I30 CHINESE SOLDIERS AND THEIR ARMS. 



garrisons of those towns of Kan-su which still re- 

 mained in the power of China were strengthened. 

 Nothing more was done in the first instance. The 

 Dungans, gratified Avith their success in freeing them- 

 selves from Chinese rule, discontinued aggressive 

 measures, and gave themselves up to looting, while 

 the Chinese garrisons immured within mud walls re- 

 mained tranquil spectators of the complete devasta- 

 tion of the country. 



The Chinese troops in Kan-su and on the Hoang- 

 ho were brought from the southern provinces of the 

 empire, and were called by the inhabitants Khotens ; 

 they also included a few Solones from Manchuria. 

 Their arms consisted of swords, matchlocks, a few 

 smooth-bore English muskets and double-barrelled 

 pistols, some of English and others of Tula manu- 

 facture, the latter probably obtained on the Amur. 

 The cavalry and some of the infantry were armed 

 with long bamboo lances, decorated with red flags 

 and effigies of the dragon. 



The moral qualities of Chinese soldiers are so 

 peculiar that a European would find difficulty in 

 believing it possible for an army composed of such 

 elements to exist, particularly when brought into 

 the field. In the first place all of them, officers and 

 men, are addicted to opium-smoking, and cannot 

 exist without it for a single day. This vile habit is 

 not only practised in barracks, but even on a cam- 

 paign, in the face of an enemy, they will smoke 

 themselves into a state of torpor. The result is 

 moral and physical debility, and complete unfitness 



