to theirs. At the extreme
left were large business houses and a club. Hankow is a great depository
for tea, and, with the two adjacent cities of Han-yang and Wu-chang, it
has an immense population, reaching into the millions. Many religious
denominations are said to be represented in Hankow, but we saw no
pretentious churches. The harbor or water-front has a stone embankment;
a large amount of shipping is to be seen, many of the boats being of
peculiar construction.

[Illustration: _The Hankow bund_]

The following morning, we had a few hours in which to view the city
before taking the train for Peking. We first visited the native quarter.
The heavy rain of the previous day caused a great deal of mud, and as we
attempted to drive through the narrow streets and bazars, the dirt
floors of the little homes and shops were a sea of mud, while the
inmates were preparing breakfast and attending to other domestic
avocations in perfect unconcern; it was certainly not an inspiring
scene, and the worst native quarter we had visited during our stay in
China. We did not extend our observation very far, but turned to the
more attractive Bund, which is about three miles in extent. Here we had
a nearer view of the consulates, from each of which a street led down to
the water's edge. In the French concession we noticed the same naming of
streets and buildings that we had seen in Shanghai; this was also true
of the German and English concessions, thus making of each a little
miniature city. There is a fine English club at Hankow, and a long line
of tea factories called godowns; the odor of tea was distinctly
noticeable for three blocks. From May to the middle of July the tea
industry of Hankow is great, and large numbers of dealers and
speculators interested in the business congregate there.

We took the train at 11 A.M. for Peking, with every expectation of
arriving there at 4 P.M.

* * * * *

PEKING, _March 18th_: The railway trip from Hankow to Peking is not
interesting, for it is largely over a vast extent of plain without
foliage or vegetation. Occasionally we passed small towns with a few
planted trees. The latter part of the way seemed almost like a desert;
there being little to observe, one had time to reflect, and, in some
inscrutable manner, the immensity of China, its extreme age, its teeming
population, and its unreality, judged by Western standards, began to
dawn on me. I had previously