crossed a smaller river bed. During the 5th and 6th Chinese months these river beds are said to contain a good deal of water for periods of 2 -3 days, but they do not impede traffic. The village of Hsiao Hotang with i io houses lies less than 4 miles from Sha-ho-Kou. 2 miles beyond we passed a small river, Sha-cheng-tzu-ho. A picturesque group of temples called Pa tsa miao lies a little lower down the river. 6 miles further on we came to the river Ingliung ho and 2/3 of a mile beyond to the village of Pa-cheng-tzu with about 5o houses and an impanj. A mile from there we crossed a dry river bed, 500-600 fathoms wide. We crossed another, about 200 fathoms wide, about 2 miles further on. Here a barren stretch of loose earth began, lightly strewn with fine gravel. i z /3 and 2 miles beyond we crossed two more dry river beds, 200 and ioo fathoms wide, enclosing a narrow strip of tilled land coming from the south. The barren ground now extended for several miles in front of us. Its surface was uneven and formed small undulations or mounds. Further on we came to a number of mound-shaped sand dunes. Their direction appeared to be N—S or NNW—SSE. We found 2 small ruined houses among them. On the right, at a distance of about 2/3 of a mile, we caught sight of the ruins of a tuntai tower and a longish wall. Bits of baked bricks were visible in many places. They were particularly numerous towards the eastern boundary of the barren ground. Here we crossed another small river and a mile beyond we reached the village of Neize. The local people told me that the brick ruins were those of a town that was inhabited in the time of the Emperor Ming by a tribe called Khei shui kui. The local Roman Catholic missionary was of the opinion that the former town of Kanchow had stood there and that it was there that Marco Polo had seen the grave of a Tartar princess.
Immediately beyond the village of Neize a gravel plain begins on the right of the road and extends for several miles to the E and SE. i 2/3 of a mile from the village we crossed a river, 2 fathoms in width, in a bed 20 fathoms broad. 2/3 of a mile beyond we reached the edge of the Ch'ih-ho's bed, several miles wide. It is connected with the gravel plain already mentioned, which evidently forms the bed of many of the Ch'ih-ho's arms. We rode across the bed at an angle and crossed 7 arms in doing so, 20, 4, 2 and i fathom wide. Bridges of logs with 4 and 3 stone caissons respectively in the stream led across the two largest arms. They were as broad as an arbah and in satisfactory condition on the whole. We reached the opposite bank after covering 2 i /3 miles. i /3 of a mile further on we crossed a similar bridge over a deep-lying arm of the river, 7 fathoms wide, and a mile beyond another small one. Sparsély populated ground, on which scattered poor trees were growing, goes along the right bank of the Ch'ih-ho. The road turned almost due S. On the left there was a wide, open, low-lying plain. After passing for a few miles through ugly country, partly tilled and populated, partly low-lying, with a few miserable trees, we entered the enormous walls of Kanchow, built of baked bricks. The distance covered during the day was about 28 miles. The Chinese estimate it at 70 li. Here, however, their li are considerably longer than W of Suchow. There we covered io li at a walking pace in 45-50 minutes — here it takes 65-7o.
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