daily. They carried considerable loads piled up on a high stand fastened to their backs. From time to time they stopped and rested, supporting their loads on sticks that they carried in their hands. Others moved with short, quick steps, balancing loads at either end of a springy board, which they often shifted from one shoulder to the other behind their necks. One of them carried three solid Chinese tables of considerable size that looked anything but light. It is curious that none of these porters seem to have strongly developed muscles. — All the women I saw during these days wore a blue veil over their faces. They wore wide, coloured, skirt-like trousers that almost hid their feet, as they rode with slightly drawn-up legs.
The river receives a large tributary from the S, and soon after we reached the town of Tsinchow after riding about 27 miles. It is scarcely noticeable as you approach it, as it is enclosed by a fairly large, though scattered, suburb.
There is nothing in the town, considered to be the cradle of the Tsin dynasty, to indicate its ancient history. Two places, a few li to the E, are shown, where formerly two towns of the same name stood at various times. On the top of a hill in the N, some mounds of earth are pointed out as the remains of a town that bore the name of Huang-cheng. It is said to have been founded during the Han dynasty by a nobleman of the name of Weisio, who achieved considerable, though not absolute, independence and had no less than 31
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