Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 67 (Color Image)

0067	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

THE CHING LING 37

nearly 1500 feet, two more climbs up and down

spurs, Kin-shui-ho was reached. And here he

found the deputy of the Yang Hsien magistrate

waiting for him.

The Han River was reached on the following

day. It flows through a small fertile, well-

cultivated plain. Pereira now had new peas and

cherries for the first time. But the fruit in China

suffers greatly from the Chinese preferring quan-

tity to quality and from their picking it before

it is ripe for fear of its being stolen.

Han-chung Fu was reached on April 30. It is

243 miles from Sian, and of this distance Pereira

walked 2214 miles, that is 17 miles a day. As

dashed about reporting his progress. Eventually,

hot and dusty, he arrived in the eastern suburb,

but much to his disgust was there detained that

he might be given an official welcome. The

friendly officials insisted upon putting him up in

a kung-kuan with a nice garden. But he held

out stoutly against being given any feasts or

presents. He afterwards heard, however, that

the people had been forced to pay 300 cash for

entertaining him, and this must have gone into

the pocket of underlings, while Pereira would be

credited with receiving it as a bribe to report

favourably on the opiumrowin . And in spite

g g p

of Government orders much opium was grown

about here, the officials not only cultivating it

themselves, but compelling the people to grow it

for their own profit. In the previous year, when

they grew too much, there was a slump in the

opium market, causing heavy loss to many people.

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