aid until I got to
Tengyueh, where rupee money came into circulation, and where expense of
living was considerably higher.--E.J.D.]

CHAPTER VI.

_Szech-wan people a mercenary lot_. _Adaptability to trading_. _None but
nature lovers should come to Western China_. _The life of the Nomad_.
_The opening of China, and some impressions_. _China's position in the
eyes of her own people_. _Industrialism, railways, and the attitude of
the populace_. _Introduction of foreign machinery_. _Different opinions
formed in different provinces_. _Climate, and what it is responsible
for_. _Recent Governor of Szech-wan's tribute to Christianity_. _New
China and the new student_. _Revolutionary element in Yuen-nan_. _Need of
a new life, and how China is to get it_. _Luchow, and a little about
it_. _Fusong from the military_. _Necessity of the sedan-chair_. _Cost
of lodging_. _An impudent woman_. _Choice pidgin-English_. _Some of the
annoyances of travel_. _Canadian and China Inland missionaries_.
_Exchange of yarns_. _Exasperating Chinese life, and its effects on
Europeans_. _Men refuse to walk to Sui-fu. Experiences in arranging
up-river trip_. _Unmeaning etiquette of Chinese officials toward
foreigners_. _Rude awakening in the morning_. _A trying early-morning
ordeal_. _Reckonings do not tally_. _An eventful day_. _At the China
Inland Mission_. _Impressions of Sui-fu. Fictitious partnerships_.

The people of Szech'wan, compared with other Yangtze provinces, must be
called a mercenary, if a go-ahead, one.

Balancing myself on a three-inch form in a tea-shop at a small town
midway between Li-shih-ch'ang and Luchow, I am endeavoring to take in
the scene around me. The people are so numerous in this province that
they must struggle in order to live. Vain is it for the most energetic
among them to escape from the shadow of necessity and hunger; all are
similarly begirt, so they settle down to devote all their energies to
trade. And trade they do, in very earnest.

Everything is labeled, from the earth to the inhabitants; these
primitives, these blissfully "heathen" people, have become the most
consummate of sharpers. I walk up to buy something of the value of only
a few cash, and on all sides are nets and traps, like spider-webs, and
the fly that these gentry would catch, as they see me stalk around
inspecting their wares, is myself. They seem to lie in wait for one, and
for an article for which a coolie would pay a few cash as m