SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 



That night we put up at an isolated inn called 

 Tuan-ch'iang, situated beneath the shelter of the 

 Wall, and on the edge of a chasm some five hundred 

 feet deep. 



The following day another long detour into the 

 desert was made, and we stopped for our midday 

 meal at a little village situated at the end of a 

 ravine in the sand. A clear stream, springing 

 from beneath the wall of sand at the end of the 

 ravine flowed along its bottom irrigating some 

 small fields of black clayey soil, which supported 

 good crops. 



We followed down the stream till we reached 

 a river, along whose banks we travelled till we 

 came to a fair-sized town named Kao-chia-pu, 

 where we put up for the night. 



A guide, whom we engaged, here told me that 

 forty years ago, when he was a boy, the Moham- 

 medan rebels crossed the Ordos from Ning-hsia 

 in the west, and devastated the whole region. 

 He distinctly remembered their entry into Kao- 

 chia-pu when they massacred all who did not 

 escape into the surrounding hills. 



The following day after a long hard march of 

 some thirty miles we reached a large town named 

 Shen-mu Hsien. We had now left behind us 

 sand and loess, and were in hilly country composed 

 mainly of sandstone. 



On May 19 we descended from the high ground, 

 and travelled down a long valley, making our 



31 



