RUMOURS 235 



Captured in 1900 by the Germans in Peking, 

 he was to be shot at dawn, but a missionary 

 hearing of his plight and knowing him to be 

 innocent of the charges brought against him, 



induced Major P to intervene, and he was 



liberated. The most absurd stories were rife as 

 to our presence at Lanchow. Some said, " These 

 men are forerunners of trouble. They were at 

 Sian-fu. See what happened there directly after- 

 wards. Now they come here. What is the 

 meaning of their arrival ? " 



After our visit to the Neotai, it was all over 

 the city that we had negotiated a Russian loan 

 for 5,000,000 ! 



Hearing that we were about to leave, fifty or 

 sixty applicants arrived and wished to come with 

 us as an escort. 



Food, formerly more expensive at Lanchow than 

 in most parts of China, owing to the large amount 

 of ground devoted to the growth of the poppy, 

 had been, since the enforced restrictions, consider- 

 ably cheaper. Tobacco is the chief industry of 

 the surrounding country, though many other 

 crops are under cultivation since the suppression 

 of opium. At the time of our visit, however, 

 bread, which at Sian was sold for 18 cash, was up 

 to 48, owing to the civil war. 



The latest rumours which we heard before 

 leaving were that all the Manchus had been 

 massacred at Ningsia and that the revolutionary 

 army was advancing on Liang-chow-fu x the first 

 important town through which we should have to 

 pass. 



The Ko-lao-hui were said to have burned the 



