lind shelter in a large sarai with a room big enough for at least 5o people. Here in Shansi they are undoubtedly much cleaner than in the other northern provinces.
We started to the SW from our night quarters for about a li, whereupon we made a curve to the N and NW until we had rounded a cleft and then turned for a time in a SSW direction. After 5 li Inzakou with 5o houses. Our course was now definitely SSE. After 10 li Utietsung with too houses, at 20 li Santihsia with 40. The plateau of löss on which we had travelled for the last 30 li and which is connected in reality with the two ridges of yesterday, was now crossed. On that part of it which we had crossed latterly, too, there were large stones and small spurs of rock at the top, while the slopes consist mostly of löss, often mixed with sand and pebbles. The mountains now retreated slightly to the W and continued in a SW direction. The folds in the ground became deeper and the outlines of the mountains, though still small, grew more rugged. The river valley widened very considerably in front of us and attained a width of several miles with a slight dip from the W and E towards the river. The mountains on its other side had given way to mound-like hills with very gentle slopes. Far to the SSE the dim outlines of a larger mass of mountains was visible, evidently the one that formed a wedge between the Sangkan ho and the Hun ho, its tributary from the NE. The river flowed SSW, almost S, in two arms, its bed about i /2 mile wide. In the SSW we could see the town wall of Tatung fu on the horizon. — Just beyond the village the road crossed a river coming from the NW, 40 feet wide, at 30 li Kutier tsung with 15o houses. We followed the right river bank, which rose at times in the form of a ledge of löss mixed with sand and stone, gradually ascending towards the mountains.
After 42 li Pei macheng with 6o houses. Here I made vain efforts to photograph one of the women in their very striking dress — a pair of baggy trousers and a kind of waistcoat buttoned in front like a pair of broad braces between the breasts, leaving the latter free. Not even money was of any avail. As long as we were negotiating, all was well, but as soon as I produced my camera, they rushed wildly away and bolted their doors.
After 50 li Tatung fu. N of the town there is a large empty space surrounded by a fortress wall that is falling to pieces. A small impanj, occupied by i tchi of putui, stands in its NW corner. The N gate of the fortress wall of Tatung fu faces the S gate of this space. The former is provided with a double protective buttress, though the outer one is quite low, making the number of gates 3. They are placed as at Kanchow and partly very dilapidated. The wall is over 5o feet high and also going to ruin. The buttresses are few, 6 between the gates and the corner buttresses. A tower of the same height and size stands by itself in front of these. A small ditch runs round the town wall. There used to be towers with gun embrasures above the gates, but they have fallen to pieces completely. Two wide streets connect the 4 gates, 2 by 2. Only those parts that are close to the centre are slightly better built and cleaner with a kind of broad pavement. Some wooden gates and a couple of old towers enliven the monotonous streets to a small extent, but they are very uninviting, at any rate on a rainy day. The arbahs rattle over the stones scattered plentifully here and there, and the rain forms little rivers, that pour down the low-lying streets. A slightly open space is transformed into a lake, through which the horses
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