© 
used all their land for cereals, hemp, and other useful products. The result 
was a marked difference in the prosperity of the two classes, Buddhist and 
Moslem ; the former showed signs of much want and degradation, whilst the 
latter were comparatively prosperous and healthy-looking people, their homes 
cleaner and better appointed, their faces less haggard and less careworn. The 
scenery, too, became more beautiful at every step. In place of bare yellow 
loess mountains—only pleasing towards the end of the day when the soft 
lights of evening clothe them in delicate shades of mauve and blue—there now 
spread out on either hand broad fields and lofty slopes resplendent in rich 
coats of verdure. Hurrying rivulets and sparkling brooks took the place of 
yellow sluggish streams, so alkaline as to be useless for the watering of sheep. 
We put up that night at a pretty little village named Ch’ang-t’ai-p'u. 
This consists of two sections, each surrounded by a high and crenellated 
wall. The larger boasts of two gates and a moat, and one long broad street 
running from gate to gate with the houses on each side symmetrically arranged. 
The smaller section was perched upon some high ground overlooking the 
larger, which in other ways it closely resembled. As a result of the symmetry, 
so carefully adhered to by the designer, the village presented a very pleasing 
picture, especially when viewed from the eastern gate. That night another 
heavy deluge rendered the road unfit for travel. For several hours the rain 
came down in sheets, and a fall of nearly 13” was recorded. Sowerby took 
advantage of the delay thus afforded to persuade the natives of the village to 
go out into the surrounding country and dig up small quadrupeds, for which 
he paid them sums varying from five to fifteen cents. (1}d. to 33d.). By this 
method a large and valuable collection was obtained. 
After leaving Ch’ang-t’ai-p’u, we continued up the valley to the foot of a 
high mountain chain, and encamped in a beautiful spot close to a small village 
named Ch’ang-yi-p’'u. An excursion into the mountains was undertaken by 
the two Europeans; but, though some deer were seen, little in the way of 
specimens for the collection could be secured. 
From Ch’ang-yi-p’u the road turns northward, skirting the high mountains 
till it reaches a conveniently low pass, when it again turns east. Following 
this route we reached the large walled town of Ku-yiian Chou, where 
astronomical observations were again taken. Close to Ku-yiian lie the remains 
of Tung Fu-shang, the famous Kansu general, whose lawless troops came to 
the aid of the Empress Dowager in the coup d'état of 1897, and took their share 
in the Boxer atrocities of t900. It is no uncommon thing in Kansu to see 
substantial, well-appointed residences, which have been recently erected by 
72 
