rees, and a little verdure stretched
far away. Much of the land, however, was tilled, it being Springtime in
this far-away country; and an occasional group of trees indicated what
time and irrigation may accomplish in the way of agricultural results.
At every station armed soldiers were on guard. Various theories were
advanced to account for this; one said that brigands infested the
country; another claimed that there might be danger of destruction to
the track, this being the Southern Japanese-Manchurian Railway, which
was running through an alien country. The right to this road and a strip
of land each side of the track was secured by Japan either by treaty or
by lease from China at the close of the Russian-Japanese war. Chan Chow
was the largest station passed. Hsin Min was the scene of a conflict
between the Russians and Japanese, and at the present time soldiers are
still stationed there.

* * * * *

MUKDEN, _May 30th_: Our next point to be visited was Mukden. The trip
was not in our original itinerary, and we had some difficulty in
securing it, as the Director felt that we could not obtain good hotel
accommodations. We all, however, promised to accept uncomplainingly any
condition which the situation offered. Nevertheless, we felt a little
anxious about the result, as we were the first tourist party to invade
Mukden, the capital of Manchuria, and also the old capital when it was
an independent country and not, as now, a province.

At the King-jo Hotel, under Japanese management, we found six rooms
furnished in supposed European style; these opened on upper and lower
galleries and were comfortable. They really formed an annex in order to
entice stray European guests. The entire household was Japanese, without
any knowledge of the English language, so pantomime became our means of
communication, and there were many amusing mistakes made on both sides.
The utmost good-humor prevailed, however, and the atmosphere of the
place was altogether pleasant.

The morning following our arrival, we rode in jinrikishas to the tomb of
a Ming emperor. There are two of these tombs located at Mukden. We
visited only one; it is four miles from the city, and beautifully
located in a parklike enclosure. We entered at the side, through a long
avenue of trees, the front entrance never being opened; there were two
tall columns with grotesque figures of animals on top; then a lion on
each side, seated on