Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 42 (Color Image)

0042	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

18 PEKING TO LHASA

Chinese soldiers took to it readily. On parade

they moved like clockwork. The defect was that

they totally lacked initiative. They would carry

out an attack like a drill movement. But until

they learned to use their wits they would have a

poor time in fighting a trained army.

The famine was more severe in Honan than

in most other Provinces. Pereira saw a beggar

gloating over some dirty bones which he would

not like to have given to a decent dog in England.

And some of the districts were overrun by bands of

brigands. It was said that there were fourteen

to seventeen of these bands, some four to five

hundred strong. But the authorities did nothing

to put them down and little to cope with the

famine. In one village which put up some resist-

ance several bands combined and killed about

three hundred of the inhabitants. In other places

a band would capture three or four villages and

drive out the inhabitants. Roman Catholic and

Protestant missionaries working together did

their best to relieve distress ; but in the face of

the apathy of the officials and the lawlessness

around them theirs was an uphill task.

The opinion of one of these missionaries of the

character of the Chinese peasant is worth noting.

Père Pelerzi had spent seven years in a Chinese

village, and he considered that the Chinese peasant

led an ideal life, according to his own lights. He

knew not what comfort and luxury meant, and

so did not miss them. He was accustomed to

and satisfied with what little he had, and enjoyed

life. There was very little vice among them, and

their chief faults were thieving and anger. In

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books