Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 303 (Color Image)

0303	Among the Celestials : vol.1

CHAP. ix.] A LOYAL SERVANT. 255

and that it was his business to convey me, like

a bundle of goods, from one side of China to

the other, he worked untiringly. And the

success of the journey is in no small degree

due to this single servant, who had served me

loyally, and had not feared to accompany me

throughout.

From Rawal Pindi I proceeded to Simla, and

there saw Colonel Bell, from whom I had parted

at Peking, and who, travelling more rapidly than

I did, had reached India a month before. To

him, therefore, belongs the honour of being the

first European to reach India from China by

land. But I think I may fairly claim for myself

the distinction of being the only human being

who has travelled continuously through, from

the shores of the Pacific on the one side to

the plains of India on the other. From the

Manchurian port of Possiet Bay, and from

the banks of the Sungari, I had made my

way across the entire breadth of the Chinese

Empire, and had now reached the first can-

tonment in British India.

I had travelled for nigh upon seven thousand

miles over the richly-cultivated lands of Man-

churia and the barren Desert of Gobi, through

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