Chap. XVI. 
INN AT POUCHING-HIEN. 
247 
CHAPTER XVI. 
Inn at Pouching-hien — Opium-Smokers and Gamblers — Value of 
Life in China — A Midnight Disturbance — Sing-Hoo fights with 
a Joss-stick — Difficulty of procuring Men next Day — Sing- 
Hoo carries the Luggage, and we march — His Bamboo breaks — 
Scene amongst Beggars — Description of Beggars in China — A 
" King of the Beggars " — Charity always given — I continue my 
Journey — Mountain Passes and Buddhist Temples — A Border 
Town and Tartar Guard — We are inspected and allowed to 
pass on. 
Having left tea and the tea-hills behind me, I shall 
now go on with my narrative. When I arrived at the 
city of Pouching-hien it was nearly dark. It had been 
raining heavily all the afternoon, and, being wet and 
uncomfortable, I was glad of the shelter afforded by a 
Chinese inn. The one which I entered did not appear 
to be so respectable as I could have wished, and T would 
have left it and sought another had the weather been 
better, but as the night was so wet I determined to stop 
where I was. 
The chair-bearers and coolie, who had been re-engaged 
at Woo-e-shan, had now arrived at the end of their jour- 
ney, according to agreement, and intended returning 
home again next day. They generally took care to be 
paid the proportion of their fare at the end of each day's 
journey, and I now desired Sing-Hoo to pay them the 
