For the first few miles of the road we had the company of Messrs. Coltman 
and Dello, two Europeans resident in Lan-chou, who came to speed us on our 
way. The expedition moved eastward until it reached a small place named 
Hsiao-shui-tzt, situated on the right bank of the Yellow River, which here 
cuts through thick strata of igneous rock. This was the last we saw for many 
days of that mighty river, which, having its birth in the eternal snows of the 
Tibetan highlands, flows through Western Kansu, divides the Ordos from the 
rest of Mongolia, forms the boundary between the provinces of Shansi and 
Shensi, and after draining Northern Honan, Southern Chihli, and the Shantung 
peninsula, ultimately pours its water into the Gulf of Pei-chih-li. 
For the first thirty miles there was ample evidence of heavy rains; in 
places the old roads over the loess were completely cut away, new routes 
having been hastily chosen by recent travellers. Notwithstanding the 
abundance of water since the middle of June, the crops for the first five days 
of the journey were in a very poor condition. In many places, instead of the 
fields of ripening wheat or tall millet, bare, yellow, sun-baked loess alone was 
visible. From time to time we passed the sawed-up remains of telegraph 
poles; and in one place came upon the scene of further depredations com- 
mitted but a few hours earlier. Poles recently pulled down and stripped of 
their wire lay about, whilst the fresh tracks of the perpetrators of this mischief 
must have led to inevitable discovery and arrest in any district adequately 
policed ; however, here it meant nothing but that another fifteen miles of line 
had been rendered useless. 
On July 23rd we reached Ching-ning Chou, the first large town since 
leaving Lan-chou. This town is at the junction of the two roads eastwards ; 
the one taken by our party leading away to the north-east, that taken by 
Clark and Douglas leading in a slightly southerly direction. Some successful 
astronomical observations were made, and Sowerby secured a new polecat, the 
pet of a market-gardener, from whom it was bought. The little animal was 
very tame, and submitted with good grace to being photographed. 
On July 24th the expedition left Ching-ning, and after passing through a 
deep gorge penetrating a range to the north of the city, entered a broad and 
fertile valley, where the rich crops of cereals afforded a pleasing contrast after 
the meagre productions of the famine-stricken wilds west of Ching-ning. 
There was no sign of opium, and this was partly explained by the fact that the 
inhabitants of the valley were all Mohammedan. Indeed, on this journey it 
was noticed that, wherever the ordinary Chinese tilled the soil, the best land 
was devoted usually to the cultivation of the poppy ; whereas the Mohammedans 
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