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0443 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2
中国砂漠地帯の遺跡 : vol.2
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 / 443 ページ(カラー画像)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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for transport was brought to my quarters. The men
looked decidedly sulky, and showed little disposition to
take the ten days' hire I paid out to them, when it was
explained that this was meant as an advance for the pur-
chase of rations for themselves and their animals. In fact,
they broadly hinted that they would take our baggage only
to the foot of the mountains and no farther.

However, much was to be gained by the mere start
from headquarters. So I purposely refused to pay attention
to warnings of this sort. The same day I paid my farewell
visits at the Ya-méns. Here, too, it seemed the right policy
to treat the complete execution of my programme in the
mountains as a matter of course. How could Tao-t'ai,
General, or Magistrate fail to respond to such unhesitating
reliance on their willingness and power to help? But
inwardly I confessed to misgivings when I heard that
Chin T'ai-tsin, under the Tao-t'ai's orders, was to move out
with me to Chin-fo-ssŭ, the last village at the foot of the
mountains, and personally to superintend my start.

The return visits of these dignitaries in the evening
coincided with a modest return, picnic-fashion, which I
was paying on my terrace to Father Essems' hospitality.
As my missionary guest was accompanied by his native
coadjutor, and as Chiang, too, was of the party as a
matter of course, regard for Chinese notions of decorum
demanded a reasonable multiplication of dishes. My strictly limited
camp service was thus put to no small strain. But the
difficulty in serving up properly the various little 'con-
fections' which my Kashmirian cook had contrived, grew
more embarrassing when General and Magistrate also
turned up and had to be invited. The confusion of Aziz,
my Ladaki servant, was amusing. It had taken him years
to learn how the simple camp dinner of a far from fastidious
Sahib was to be put on the table. Now he was caught by
the sudden ambition to do these things in true Chinese
fashion, which he had never had a chance of observing
closely. The result was a very funny muddle, in which we
were expected to drink custard with chopsticks. Luckily
none of my guests, expected or otherwise, was likely to be
put out by such little faux pas. Level-headed Tila Bai