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0439 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 / 439 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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escaping all responsibility for my safety. But this fact
could not relieve my disappointment. It would have been
out of place to press the matter further that evening. But
next day I lost no time in sending Chiang to Chin T'ai-
tsin's Ya-mên, armed with maps and the strongest repre-
sentations I could make about the absurdity of the state-
ments which had been brought up to confront my requests.
The reply with which he returned was by no means
reassuring; but at least the order for the supply of ponies
on hire was issued. Whether I should get their owners to
go where I wanted, seemed most doubtful, and bitterly I
regretted my dependence on aid which in this case was
so little in keeping with local interest. In order to provide
for all eventualities I made it widely known that I was
ready to buy ponies. But the animals brought for in-
spection were so few and ill-conditioned that the hope
of gaining my end independently of the Ya-mên looked
poor indeed.

It was a great comfort in those days of depressing
uncertainty that I could again, after more than a year,
enjoy pleasant European society. Father Essems, of the
Belgian Missionary Congregation established in Kan-su,
had come to Su-chou only a few months before; and
as my enquiries at Tun-huang had revealed nothing
of this new mission station, the receipt of his Chinese
visiting-card came as a pleasant surprise. I lost no time
in making my call at the neat little house which was being
converted rapidly into a hospitable new 'residence' of
the order, and found in Father Essems a very amiable
young priest full of knowledge about things Chinese, and
full of sympathy, too, with the people. The hours we
spent together proved most instructive, and it was no
small advantage to me to submit my impressions of what
little I had seen of Kan-su to a keen Chinese scholar
with years of experience in this region.

Much of our talk turned to Marco Polo, whose account
of 'Sukchu' and 'Campichu,' Su-chou and Kan-chou,
reveals so much accurate observation of local detail.
Nor did I fail to give vent to my pious remembrance of
brave Benedict Goëz, 'who had sought Cathay and found