About half-way between Chdn-yiian and Ch'ing-yang we came upon a 

 most remarkable cave-village, evidently long deserted. All the dwellings had 

 been hewn out of the solid sandstone cliff forming one side of a broad valley. 

 There was now not a scrap of woodwork left, whilst rank foliage had covered 

 the courts, and in some cases great masses of rock had fallen away, leaving 

 the higher caves inaccessible. The rooms, cubical in shape, were not large, 

 but showed traces of kajtgs and broken stone mangers. The scene was 

 suggestive of the Stone Age, and this impression was enhanced when two 

 children, naked and unkempt, ran out of one of the caves, attracted no doubt 

 by the strange voices. These little troglodytes were not in the least 

 embarrassed at the invasion of their sanctum, but eagerly took the biscuits 

 and cake offered them. They looked in need of better nourishment. So 

 thoroughly did the spot conjure up visions of a remote past, that we decided 

 to rest awhile and enjoy the illusion to the full. But alas ! the inevitable 

 staring crowd soon collected — not very large, but none the less annoying — and 

 the last vestige of enchantment was dispelled when someone volunteered the 

 information that the cave-village had only been deserted some thirty years. 

 Whereupon the disgusted travellers mounted their ponies and rode away ; 

 not, however, before some photographs had been taken. It may be added that 

 the wretch who had destroyed our day-dreams about the cave-village ascribed 

 its desertion to the massacres that took place throughout the country during 

 the Mohammedan rebellion. On the opposite side of the valley was a temple, 

 wherein were some large caves not unlike those of the Sung dynasty temples 

 at Yen-an Fu. They were said to date from the same period as those at 

 Yen-an Fu, but were in a much better state of preservation, although in this 

 case the sculptures were not so fine, nor were the walls so completely covered 

 with images. 



After arrival at Ch'ing-yang Fu it was necessary to make astronomical 

 observations, and two days elapsed before a suitable set could be obtained. 

 During our short sojourn in the city we received several visits from Father 

 Calbrecht, a Roman Catholic missionary stationed there. Conversation had 

 to be carried on in Chinese, this being the only language equally familiar to 

 both parties. Ch'ing-yang Fu, a city of considerable dimensions, showed 

 none of the prosperity that might have been expected. The greater part of 

 the buildings enclosed within the high strong walls were in ruins ; the broad 

 streets in many places overgrown with grass and weeds ; the temples and 

 official residences in sad disrepair ; the inhabitants few and poverty-stricken. 

 The city, once populous and wealthy, formed one of the chief strongholds of 



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