ftcrtcs 01T Ikrrtbcrit lUw-sujr.
BY MR. G. PARKER, OF TSIN-CHAU.
[HE day we left King-gan-pu, as soon as we got into the plain, fairly away from the town, we found
ourselves amongst the mounds of sand. The
wind was carrying away the sand from their tops at a
great rate. The wind was at our backs, and yet it was
painful even to peep out of one's eyelids, the air was so
full of sand. What was worse, the highway was in some
places obliterated, and we nearly lost our way. There are
stories afloat of caravans being blown away when crossing
the desert, but I suppose, as nobody escapes to tell the
tale, that the road gets covered and the traffic buried. The late governor has had a double line of large stones
laid down to mark out the path. The winds have a
circular course. I saw a mule and man one day in quite a hurricane not a hundred yards ahead. Where I was
there was quite a calm. We presently came up and
CHINA'S MILLIONS. x I
entered into it. When the wind blows less violently, it catches up the sand and dust and carries it along in the
form of a conical column, the base being uppermost. The
columns are of great height : with the hills for a background, their tops cannot be discerned. On two different days I saw the mirage—lakes of water where I knew
there was none. The roads are boggy and difficult to traverse. Ku-yuen is the 'residence of a Ti-tuh, the chief military
officer in the two provinces. There is however a Manchu
"Tsiang-kuin," at Ning-hia. Before the Mohammedan
rebellion, Ku-yuen was scarcely second to Lan-chau in
size and importance. Now only the southern suburb is at
all busy. The general
impression in Kan-SUH
is that the population of
that province is about a
fifteenth of what it was
twenty years ago,
U-wang-cheng, before
the rebellion a large market town, had thirty-six
oil warehouses, twentythree wine stores, and
thirteen pawn - shops ; now, not one remains.
The Mohammedan garri- son of ninety-six soldiers rose up one night and put
the inhabitants to the
sword ; only few escaped.
From that day the garrison revelled on the
spoil for several years,
until the Ta'i-p'ing re- bellion in the south being
put down, set the Chinese
at liberty to attack the
place. Its partially-destroyed street with the
dilapidated houses patched up has a more desolate
appearance than if nothing
but bare walls had been
left, as in most places.
One scarcely feels safe
there. Hia-ma-kwan,
which was invested from
spring to autumn, was
taken one night, and, al- though some members of
the 800 families escaped,
only the remains of four have since found their way back to the home of
their fathers. The inn- keeper, whom I observed to be unusually polite, made a
request that I would point out the whereabouts of a
treasure supposed to have been buried there before the
investment of the place. Shih-kiai had thirty-six potteries
to provide the north of the province with the household
water-jars ; now only three are sufficient to meet the
demand. Thousands of camels carried the coal then
worked from the mines ; now scarcely any is taken. The
head-quarters of the rebellion was at Wei-chau. It lasted from 1861 to 1877. Excepting at U-wang-cheng, the Mohammedans everywhere gave me a hearty reception. They carried off the
Arabic Bible I had with me to their mosques and schools
and everywhere begged me to sell it. I have almost promised to sell copies at a tael on my next visit. It was
reported at Shui-loh on my return that I had refused fifty taels for it. A copy of the Koran printed abroad is valued at thirty-six taels; twenty It from Shui-loh-ch'eng
is a Persian staying with a mullah. He came by sea.
I arrived late at Shan-kia-chih. The people crowded
about me to hear. At Siao-ho-cheng they pressed me very much to stay a few days and teach them ; I felt sorry to leave people so
willing to listen. At Ku-yuen the Mohammedans would have bought all my Old Testaments, but
I refused to sell more than
a proportion. At Sanying, a stage to the north,
where I spent a night, on my return the mullah and the principal
members of his congregation came to the inn, and
after listening for some
time the mullah said : The "King" (Bible) you
sold at Ku-yuen tells about Adam better than
our " King " (the Koran).
A military officer at Chi-ying listened attentively and bought books ; on the way down on my
return, he invited me to a
conversation on what he
had been reading. Judas'
conduct had particularly
struck him. He wanted
me to put up there and
spend more time with
him, but I could only
tarry while the attendants
got some breakfast. Li- wang-pu is a small place
but busy on market days;
I had a good time of
preaching in the inn-yard.
A Chinese brought back
a New Testament, saying
that he did not want Mohammedan books. This
gave the occasion. On
my return a seller of
cooked meat came to ask questions. He had
bought and read Matthew and Luke's gospels
and the Acts, and by reading them had become thoroughly
interested. He told to those gathered about the door
the story of Jesus walking on the sea in so minute and vivid a manner that showed he must have read it several times
with great attention. I gave him Mark and John, as I did not think he could afford to buy them.
At Pir-lo I went to the theatrical booth to get something
to eat, and a crowd gathered round. A man sitting by my
side interrupted me, when I came to the works of Jesus,
and enumerated someoftheminan offhand way,asifhehad
been familiar with them for years, instead of only one day.
At Pau-ko-ch'eng there was a demand for Old Testaments.