Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 31 (Color Image)

0031	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

THE START FROM PEKING 9

traversed the dreary, densely populated plain of

Chihli, now in the winter time devoid of a vestige

of colour. At Tsang Chow, 79 miles, normally

reckoned as a town of 40,000 or 50,000 inhabitants,

while some had fled from the famine more had

come in from the stricken areas. Continuing

across the plain to Hochien Fu he found the whole

land given up to cultivation and thickly populated,

studded with many villages surrounded by trees

and sometimes by orchards of pear or Chinese

dates. The cart tracks were fair in fine weather,

but dusty, for they were unmade. The plain was

indeed all alluvial. There were practically no

stones. The houses were usually built of mud,

single-storied, with flat roofs. Only the better

class houses were constructed of brick.

At Hochien Fu were a Church of England and

a Roman Catholic Mission. Pereira called on the

magistrate and found the same old ceremonies

observed of putting the visitor into the place of

honour, sitting down together, producing tea when

it was time to go, and accompanying the guest to

the third gate. The only difference from old

times was that the magistrate wore no official

robes and wore no queue. The latter need not

be regretted ; but the substitution of imitation

European clothes for the beautiful silks and fur of

the old regime is a change which most will deplore.

The magistrate put the average size of a family in

China at six. Adults, he thought, predominated

in the towns and children in the country. On the

average there are six men to four women, and

consequently there is a difficulty in finding wives.

With all his experience of travel in China

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