ship tickets for Shanghai, to sail on
the _Fei-ching_ at five o'clock the next morning. But through the kindness
of the steamship company it was arranged that we should take a tug-boat at
Tong-ku, on the line of the Kai-ping railroad, and overtake the steamer
outside the Taku bar. This we could do by taking the train at Tientsin,
even as late as seven hours after the departure of the steamer. Steam
navigation in the Pei-ho river, over the forty or fifty miles' stretch
from Tientsin to the gulf, is rendered very slow by the sharp turns in the
narrow stream--the adjoining banks being frequently struck and plowed away
by the bow or stern of the large ocean steamers.

When we entered the consulate the next morning, we found three palanquins
and a dozen coolies in waiting to convey our party to the viceroy's
residence. Under other circumstances we would have patronized our "steeds
of steel," but a visit to the "biggest" man in China had to be conducted
in state. We were even in some doubt as to the propriety of appearing
before his excellency in bicycle costume; but we determined to plead our
inability to carry luggage as an excuse for this breach of etiquette.

[Illustration: SALT HEAPS AT THE GOVERNMENT WORKS AT TONG-KU.]

The first peculiarity the Chinese notice in a foreigner is his dress. It
is a requisite with them that the clothes must be loose, and so draped as
to conceal the contour of the body. The short sack-coat and tight trousers
of the foreigner are looked upon as certainly inelegant, if not actually
indecent.

[Illustration: WINDMILLS AT TONG-KU FOR RAISING SALT WATER.]

It was not long before we were out of the foreign settlement, and wending
our way through the narrow, winding streets, or lanes, of the densely
populated Chinese city. The palanquins we met were always occupied by some
high dignitary or official, who went sweeping by with his usual vanguard
of servants, and his usual frown of excessive dignity. The fact that we,
plain "foreign devils," were using this mode of locomotion, made us the
objects of considerable curiosity from the loiterers and passers-by, and
in fact had this not been the case, we should have felt rather
uncomfortable. The unsympathetic observation of mobs, and the hideous
Chinese noises, had become features of our daily life.

The _yamen_ courtyard, as we entered, was filled with empty palanquins and
coolie servants waiting for the different mandarins who had come on
offi