s, so that there is not a house in it which does not bear the
marks of fire and devastation. At the first inn where we presented
ourselves, we were asked whether we desired to have our animals defended
against robbers. This question threw us into utter amazement, and we
requested further explanation of a point which struck us as so very
singular. We were informed that at Kao-Tan-Dze there are two sorts of
inns: inns where they fight, and inns where they do not fight; and that
the prices at the former sort are four times greater than those at the
latter. This explanation gave us a general notion of the matter; but
still we requested some details. "How!" said the people. "Don't you
know that Kao-Tan-Dze is constantly attacked by brigands?" "Yes, we know
that." "If you lodge in an inn where they don't fight, any brigands that
come will drive off your animals; for no one has undertaken to protect
them. If, on the contrary, you lodge in an inn where they fight, you
have a good chance of preserving your property, unless the brigands are
the more numerous party, which sometimes happens." All this seemed to us
very singular, and very disagreeable. However, it was necessary to make
up our minds on the subject. After grave reflection, we decided upon
lodging in an inn where they fought. It occurred to us that the worthy
innkeepers of Kao-Tan-Dze had an understanding with the brigands, having
for its result the spoliation of travellers, one way or the other, and
that therefore it was better, upon the whole, to pay the larger sum, by
way of black-mail, than to lose our animals, whose loss would involve our
own destruction.

Upon entering the fighting inn, to which we had been directed, we found
every thing about it on a war footing. The walls were regularly covered
with lances, arrows, bows, and matchlocks. The presence of those
weapons, however, by no means rendered us perfectly satisfied as to our
safety, and we resolved not to lie down at all, but to keep watch
throughout the night.

Kao-Tan-Dze, with its robber assailants and its pauper population, was to
us an inexplicable place. We could not conceive how men should make up
their minds to inhabit a detestably ugly country like this, sterile,
waterless, remote from any other inhabited place, and desolated by the
constant inroad of brigands. What could be their object? What possible
advantage could be their inducement? We turned the matter over in all
ways; w