Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 130 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

0130	Among the Celestials : vol.1

102 AMONG THE CELESTIALS. [CHAP. V.

the place was information to be obtained of

the route by which we had to go. How

different all this is from what one sees in the

bazaars of Central Asia, where the merchants

—some from India, some from Turkestan,

some from Afghanistan, some even from Con-

stantinople and Moscow meet and talk over

the countries they have travelled in and the

state of the roads, so that a traveller can

always obtain a fair general idea of any

caravan route now in use !

At Kalgan I met the ex-captain of a Chinese

gunboat which had been engaged in the action

at Foochow during the Franco-Chinese war.

His was a curious story. The Chinese have

a principle that in a battle a commander must

- either be victorious or else die. This man's

vessel had been moored at some distance from

the French fleet, and had consequently escaped

the fate of the rest of the Chinese ships, and

had not been blown out of the water. The

captain, seeing the day was lost, and not being

able to do anything to retrieve the disaster

with his little gunboat, had run ashore and

escaped. The Chinese Emperor, however,

considered this a most ignominious proceeding.

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