POPULOUS AND 
BEAUTIFUL SZECHUAN 
ital 
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Photo by Rollin T. Chamberlin 
A LIGHT CHAIR SPECIALLY CONSTRUCTED FOR TRAVEL IN THE MOUNTAINS 
Travel in it was speedier than in the ordinary sedan, but it was not comfortable for more 
than an hour at a stretch 
A CHINESE TOWN 
The Chinese inn at Kuan Hsien ranked 
among the better class of Szechuanese 
inns. Its provisions and accommodations 
were in no essential way different from 
or more extensive than those of other 
inns of its class. Its principal features 
were the walls, the roof, the floor, a few 
chairs and benches, and a small dining- 
table. The traveler in this country al- 
ways takes with him his own provisions, 
a cook to prepare his meals, and his own 
bedding for the night. The inn simply 
provides a place where he may camp; 
for, on account of the extreme degree to 
which all available land is cultivated, 
there is not room outdoors on which a 
traveler may camp. 
The hard journey of the first day, or 
its suggestion of too strenuous travelers, 
proved unpalatable to about half of our 
chairmen and carriers, and they gave up 
their tasks and returned to Chengtu. On 
account of the general prosperity of this 
region, together with an apparent abun- 
dance of work to keep the inhabitants 
employed, our fu-to, or head coolie, found 
it difficult to engage men to replace the 
deserters, and it was 8.45 a. m. before 
we were able to leave the inn. Such a 
scarcity of unemployed men here im- 
pressed us all the more forcibly when we 
recalled how frequently local coolies had 
bid low, and even scrapped, for the 
chance to relieve our chairmen on the 
overland journey from Wan Hsien to 
Chengtu, across eastern Szechuan. This 
seemed a fact of some significance as an 
index to the economic conditions and the 
relative prosperity of these districts. 
