220 ACROSS MONGOLIAN PLAINS 



made of mud; at the other, a fat mother hog with five 

 squirming "piglets" sprawled contentedly on the dirt 

 floor. Six years before Colonel (then Captain) 

 Thomas Holcomb, of the United States Marine Corps, 

 had spent several days at this hut while hunting elk. 

 Therefore, it will be known to Peking Chinese until 

 the end of time as the "American Legation." 



An inspection of the remaining houses in the village 

 disclosed no better quarters, so our boys ousted the 

 sow and her family, swept the house, spread the kang 

 and floor with clean straw, and pasted fresh paper over 

 the windows. We longed to use our tents, but there 

 was nothing except straw or grass to burn, and cook- 

 ing would be impossible. The villagers were too poor 

 to buy coal from Kwei-hua-cheng, forty miles away, 

 and there was not a sign of wood on the bare, brown 

 hills. 



At the edge of the kang, in these north Shansi houses, 

 there is always a clay stove which supports a huge iron 

 pot. A hand bellows is built into the side of the stove, 

 and by feeding straw or grass with one hand and ener- 

 getically manipulating the bellows with the other, a 

 fire sufficient for simple cooking is obtained. 



Except for a few hours of the day the house is as 

 cold as the yard outside, but the natives mind it not at 

 all. Men and women alike dress in sheepskin coats 

 and padded cotton trousers. They do not expect to 

 remove their clothing when they come indoors, and 

 warmth, except at night, is a nonessential in their 

 scheme of life. A system of flues draws the heat from 



