my guests! After some time the scribe left the room to attend
to the camels, when the chief confided to me his opinion of his
scribe. Later the chief left the room, and the scribe confided to
me his opinion of his chief; and I must say that the two seemed
well matched, with very little to choose between. The freedom with
which they spoke of each other was partly to be accounted for by
the fact that both were more or less drunk.

'The chief squared up his accounts with the people about here, and
showed me in the scribe's absence a small parcel of silver which he
had reserved for use on the road. He showed it me under strict
injunctions not to tell the scribe. The scribe had more difficulty
in squaring up _his_ account. The last item that stuck in his
throat was a little bill his son had left. This son had started a
day or two before, and of course the father was responsible for the
debt. How he was to pay it he did not know, as he had not a single
cash about him. The Chinaman of the place threatened to detain him,
and the scribe laughed a bitter laugh at the idea. After a great
row they went off to sleep.

'This morning early the scribe was at me before I was dressed. It
was the small debt again. The Chinaman knew better than to seize
the man; that would not have paid; he seized his coat, and actually
was detaining that as ransom for a sum equal to fourpence English!
He made a direct appeal to me to pay it, and of course I did it;
though I was a little disgusted with the man's meanness, as I had
given him a present of money amounting to about 1_l._ a few days
before. This son of his is a great eyesore to me. He is a young
lama, about as wicked a boy as I know. His brothers died of
consumption, and this fact enables him to do anything he likes with
his parents. If they refuse anything, he has only to feign
sickness, and they are in a huge state over him. He is a thoroughly
bad lad. Will not work, will not study, will do nothing but make
trouble and expense for his parents. Just fancy! His father and
mother are poor as church mice; and when his father was coming to
Peking the boy must beg to come too, and the father like a fool
must take him, and be at great expense for travelling, &c. One
thing made me furious. Out of the money I gave him he spent ab