CHAPTER VII. 



MARCH OF DOUGLAS AND GRANT TO LAN-CHOU— DESCRIPTION OF 



LAN-CHOU FU. 



'THE other division of the expedition, under Captain Douglas and Mr. 



Grant, had left Yen-an Fu on January 30th, and moving by easy stages 

 and with halts of varying duration, reached Lan-chou on April 6th. 



Following the same road as Clark and Sowerby as far south as Fu-chou, 

 the caravan then turned westward, ascending almost immediately a long 

 slope which led up to some loess plateaux similar to those encountered by the 

 others to the east of that town. Ch'ang-ts'un-yi, distant from Fu-chou some 

 17^ miles, was the first halting place reached after that town was left on 

 February 5th. The road, owing to frozen snow and steep gradients, was very 

 bad. Bustard were seen on the plateau, but none were secured. 



After resting a day at Ch'ang-ts'un-yi, the march was resumed and 

 Hai-shui-ssu was reached on February 7th. This place is nearly seventeen 

 miles from Ch'ang-ts'un-yi and is situated in an open fertile valley at an 

 altitude of a little over 3000 feet. The journey was accomplished without 

 difficulty as the road was good. A narrow plateau, reaching an altitude of 

 3600 feet, was crossed during the day ; but elsewhere the road wound up and 

 down ravines and valleys, all of which seemed to unite towards the south. 

 The population of Hai-shui-ssu seemed to be about two hundred and fifty. 



On February gth, the border line between Shensi and Kansu was crossed 

 soon after leaving Hai-shui-ssu. After travelling for twenty miles along a 

 good road through a well wooded country, the caravan reached T'ai-pei-ch'eng, 

 a dilapidated village containing scarcely a hundred souls. All along the 

 road lay ruined and deserted villages — results, it was ascertained, of the 

 Mohammedan rebellion, and the great famine. Most of the people now in 

 the district were found to be from Ssuch'uan, and they, but recent 

 settlers, had not yet effaced the terrible marks of these ravaging influences. 

 Miao-ts'un was reached on February nth, after a journey through very wild, 

 heavily-wooded and almost deserted country. The timber was not large, 

 showing that it had only been allowed to grow from a comparatively recent 

 date. The distance between this village and T'ai-pei-ch'6ng was, by road- 

 wheel, seventeen miles. Hazrat Ali shot two roedeer in this country, and 

 other game was plentiful. 



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