A Rapacious Inn-keeper. 



regarded me as a perambulating bank by demanding, when we 

 packed up the next morning, a price for our night's lodging 

 worthy of a West End hostelry. However, as my ideas on the 

 subject differed considerably from his, the little coup did not 

 succeed. 



The Chinese met with in this part of the Celestial Empire are 

 of a low class, a large proportion being of the criminal caste and 



-jwyi 



■^^^^•^^45 



THE GREAT GATE OF CHUGUCHAK. 



those who have been ejected from China proper to settle in 

 Turkistan where their presence is less hkely to be a public danger 

 than in civilised parts. It is the same with the soldiery who are 

 sent into Turkistan to form the garrisons of the different towns, 

 the majority being enlisted from the scum of the bazaars and 

 the sweepings of gaols, and sent out to do duty in distant pro- 

 vinces of the Empire. The higher officials are, of course, m the 



337 z 



