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 ij' 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, (ijd. to 3|d.). 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-yuan 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'etat of 1897, and took their share 

 in the Boxer atrocities of 1900. It is no uncommon thing in Kansu to see 

 substantial, well-appointed residences, which have been recently erected by 



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