Chap. XXI. INN AT TSAI-TSOUN. 347 
up for the night. The town in which I had taken 
up my quarters, as well as the others passed 
through during the day, was chiefly built of 
mud ; and I must say all of them had a poor, 
dirty, and uninviting appearance, very different 
from those I had been in the habit of visiting in 
the provinces further south. 
The inn which I had chosen was entered by a 
covered way ; and in the courtyard I found fifteen 
other carts like my own, some going to the capital 
and others returning from it. The courtyard was 
a square, with bedrooms on three sides, and the 
kitchen occupied the greater part of the fourth. 
Each traveller had his cart drawn up in front of 
his room. Mine host presented himself on my 
arrival, and wished to know what it was my 
pleasure to order for the evening meal. I made 
it an invariable rule, when placed in circumstances 
of this kind, to live upon the simplest food, and to 
abstain from mixtures and made dishes. I there- 
fore replied that I wished to dine on rice and 
eggs, two articles which I had generally found 
plentiful in the country, as well as. clean and 
wholesome; but, to my surprise, mine host in- 
formed me that he had no rice in his house, and 
he did not think there was any to be had in the 
town. “ What ! no rice in China ! ” I could 
scarcely credit the man until I began to reflect 
that this was not a rice-producing district, and 
that the empty granaries I had visited showed too 
plainly that the rebellion and foreign wars had 
