o; so, crossing the river at a village
ferry, I strike a trail across-country in a north-westerly direction that
must sooner or later bring me to the banks of the Pi-kiang. Sam-shue is
at the junction of these two rivers, the one flowing from west to east
and the other from north to south; by striking across-country, but one
side of a triangle is traversed instead of the two formed by the rivers.
My objective point for the night is Lo-pow, the first town of any size up
the Pi-kiang.

A volunteer guide from one of the villages extricates me from a
bewildering network of trails in the afternoon, and guides me across to
the bottom-lands of the Pi-kiang. Receiving a reward, he eyes the piece
of silver a moment wistfully, puts it away, and guides me half a mile
farther. Pointing to the embankment of the Pi-kiang in the distance
ahead, he presents himself for further reward. Receiving this, he
thereupon conceives the brilliant idea of piloting me over successive
short stages, with a view of obtaining tsin at the end of each stage.

John Chinaman is no more responsible, morally, for the "dark ways and
vain tricks" accredited to him in the Western World than a crow is for
the blackness of his plumage. The desperate struggle for existence in
this crowded empire, that has no doubt been a normal condition of its
society for ages, has developed traits of character in these later
generations which are as unchangeable as the skin of the Ethiopian or the
spots of the leopard. Either of these can be whitened over, but not
readily changed; the same may be truthfully said of the moral leprosy of
the average Celestial. Here is a simple peanut-farmer's son, who knows
nothing of the outer world, yet no sooner does a stray opportunity
present than he develops immediately financial trickery worthy of a
Constantinople guide.

The paths across the Pi-kiang Valley are more walls than paths, often
rising ten feet above the paddy-fields, and presenting a width of not
more than two feet. Good riding, however, is happily found on the levees,
and a few miles up-stream brings me to Lo-pow.

The hittim at Lo-pow is somewhat superior to that of yesterday; it is a
two-storied building, and the proprietor hustles me up-stairs in short
order, and locks me in. This is to prevent any possible hostility from
the crowd that immediately swarms the place; for while I am in his house
he is in a measure held responsible for my treatment. The bicycle is kept
do