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The heart of a continent : vol.1 |
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district; but a circumstance that struck me very much in
North China was, that the mules produced by a cross between
the donkeys and ponies of the country are very much larger
than either. In Peking one used to see magnificent mules
in the carts belonging to the high officials. I was told that
from fifty to a hundred pounds were sometimes given for
the highest class of mules; and these animals were frequently
14·2 to 15 hands in height, and fully a hand or a hand and
a half higher than the ponies they were bred from.
On April 12 we passed through the Great Wall, and
entered what Marco Polo calls the land of Gog and Magog.
The gate of the Great Wall was not imposing, consisting as
it did merely of a rough framework of wood, near which
was a low hut, in which dwelt a mandarin with a small guard,
and in front of which were two small cannons fastened on
to a piece of timber. On either side of the gateway were large
gaps in the wall—here only of mud—which carts or anything
else might pass through.
On the 14th, after starting at three in the morning, we
emerged on to the broad, open plain of Mongolia proper. It
was a lovely morning, with a faint blue haze over the low hills,
which edged the plain on each side and in the far distance;
and an extraordinary bounding sense of freedom came over
me as I looked on that vast grassy plain, stretching away
in apparently illimitable distance all round. There was no
let or hindrance—one could go anywhere, it seemed, and all
nature looked bright, as if enticing us to go on. We were
on a rolling plain of grass. Here and there in the distance
could be seen collections of small dots, which, as we came
nearer, proved to be herds of camels and cattle. Numbers
of larks rose on every side and brightened the morning with
their singing. Small herds of deer were frequently met with;
bustard too were seen, while numbers of geese and duck were
passing overhead in their flight northward.
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