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0446 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 / 446 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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298 THROUGH RICHTHOFEN RANGE CH. LXXVII

The brilliantly clear atmosphere and the coolness which set in made the next day's march to Chin-fo-ssû, only some sixteen miles away to the south-east, quite delightful. With the exception of two strips of rubble-strewn Sai, the whole of it led through fertile village land, called Hung-shan, ` the Red Hills,' from a low chain of red foot-hills. The abundance of fine old trees, mostly elms, gathered in groves near the hamlets or scattered between

the fields, was striking, and the harmonious blending of the colours, the light green in the fields, and the bright red

of the bare soil, a constant joy to the eye. In one of the

hamlets of Hung-shan I found the walled enclosure of a small and ruinous temple occupied by a perfect bee-hive

of students, tucked away in a number of half-decayed

temple quarters. Droning sounds of recitation in unison issued from the hovels of the different classes, and made it

easy for the simple ` Hsien-shêng ' to control their progress

without leaving his own little burrow, where a few more advanced students were receiving instruction in Confucian

classics. Once again I was struck by the order and

neatness which prevailed in this village school.   Our

intrusion, in spite of all the curiosity it excited, failed to

draw the little ones from their writing-desks. The droning, by no means displeasing to the ear, proceeded peacefully to the accompaniment of the small bells on the gate-tower tinkling in the breeze.

The picturesque little fort-town of Kuei-yin-ssû, which we passed some four miles farther on, now completely de-

serted, will also keep fresh in my memory. The massive clay walls, some 25o yards square, still rose thirty feet high ; but only a desolate temple and some old trees were left within. A few acres of ground along the walls

were still irrigated ; but elsewhere there spread terraced fields abandoned to waste. That cultivation here had

considerably receded was certain. But was this the result of diminishing water-supply, or of the devastation which had followed the last great rebellion ? Local enquiries, as so often among these secretive people of the border, proved useless.

Across a broad belt of sterile ground strewn with