SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 



cept that the temperature remained very low, 

 so that we were forced to go back into winter 

 clothes once more. Our road lay along deep 

 mountain valleys, the sides of which were chiefly 

 of granite, very bare and rugged, and we crossed 

 two steep passes. By the end of the second 

 day we had reached the edge of the K'uei-hua- 

 ch'eng plain, crossing which we reached that town 

 at noon next day. 



We spent one day looking round the town 

 and lazing about, while a coolie was sent in 

 search of an old Mongol hunter. Our friends of 

 course had their business to attend to, which 

 would keep them in town a few days. K'uei-hua- 

 ch'eng, though in no way like the usual cities of 

 North China, is, nevertheless, a place of great 

 importance and no mean dimensions. It consists 

 of two sections, one Chinese and the other Manchu. 

 The latter, known as Sui-yiian-ch'eng, lies a mile or 

 so to the north-east of the former, is enclosed 

 by a strong wall and is the seat of Government. 

 Here lives a large community of Manchus, number- 

 ing some ten thousand, the adult males of which 

 are, or were up till recently, conscript government 

 troops. 



The Chinese portion, which is K'uei-hua-ch'eng 

 itself, consists of a small walled town surrounded 

 by extensive suburbs. The population of this 

 section, which, to a large extent, is floating, 

 has been estimated at 40,000, which, however, is 



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