused them as well as ourselves to suffer in the respect of the assembled Rabel with official connivance the latter were now free they thought to take unusual Liberties so far in our dealings with the Chinese we had never objected to

Anything that was reasonable even from the Native point of view we had long since learned the force of the Chinese proverb that in order to avoid suspicion you must not live behind closed doors and in consequence had always recognized the common prerogative to ransack our private quarters and our

Luggage so long as nothing was seriously Disturbed we never objected either to their wetting our paper windows with their tongues so that they might noiselessly slid a hole in them with their exceptionally long fingernails although we did wake up some mornings to find the pains entirely

Gone it was only at the request of the inkeeper that we sometimes undertook the job of cleaning out the inard but this with the prevalent superstition about the withering Touch Of The Foreigner was very easily accomplished nor had we ever shown the slightest resentment at being called foreign

Devils for this we learned was with the younger generation at least the only title by which foreigners were known but on this particular night our forbearance being quite exhausted we ejected The Intruders bodily M mutterings and threats we turned out the lights and the crowd as well as ourselves

Retired the next morning the usual exorbitant bill was presented by the iner and as usual 1/2 or 1/3 was offered and finally accepted with the customary protestations about being underpaid the inkeeper grumblings incited the crowd which early assembled and from their Whispers And glances we could see that trouble of some kind was

Brewing we now hasten to get the wheels into the road just then the inkeeper at the instigation of the crowd rushed out and grabbed the handlebars demanding at the same time sum that was even in advance of his original price extortion was now self-evident and remonstrance being of no avail we were

Obliged to protect ourselves with our fists the crowd began to close in upon us until with our backs against the adjoining wall we drew through our weapons at which the onward movement changed suddenly to a retreat then we assumed the aggressive and regained the wheels which had been

Left in the middle of the road the the inkeeper and his friend now caught hold of the rear wheels only by seizing their cues could we drag them away at all but even then before we could mount they would renew their grasp it was only after another direct

Attack upon them that we were able to mount and dash away a week’s journeying after this unpleasant episode brought us among the peanuts pigs and pigtails of the famous PE chili Plains vast fields of peanuts were now being plowed ready to be passed through a huge coarse c to separate the nuts

From the Sandy loan sweet potatoes too were plentiful these as well as rice balls boiled with a peculiar dry date and a triangular corn Leaf wrapper we purchased every morning at Daybreak from the pots of the early Street vendors and then proceeded to the local bake shops where the rattling of the

Rolling pins prophesied of stringy fat cakes cooked in boiling linseed oil and heavy dough biscuits cleaving to the ear like oven it was well that we were now approaching the end of our journey for our wheels and clothing were nearly in pieces our bare calves were pinched by

The frost for in some of the coldest morning mornings we would find a quar of an inch of ice our rest at night was broken for the want of sufficient covering a straw heated kangs would soon cool off and leave us half the night with only our thin sleeping bags to ward off

Rheumatism but over the beaten paths made by countless wheelbarrows we were now fast nearing the end it was on the evening of November 3rd that the giant walls of the great residence as the people call their imperial capital broke suddenly into view through a Vista in the surrounding foliage the goal of our

3,116 M Journey was now before us and the work of the 71st riding day almost ended with the dusk of evening we entered the Western gate of the Manu City and began to thread its crowded thoroughfares by the time we reached legation Street or as the natives

Egotistically call it the street of the foreign dependencies night had veiled our Haggard features and ragged garments in a dimly lighted Courtyard we came face to face with the English proprietor of the hotel dein at our request for lodging he said pardon me but may I first ask who you

Are and where you come from our unprepossessing appearance was no doubt a sufficient excuse for this precaution but just then his features changed and he greeted us effusively explanations were now Superfluous the North China Herald correspondent at pting Fu had already published our story to the

Coast that evening the son of the United States Minister visited us and offered a selection from his own wardrobe until a Chinese tailor could renew our clothing with borrowed plumes we were able to accept invitations from foreign and Chinese officials polite cross-examinations were not infrequent and we fear that entire

Faith in our alleged Journey was not General until by riding through the dust and mud of legation street we Pro that Chinese roads were not altogether impracticable for bicycle traveling the Autumn rains had so flooded the low-lying country between the capital and its Seaport tensen that we were obliged to abandon

The idea of continuing to the coast on the wheels which by this time were in no condition to stand unusual strain on the other hand the houseboat journey of 36 hours down the iho River was a rather Pleasant diversion our first evening on the river was made memorable by an unusual

Event suddenly the rattling of tin pans the tooting of horns and the shouting of men women children aroused us to the realization that something extraordinary was occurring then we noticed that the full moon in a cloudless sky had already passed the halfway mark in a total eclipse our boatmen now joined in the

General uproar which reached its height when the moon was entirely obscure in explanation we were told that the Great Dragon was endeavoring to swallow up the moon and that the loudest possible noise must be made to frighten him away shouts hailed the reappearance of the Moon Although our boatmen had a

Smattering of pigeon or business English we were unable to get a very clear idea of Chinese astronomy in journeying across the Empire we found sufficient analogy in the various provincial dialects to enable us to acquire a smattering of one from another as we proceeded but we were now unable to see any

Similarity whatever between n make walki look see and you go and see or between that belong number one pigeon and that is a first class business this jargon has become a distinct dialect on the Chinese Coast I on our arrival in TNC we called upon the United States Cil Colonel

Bowman to whom we had brought several letters from friends in ping during a supper at his hospitable home he suggested that the vicroy might be pleased to receive us and that if we had no objection he would send a communication to the Yaman or official residents Colonel Bowman’s secretary Mr

Tenny who had been and sometime the instructor of the viceroy’s sons and who was on rather intimate terms with the Viceroy himself kindly offered to act as interpreter a favorable answer was received the next morning and the time for our visit fixed for the afternoon of the day

Following but 2 hours before the appointed time a message was received from the vicroy stating that he was is about to receive an unexpected official visit from the Fant or treasurer of the P chili Province over which Lee hung Chang himself is vicroy and asking for a postponement of our visit to the

Following morning at 11:00 even before we had finished reading this unexpected message the booming of Cannon along the P ho River announced the arrival of the fantes boats before the city the postponement of our engagement at this late hour threatened to prove rather awkward in as much as we had already

Purchased our steamship tickets for Shanghai to sail on the F Chen at 5:00 the next morning but through the kindness of the steamship company it was arranged that we should take a tugboat at Tong cou on the line of the kai ping Railroad and overtake the steamer outside the tacu

Bar this we could do by taking the train at tensen even as late as 7 hours after the departure of the steamer steam navigation in the Pao River over the 40 or 50 m stretch from te anden to the gulf is rendered very slow by the sharp

Turns in the narrow stream the adjoining Banks being frequently struck and plowed Away by the bow or stern of the large ocean Steamers when we entered the consulate the next morning we found three penans and a dozen coolies in waiting to convey our party to the viseris residents under other circumstances we

Would have patronized our steeds of Steel but a visit to the biggest man in China had to be conducted in state we were even in some doubt as to the propriety of appearing before his Excellency in bicycle costume what but we determined to plead our inability to carry luggage as an excuse

For this breach of etiquette the first peculiarity the Chinese notice in a foreigner is his dress it is a requisite with them that the clothes must be loose and so draped as to conceal the Contour of the body the short sack coat and tight trousers of the Foreigner are looked

Upon as certainly inelegant if not actually indecent it was not long before we were out of the foreign settlement and wending our way through the narrow winding streets or Lanes of the densely populated Chinese City the penquins we met were always occupied by some high dignitary or

Official who went sweeping by with his usual Vanguard of servants and his usual frown of excessive dignity the fact that we plain forign Devils were using this mode of locomotion made us the objects of considerable curiosity from the loiterers and passers by and in fact had this not been the

Case we should have felt rather uncomfortable the unsympathetic observation of mobs and the Hideous Chinese noises had become features of our daily life the Yen Courtyard as we entered was filled with empty penquins and servants waiting for the different mandarins who had come on official visits the Yen itself consisted of low

One-story structures built in the usual Chinese style of wood and adobe brick in a quadrangular form around an inner Courtyard the common Chinese paper which served for window glass had long since vanished from the ravages of time and the finger punches of Vandal even here at the Yaman of the

Prime Minister of China dirt and dilapidation were evident on every hand the an room into which we were ushered was in keeping with its exterior the paper that covered the low walls and squatty ceiling as well as the Calico covering on the diamonds was soiled and torn the room itself was filled with

Mandarins from various parts of the country waiting for an audience with his Excellency each wore the official robe and dish pan hat with its particular button or Insignia of rank each had a portly well well-fed appearance with a pompous dignified man overspreading his features the servant by whom we had sent

In our Chinese visiting cards returned and asked us to follow him passing through several rooms and then along a narrow darkened hallway we emerged into an inner Courtyard here there were several servants standing like Sentinels in waiting for orders others were hurrying hither and thither with different messages entrusted to their

Care this was all there was to give to the place the air of busy headquarters on one side of the courtyard the doors of a foreign reception room opened through the we were ushered by the liveried servant Who Bore a message from the Viceroy asking us to wait a few

Moments until he should finish some important business the foreign reception room in which we were now sitting was the only one in any official residence in the Empire and this single instance of compliance with foreign Customs was significant as bearing upon the attitude toward Western ideas of the man who

Stands at the head of the Chinese government everything about us was foreign except a Chinese Divan in one corner of the room in the middle of the floor stood a circular sofa of the latest pattern with chairs and seties to match and at one end a foreign stove in which a fire had

Been recently lighted for our coming against the wall were placed a fulllength mirror several brackets and some fancy work the most interesting of the ornaments in the room were portraits of Lee hung Chang himself kup the gun maker Armstrong the ship Builder and the immortal Chinese Gordon

The only Foreigner it is said who has ever won a spark of admiration from the Chinese people the while we were waiting for the vicroy his second son the pupil of Mr Tenny came in and was introduced in the foreign fashion his English was fluent and correct he was a bright intelligent lad

Of 19 years then about to take his first trial examinations for the Chinese degree of scholarship which if attained would make him eligible for official position although a son of a Viceroy he will have to rise by his own Merit our conversation with the vicer son extended over 10 or 15

Minutes he asked many questions about the details of our journey how said he could you get along without interpreter guide or servant when every Foreigner who goes even from here to peing has to have them he questioned us as to whether or not the Chinese had ever called us

Names we replied that we usually traveled in China under the Nam de shinwa y Quida the foreign Devils alas yay Ren the wild men a blush overspread his cheeks as he said I must apologize for my countrymen I hope you will excuse them for they know no better the young man expressed deep

Interest in America and American institutions and said if he could obtain his father’s consent he would certainly make a visit to our country this was the only son then at home with the Viceroy his eldest son being ministered to Japan the youngest the viceroy’s favorite was it was said the brightest and most

Promising his death occurred only a few months before our arrival in tnen we were holding an animated conversation when the Viceroy himself was announced we all stood to show our respect for the Prime Minister whom General Grant included among the three greatest Statesmen of his day the Viceroy was preceded by two body

Servants we stood before a man who appeared to be over 6 feet in height although his head and shoulders were considerably bent with age his flowing dress was made of Rich colored silk but very plain indeed any ornamentation would have been a profanation of the natural dignity and stateliness of Lee hung

Chang with slow pace he walked into the room stopped a moment to look at us then Advanced with outstretched hand while a faint smile played about his features and softened the piercing glance of his eyes he shook our hands heartily in the foreign fashion and without any show of

Ceremony led the way into an adjoining room where a long Council table extended over half the length the Viceroy took the armchair at the head and motioned us to take the two seats on his left while Mr Tenny and the viceroy’s son sat on his right

For almost a minute not a word was said on either side the Viceroy had fixed his gaze intently upon us and like a good General perhaps was taking a thorough survey of the field before he opened up the Canon Aid of questions that was to follow we in turn were just as busily

Engaged in taking a mental sketch of his most prominent physical characteristics his face was distinctly oval tapering from a very broad forehead to a sharp pointed chin half obscured by his thin gray goate te the crown of his head was shaven in the usual sing fashion leaving a tuft of

Hair for a queue which in the viceroy’s case was short and very thin his dry shallow skin showed signs of wrinkling a thick fold lay under each eye and at each end of his upper lip there were no prominent cheekbones or almond-shaped eyes which are so distinctively seen in most of the Mongolian

Race under the Scraggy mustache we could distinguish a rather benevolent though determined mouth while his small Keen eyes which were somewhat sunken gave forth a flash that was perhaps but a flickering Ember of the fire they once contained the left eye which was partly closed by a paralytic stroke several

Years ago gave him a rather Artful waggish appearance the whole physiognomy was that of a man of strong intuition with the ability to force his point when necessary and the shrewd common sense to yield when Desiring to be politic well gentlemen he said at last through Mr Tenny as interpreter you don’t look

Any the worse for your long journey we are glad to hear your Excellency say so we replied it is gratifying to know that our appearance speaks well for the treatment we have received in China we hope our readers will consider the requirements of Chinese etiquette as sufficient excuse for our failure to say

Candidly that if we looked healthy it was not the fault of his countrymen of all the countries through which you have passed which do you consider the best the Viceroy then asked in our answer to this question the reader would no doubt expect us to follow etiquette and say that we thought

China was the best and perhaps the vicroy himself had a similar expectation but between telling a positive lie and not telling the truth there is perhaps sufficient difference to Shield us from the charge of gross inconsistency God we answered therefore that in many respects we considered America the greatest country we had seen

We ought of course to have said that no reasonable person in the world would ever think of putting any other country above the celestial Empire our bluntness elicited some surprise for the Viceroy said if then you thought that America was the best why did you come to see other countries

Because until we had seen other countries we replied we did not know that America was the best but this answer the Viceroy evidently considered a mere subterfuge he was by no means satisfied what was your real object in undertaking such a peculiar Journey he asked impatiently to see and study the world

And its peoples we answered to get a practical training as a finish to a theoretical education the bicycle was adopted only because we considered it the most convenient means of accomplishing that purpose the vicroy however could not understand how a man should wish to use his own strength when he could travel on

The physical force of someone else nor why it was that we should adopt a course through Central Asia and Northwestern China when the southern route through India would have been far easier and less dangerous he evidently gave it up as a conundrum and started out on another

Line do you consider the Sha of Persia a powerful Monarch was his next question powerful perhaps in the Oriental sense we replied but very weak in comparison with The Western Nations then too he seems to be losing the power that he does have he is compelled to play more and more into the

Hands of the Russians do you think that Russia will eventually try to take possession of Persia the vicroy interrupted that of course is problematical we answered with the embarrassment men of our age might feel it being instigated to talk politics with a prime minister I’m what we do know for certain is that

Russia is now with her transcaspian railroad within about 40 Mi of mesh the capital of Persia’s richest province of corisan that she now has a well-engineered and for a great portion of the way a macadamized road to that city across the copet da Mountains from Asad the capital of Russian transasia

And that half that road the Persians were rather forcibly invited to construct do you think again interrupted the Viceroy whose interest in the Russians now began to take a more domestic turn that the Russians would like to have the Chinese province of Ila to this question we might very appropriately have said no

For the reason that we thought Russia had it already she is only waiting to draw it in when she feels certain that her Siberian flank is better protected the completion of the transiberian railroad by which troops can be readily transported to that portion of her Dominion may change

Russia’s attitude toward the province of Eli we did not however say this to his Excellency we merely replied that we believed Russia was seldom known to hold aloof from anything of value which she thought she could get with impunity as she was now sending cartload after cartload of goods over the Border

Through Eli into northern and western China without paying a scent of customs duty while on the other hand not even a leaf of tea or thread of cotton passed over the Russian line from China without the payment of an exorbitant tariff and as she had already established in kja a postal telegraph

And casac station it would seem that she does not even now view the province of el as wholly foreign to the Russian Empire at this the Viceroy cleared his throat and dropped his eyes in thought ful mood as much as to say ah I know the Russians but there is no help for it at this point we ventured to ask the vicroy if it were true as we had been informed that Russia had arranged a treaty with China by which she was entitled to establish consoles in several of the interior provin of the Chinese Empire

But he evaded the question with adroitness and asked didn’t you find the roads very bad in China this question was creditable to the viceroy’s knowledge of his own country but to this subject we brought the very best Chinese politeness we could muster we said that in as much as China

Had not yet adopted oped the bicycle her roads of course were not adapted to that mode of locomotion the vicroy then asked us to describe the bicycle and inquired if such a vehicle did not create considerable consternation among the people we told him that the bicycle from

A Chinese point of view was capable of various descriptions on the passports given us by the Chinese Minister and London the bicycle was called a seat sitting foot moving machine the natives in the interior had applied to it various epithets among which were yma foreign horse Fay CH

Flying machine susun CH self moving cart and others the most graphic description perhaps was given by a whom we overheard relating to his neighbors the first appearance of the bicycle in his quiet little village it is a little mule said he that you drive by the ears and kick in the

Sides to make him go a dignified smile overspread the viceroy’s features and didn’t the people try to steal your money L was he next inquired no we replied from our impoverished appearance they evidently thought we had nothing our wardrobe being necessarily limited by our mode of travel we were

Sometimes reduced to the appearance of traveling mendicants and were often the objects of pity or contempt either this or our peculiar mode of travel seemed to dispel all thought of highway robbery we never lost even so much as a button on our journey of over 3,000 miles across the Chinese

Empire did the governors you met treat you well he asked and then immediately added being Scholars were you not subjected to some indignity by being urged to perform for every Mandarin you met by nearly all the governors we said we were treated very kindly indeed but we were not so certain that

The same favors would have been extended to us had we not cheerfully consented to give exhibitions of bicycle riding there was now A Lull in the conversation the Viceroy shifted his position in his chair and took another whiff from the long slender Chinese pipe held to his mouth by one of his body

Servants one whiff and the pipe was taken away to be emptied and refilled after a short respit he again resumed the conversation but the question questions he now asked were of a personal nature we enumerate a few of them without comment only for the purpose of throwing some additional light on the

Character of our questioner about how much did the trip cost you do you expect to get back all or more than you spent will you write a book did you find find on your root any gold or silver deposits do you like the Chinese diet and how much did one meal cost

You how old are you one of the first questions a Chinese host usually asks his guest are you married what is the trade or profession of your parents are they wealthy do they own much land a Chin’s idea of wealth is limited somewhat by the amount of land

Owned will you Telegraph to your parents from Shanghai your safe arrival there were you not rash in attempting such a journey suppose you had been killed out in the interior of Asia no one would ever have heard of you again are you Democrats or Republicans the Viceroy showed considerable knowledge of our government

And institutions will you run for any political office in America do you ever expect to get into Congress do you have to buy offices in America was the last inquiry there was considerable hesitancy on the part of us both to answer this question finally we were obliged to

Admit that sometimes such was the case ah said the Viceroy that is a very bad thing about American politics but in this centure he was even more severe on his own country than America referring to ourselves in this connection the vicroy ventured to predict that we might become so well

Known as the result of our journey that we could get into office without paying for it you are both young he added and can hope for anything during the conversation the vicroy frequently smiled and sometimes came so near overstepping the bounds of Chinese propriety as to chuckle at first his reception was more

Formal but his interests soon led him to dispense with all formality and before the close of the interview the questions were rapidly asked and discussed we have had some experience with examining attorneys and an extended acquaintance with the American report order but we are convinced that for genuine inquisitiveness Lee hung Chang stands

Pure we made several attempts to take leave but we interrupted each time by a question from the vicroy MR Tenny in fact became fatigued with the task of interpreting so that many of the long answers were translated by the viscer son the interview was conducted as nearly as possible in the foreign

Fashion we smoked cigarettes and a bottle of champagne was served finally the interview was brought to a close by a health from the Viceroy to tmh quo the Great American country in conclusion we thankk the Viceroy for the honor he had done us he replied that we must not thank him at

All that he was only doing his duty Scholars said he must receive Scholars the vicroy rose for from his chair with difficulty the servant took him by the elbows and half lifted him to his feet he then walked slowly out of the room with us and across the courtyard to the main

Exit here he shook Us heartily by the hand and bowed us out in the Chinese manner hung Chang is virtually the emperor of the celestial Empire the present Son Of Heaven the young Emperor has only recently reached his majority Lee hung Chang is China’s intellectual height from whom emanate nearly all her Progressive

Ideas he stands today in the light of a mediator between foreign progressiveness and Native Prejudice and conservatism it has been said that Lee hung Chang is really anti-foreign at heart that he employs the accidentals only long enough for them to teach his own countrymen how to get along without

Them whether this be so or not it is certain that the Viceroy recognizes the advantages to be derived from foreign methods and inventions and employs them for the advancement of his country upon Him rests the decision in nearly all the great questions of the Empire scarcely edct or document of any

Kind is issued that does not go over his signature or under his direct supervision to busy himself with the smallest details is a distinctive characteristic of the man systematic methods combined with an extraordinary mind enable him to accomplish his Herculean task in the Eastern Horizon Lee hung

Chang shines as the brilliant star of morning that tells of the coming of a brighter Dawn the end

Across Asia on a Bicycle by Allen & Sachtleben – Full Audiobook | Epic Travel Adventure

‎⁨🇫🇷 Cycling next to the sea in Grimaud⁩, ⁨Côte d’Azur⁩⁩, ⁨France⁩

‎⁨🇫🇷 Cycling up to Mont Caume near Toulon⁩, ⁨Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur⁩, ⁨France⁩

‎⁨🇫🇷 Cycling up to Montée du Coudon near Toulon⁩, ⁨Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur⁩, ⁨France⁩

Across Asia on a Bicycle by Allen & Sachtleben – Full Audiobook | Epic Travel Adventure

Related

‎⁨🇫🇷 Cycling next to the sea in Grimaud⁩, ⁨Côte d’Azur⁩⁩, ⁨France⁩

‎⁨🇫🇷 Cycling up to Mont Caume near Toulon⁩, ⁨Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur⁩, ⁨France⁩

‎⁨🇫🇷 Cycling up to Montée du Coudon near Toulon⁩, ⁨Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur⁩, ⁨France⁩