246 ON THE FRINGE OF THE DESERT 



showed in ruins along its imposing height, but 

 here it was difficult to realise that it was the 

 same imposing erection which lords it over the 

 hills of Chihli. 



Little colonies of pigmy hares, their towns 

 situated in similar localities to those of the prairie 

 dog of North America, dotted the surface of the 

 ground ; pigeons swarmed, literally in thousands, 

 as did magpies and jackdaws ; and outside the 

 villages flocks of sheep with magnificent horns 

 ending in a double spiral, straight, or twisted, 

 picked up a precarious living. 



It was bitterly cold, and water spilled a few 

 inches from the fire instantly froze. At one 

 place the inhabitants, frightened at the rumours 

 of war, fled to the hills, leaving their village 

 deserted. Many of them were frozen to death. 



On December 8th, in lovely weather, we reached 

 Liangchow. It is a fine city with splendid gate 

 towers and walls, above which rise two conspicuous 

 pagodas. The imposing appearance of the walls 

 of Chinese cities is usually spoiled by the mass 

 of suburbs which huddle beneath them. One 

 sees the walls and towers rising in the distance ; 

 then they are swallowed by a sordid collection of 

 squalid buildings, and the splendour of the im- 

 pression they create is ruined. For though the 

 walls of by far the greater majority are not worthy 

 to be compared with the magnificent fortifications 

 of such castles as Nagoya and Osaka in Japan, 

 they are in the case of really big cities built on 

 so colossal a scale that they leave a very vivid 

 recollection of regal stateliness on the mind of 

 the spectator. 



