Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 80 (Color Image)

0080	Among the Celestials : vol.1

56 AMONG THE CELESTIALS. [CHAP. III.

The traffic in this winter season was immense.

I counted in a single day's march over eight

hundred carts, all heavily laden and drawn by

teams of at least two and many of them nine

animals, ponies or mules. A main road in

Manchuria in the winter is a busy scene, and

these strings of carts rolling along on the frosty

morning, with the jingling bells of the teams,

and the drivers shouting at their animals, were

signs of animation which we had hardly ex-

pected to see after our first experience on the

heavy, muddy roads in the summer. The inns

were numerous and crowded, and as a string of

carts passed by each, men would come running

out, proclaiming the advantages of their par-

ticular hostelry, and trying to persuade the

carters to come in. Then, when the carts

stopped, the inn men would bustle about,

fetching grain and fodder for the animals and

food for the men, and there was as much

life and activity as in a country town in Eng-

land on market day. I remarked, too, how

very well the carters fed their animals. These

Manchurian, or rather Mongolian, ponies and

mules are never allowed blankets or clothing of

any description, and stand out quite bare all

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