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 .HoVftK'oNG 
 
 SKETCH-MAP OF CHINA, DRAWN BY AUTHOR, WITH SPECIAL 
 REFERENCE TO HIS EXPEDITION TO SIAN-FU. 
 
 
 nrtu 
 
 
 
 ’ TT-TT? iTt ITT 
 
 
 iPIfvnmitlMiHVTI »in»m n(»m t itnnm >^^ 
 
MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 A POPULAR ACCOUNT OP THE HOLM-NESTORIAN 
 EXPEDITION TO SIAN-FU AND ITS RESULTS 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photograph by Arnold Gentlie, New York, 1923. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 n. 
 
My Nestorian Adventure 
 
 In China 
 
 A Popular Account of the Holm-Nestorian Expedition 
 to Sian-Fu and Its Results 
 
 s 
 
 BY 
 
 FRITS HOLM, G.C.G., LL.D., D.C.L. 
 
 Honorary and Corresponding Fellow of Numerous Geographic and 
 Archceologic Societies and Royal Academies 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 THE REV. PROF. ABRAHAM YOHANNAN, PH.D. 
 of Columbia University in New York 
 
 Illustrated with a Map and Thirty-three Photographs 
 by the Author and a Frontispiece 
 
 Fleming H. Revell 
 
 New York 
 London 
 
 Company 
 
 Chicago 
 
 Edinburgh 
 
 MCMXXIII 
 
Copyright, 1923, by 
 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 
 New York: 
 Chicago: 
 London: 
 Edinburgh: 
 
 158 Fifth Avenue 
 17 North Wabash Ave. 
 21 Paternoster Square 
 75 Princes Street 
 
 Copenhagen: A. F. Host, 35 Bredgade 
 Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh, The Bund 
 
I 
 
 MOST REVERENTLY INSCRIBED 
 TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 HIS MAJESTY FREDERIK VIII 
 KING OF DENMARK 
 MCMVI-MCMXII 
 
 DURING WHOSE REIGN 
 THIS DANISH EXPEDITION WAS UNDERTAKEN 
 
 AND 
 
 WHOSE GRACIOUS INTEREST IN THE AUTHOR 
 DURING HIS CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 
 HAS EVER REMAINED A SOURCE 
 
 OF 
 
 GRATITUDE AND INSPIRATION 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■k 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Contents: 
 
 > 
 
 Introductory Letter by Pro¬ 
 fessor Yohannan . . .11 
 
 Foreword. 17 
 
 I. On the Grand Canal in Chili . 23 
 
 II. Through Shantung Into Ho¬ 
 nan . 46 
 
 III. First Taste of Caravan Travel . 76 
 
 IV. On the Road to Shensi . . 89 
 
 V. Regions of the Loess . . .110 
 
 VI. The Ancient City of Sian-fu . 129, 
 VII. China^s Foremost Monument . 145 
 VIII. The Nestorian Inscription . . 158 
 
 IX. Crossing the Chingling Range . 185 
 X. A Fast Houseboat Trip . . 199 
 
 XI. The Venerable City of Kai- 
 
 feng-fu.211 
 
 XII. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 XV. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Trying Return - Journey to 
 
 SlAN-FU 
 
 • • 
 
 231 
 
 Second Stay at Sian-fu 
 
 • • 
 
 248 
 
 Transporting a Two-Ton Monu- 
 
 
 ment .... 
 
 • • 
 
 269 
 
 Return to the Coast . 
 
 • • 
 
 290 
 
 Fate of the Replica . 
 
 • • 
 
 303 
 
 Biographical Notes 
 
 • • 
 
 325 
 
 Index .... 
 
 • • 
 
 327 
 
 7 
 
 / 
 
List of Illustrations: 
 
 Facing 
 
 Page 
 
 The Author.Title 
 
 My Houseboat on the Grand Canal. 28 
 
 Bridge Over the Wei River. 28 
 
 My Guard of Honour at Ching Hua. 82 
 
 Typical Courtyard of Native Inn. 82 
 
 Loess Stratification with Caves. 116 
 
 Loess Panorama in Honan. 116 
 
 Fertility of the Loess. 120 
 
 Cave-dwellings in the Loess. 120 
 
 Troglodytic Home at Chilipu. 124 
 
 Towering East-gate of Sian-fu. 130 
 
 Roofs and Bell-tower of Sian-fu. 130 
 
 China’s Foremost Monument. 146 
 
 The Nestorian Monument and Others. . . . 152 
 
 Surroundings of the Monument. 152 
 
 Yii Show, Buddhistic Priest. 156 
 
 Tang Pagoda near Sian-fu. 200 
 
 Ancient Mosque at Sian-fu. 200 
 
 9 
 
 i 
 
10 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Facing 
 
 Page 
 
 River Craft on the Tan. 200 
 
 My Houseboat on the Han. 200 
 
 Old Bridge at Honan-fu. 236 
 
 One of My Caravan-carts. 236 
 
 The Colossal Buddha of Lungmen. 240 
 
 Taoist Temple at Hwayinmiao. 244 
 
 Prisoners and Soldiers. 244 
 
 A Playful, Little Imp. 258 
 
 The Empress-Dowager’s Bedroom. 258 
 
 The Makeshift Dragon Throne. 262 
 
 Mandarins Visiting the Monument. 266 
 
 Removal of Chingchiaopei’s Pedestal. 266 
 
 Replica Arrives in Hankow. 292 
 
 Carrying the Replica. 300 
 
 Swinging Replica onboard Steamer. 300 
 
 Cast of Nestorian Replica. 312 
 
1 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK 
 DIVISION OF ORIENTAL LANGUAGES 
 
 U 
 
 January 24, 1923. 
 
 Excellency:— 
 
 It gives me great pleasure to give this book of 
 yours that cordial send-off which your grit and 
 perseverance and energy warrant. Sixteen 
 years is a long time for anyone to devote to a 
 stone, even though that stone be the Nestorian 
 Monument of Sian-fu. 
 
 As you know, I was reared in the Nestorian 
 Church in Western Asia; and, during my child¬ 
 hood, I was taught the history of the early 
 Nestorians or Chakhean Christians, and I 
 learned about their astounding missionary activi¬ 
 ties far and wide across the continent of Asia. 
 
 Such are the antecedents of these historical 
 Christians, and such is the testimony of this 
 silent witness of the faithful labours of the 
 Nestorian branch of the Church in early days. 
 
 Later, as an ordained priest of the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church, and as a professor in this 
 University, I have continued studying Nestori- 
 anism, about which I have written at length; 
 
 
12 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 and I have in the meanwhile enjoyed your 
 acquaintance and advice for many a year, 
 while I have attended your lectures with deep 
 interest. 
 
 It seems but natural, that men like President 
 Theodore Roosevelt; as well as the present Nes- 
 torian Patriarch, His Beatitude Mar Shimun; 
 His Excellency Doctor Vilhelm Thomsen; Pro¬ 
 fessor Friedrich Hirth; and Professor P. Y. 
 Saeki, have united with many other scholars and 
 orientalists in lauding your successful efforts in 
 rendering the Nestorian Monument known 
 throughout the world. Indeed, one can hardly 
 improve upon what Archbishop Ireland wrote 
 you some years ago: 
 
 “It is no surprise to me that the Holy 
 Father has thought it his duty to bestow 
 upon you the honour of Knighthood as 
 Commander in the Order of St. Syl¬ 
 vester, and that other honours have come 
 to you in profusion from Sovereigns 
 of States and high-ranking societies of 
 learning. 
 
 “The Nestorian Monument is a won¬ 
 derful relic of past ages. Through your 
 enlightened researches and wonderful 
 industry you have drawn it from ob¬ 
 livion, and made it a living mouthpiece 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 13 
 
 of remote history to present and future 
 generations. 
 
 “I congratulate you upon your great 
 achievement.” 
 
 I thoroughly agree with these words of His 
 Grace. 
 
 In conclusion I wish to say how glad I am that 
 you have been willing patiently to await this pro¬ 
 pitious moment, when you adjudge your archaeo¬ 
 logical mission consummated, for bringing out 
 the interesting account of your great expedition 
 and its important results. 
 
 With best wishes, I remain, Your Excellency’s, 
 
 Sincere friend and admirer, 
 
 Abraham Yoh annan. 
 
 H. E. 
 
 Dr. Erits Holm, G.C.G., G.C.O.M., G.C.C.M. 
 
 Fourteen John Street, New York. 
 
‘‘The great, northwestern provinces of 
 Shensi and Kansu, far from railroads and 
 approached only by the roughest of roads 
 or tedious water routes, and through their 
 isolation having no commercial inter¬ 
 course with countries outside China, are 
 to most foreigners terra incognita ” 
 
 —From The New York Times 
 Book Review, Jan. 14, 1923. 
 
 15 
 
Foreword 
 
 A T the end of the Bund, where sluggish 
 Soochow Creek runs into that ever dirty 
 Whampoa River which, some fifteen miles 
 further downstream, joins the mighty Yang-tse, 
 is Shanghai’s public garden. 
 
 Near the entrance, when you come from the 
 Bund, is—or at least was, some twenty years ago 
 and more—a tiny artificial hillock with a bit of a 
 summer-house, placed just above the sloping 
 stone-embankment, where once a stranded coun¬ 
 tryman of mine committed suicide. 
 
 In the spring and early summer of 1901, 
 when I first came to China, a compatriot, Gil¬ 
 bert Berner, and I used to meet every morn¬ 
 ing early in the little summer-house for a chat 
 before our duties separated us for the rest of 
 the day. 
 
 He was the second son of the head in China of 
 the Great Northern Telegraphs, Denmark’s pre¬ 
 mier undertaking abroad. 
 
 He had his family in Shanghai. I was en¬ 
 tirely alone. 
 
 We were both young and, therefore, eager. I 
 was nineteen, Gilbert a little more. 
 
 17 
 
18 
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 At that time the imperial court had fled from 
 Peking, and the allied expeditionary force under 
 its German commander, Field Marshal Count 
 von Waldersee, occupied the capital, while re¬ 
 turning troops were temporarily garrisoned in 
 the coastal cities. 
 
 They were great, those Boxer days, early in 
 the century! 
 
 Chinese governmental edicts were issued daily 
 from Sian-fu, the provincial capital of hidden 
 Shensi, the imperial residence for the nonce. 
 
 My friend and I burned to go to Sian-fu in 
 order to report to the outer world the doings of 
 a Celestial empress-dowager and emperor in 
 exile, and we looked about for ways and means. 
 
 I secured the best maps from Kelly & Walsh, 
 on the Bund, and I began measuring distances 
 and things, which greatly excited me. 
 
 Eventually I suggested that—after Sian-fu— 
 we might as well finish the job and ride straight 
 across Asia and Europe to Denmark, where a 
 grateful populace might issue forth to acclaim us 
 on strength of our extensive if somewhat aimless 
 peregrinations. 
 
 Nothing, however, resulted, though I still 
 treasure as souvenirs the gold-embossed, neatly- 
 bound maps with route-tracings and distances 
 marked, all in polychromatic constellations of 
 vivid inks. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 19 
 
 Prosaic duties and complete lack of capital 
 detained us, although I have not forgotten the 
 patience and kindness with which Mr. J. O. P. 
 Bland, municipal secretary and Times’s cor¬ 
 respondent, listened to my schemes. 
 
 They were the same qualities that Mr. Bland 
 again demonstrated in Peking, some seven years 
 later, when my expedition all but came to grief, 
 thanks to various fortuities and to the financial 
 panic in the United States of that memorable 
 year. 
 
 Gilbert worked in the Russo-Chinese Bank, 
 while I was soon to embark upon some of the 
 first inspection-trips ever made for the Ameri¬ 
 can Tobacco Company up the Yang-Tse and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Yet, it must have been then and there, on the 
 little hillock in the public garden of Shanghai, 
 twenty-two years ago, that the seeds were sown 
 which, later on, brought me back to the Far East 
 from Copenhagen, and London, and New York 
 in order that I might, despite six years’ delay, 
 proceed to Sian-fu, imperial capital of yore, 
 there to see what could be done with the Nesto- 
 rian Monument, there to visit the sights of what 
 must some day prove the greatest archaeological 
 field within Chinese territory, there to inspect 
 the empress-dowager’s crammed quarters and 
 even, at Lintung-hsien, but sixteen miles from 
 
20 
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 Sian-fu, rest more than once overnight in Her 
 Majesty’s long-abandoned, red-painted, wooden 
 bedstead — amid sedulous scarabs and taily 
 scorpions, and the other living things, whose 
 crawling you experience, when you venture too 
 far into the interior of the Middle Flowery 
 Kingdom. 
 
 The history of the Nestorian Monument, the 
 Chingchiaopei or Luminous Teaching Tablet, 
 undeniably forms the most unique chapter of our 
 era, so far as proselytism is concerned. 
 
 For the bilingual inscription reveals to us the 
 wondrous tale of the first mission to China that 
 ever made converts there to the Church of Christ 
 arriving, as it did, in a. d. 635, overland from 
 West Asia—from Ta Tsin, probably meaning 
 Syria. 
 
 Since those early days we Christians have 
 become increasingly divided, so that a great 
 American-born movement is now on foot in order 
 to unite as many creeds and sects as feasible 
 under one banner. 
 
 It is well so! 
 
 And it behooves us, in this connection, consci¬ 
 entiously to pay heed to what Dr. Lowe Chuan 
 Hwa wrote in The Nation on Feb. 7th, 1923, re¬ 
 ferring to the “West’s conflicting creeds” and the 
 various denominations so confusingly repre¬ 
 sented in China: 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 21 
 
 “To acquire a secure footing among the 
 educated and intelligent Chinese, there¬ 
 fore, it is imperative that Christianity 
 should be presented to them in a form that 
 can bear the closest critical scrutiny by the 
 unprepossessed intellect. A Christianity 
 that is decaying in the Occident, a Chris¬ 
 tianity that is mischievous and obsolete, a 
 Christianity that is morally ineffective, 
 philosophically unsound, and historically 
 untrue will never find a permanent home 
 on Chinese soil.” 
 
 New York. 
 
 F. H. 
 
I 
 
 ON THE GRAND CANAL IN CHILI 
 
 I N the evening of the twelfth day of January, 
 1907, at Queen’s Hall in London, H. R. H. 
 the Duke of the Abruzzi, the distinguished 
 Italian sailor and alpinist, delivered, in the pres¬ 
 ence of King Edward VII, the Prince of Wales, 
 and the Fellows of the Royal Geographical So¬ 
 ciety, his illustrated lecture on “The Sources of 
 the Nile,” being the account of his explorations 
 among the equatorial mountain-ranges of the 
 Ruwenzori in Africa. 
 
 For a year and a half I had been a constant 
 reader in the inexhaustible library of the British 
 Museum with a view of endeavouring to perfect 
 my knowledge concerning certain things Asian, 
 notably Chinese. 
 
 During a three years’ stay in the Far East I 
 had acquired and cultivated a keen interest in, 
 and a profound admiration for the ancient 
 Celestial Empire, its history, its religions, its 
 relics. 
 
 While in China, I had heard mentioned more 
 than once the shamefully neglected Nestorian 
 Monument of Sian-fu, from our western view- 
 
 23 
 
24 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 point undeniably China’s foremost monument, 
 and it so happened that on the very day I at¬ 
 tended the duke’s lecture in the evening, I had 
 spent the afternoon studying extracts from vari¬ 
 ous sources concerning the venerable Chinese 
 Stela of early Christian origin. 
 
 I listened absent-mindedly to the duke’s 
 lecture and to His Majesty’s congratulatory 
 speech, hardly realizing that all the while nebu¬ 
 lous ideas and plans were subconsciously taking 
 shape in my brain. 
 
 Two days later I found myself closeted with a 
 somewhat irascible, elderly official in one of the 
 oriental departments of the British Museum, dis¬ 
 cussing the possibilities connected with an at¬ 
 tempt to obtain the Nestorian Tablet, or a 
 perfect Replica in stone—not a cast—of that 
 famous Monument, for the western scientific 
 world. 
 
 From my learned interlocutor I gathered that, 
 if anyone were to bring the original Nestorian 
 Monument into the British Museum, they would 
 take as excellent care of it there as they do of the 
 Rosetta Stone, inviting any possible objector to 
 come and take it. 
 
 As to a Replica, even of absolute perfection, 
 he was somewhat less positive, although he 
 thought that it would gratefully be accepted and 
 erected, if made of stone. 
 
ON THE GRAND CANAL IN CHILI 
 
 25 
 
 As to the plan in its entirety, he expressed 
 himself, with an impressive shrug of intolerance, 
 as follows: 
 
 “Young man, can you not understand that, 
 were it possible to transport this huge Tablet, or 
 a stone Replica of it, along the impassable Chi¬ 
 nese roads, such a venture would have been un¬ 
 dertaken long ago. You’ll certainly get killed, 
 if you try! ” 
 
 To this encouraging admonition I mumbled 
 something about only difficult things being really 
 worth while trying one’s hand at, whereupon I 
 descended into the famous circular reading-room 
 to my books and notes on China. 
 
 During the following two weeks I brought my 
 ambitions before Sir Clements Markham, Sir 
 Martin Conway, Dr. Scott Keltie, Mr. Yates 
 Thompson, Dr. Frithj of Nansen, then Norweg¬ 
 ian Minister to the Court of St. James’s, and 
 others, and it appeared to me that almost every¬ 
 body manifested sympathy and interest so far as 
 my archaeological scheme was concerned. 
 
 Eventually I became the happy possessor of 
 the initial capital through the sacrificial expedi¬ 
 ency of disposing of my personal belongings, 
 including books I loved, clothes I wore, and 
 jewelry I used. 
 
 I thereupon left London ultimo January and 
 travelled, via my native Copenhagen, where my 
 
26 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 family was made to invest, to New York, where 
 I arrived on board the R. M. S. “Hellig Olav” 
 on February 20, 1907. 
 
 In New York I had a standing engagement 
 with the well-known American editor and author, 
 James Davenport Whelp ley, whom I had luckily 
 been able to render some insignificant service on 
 a former occasion, 
 
 Mr. Whelpley, who displayed a keen interest 
 in my plan, went to Washington to see Dr. Cyrus 
 Adler and other orientalists concerning the Nes- 
 torian Monument, and in order to inquire into 
 the feasibility of my suggestion, and, upon his 
 return to New York, he declared himself willing 
 partly to obtain from the late H. D. Lyman, of 
 the American Surety Company, and partly to 
 invest, the balance of the capital needed. 
 
 Sir Purdon Clarke, then the beloved director 
 of the growing Metropolitan Museum of Art in 
 New York, received me several times to discuss 
 details, and so as to let me benefit by his own ex¬ 
 periences as a traveller in other parts of Asia. I 
 shall not forget the fatherly encouragement that 
 this old Englishman gave a young Dane—such 
 a contrast to the temper of his choleric colleague 
 in London. 
 
 In the basement of the museum Sir Purdon 
 even arranged for me to learn something of tak¬ 
 ing plaster-casts and making paper-“squeezes.” 
 
ON THE GRAND CANAL IN CHILI 
 
 27 
 
 Finally I departed from the old Grand Cen¬ 
 tral Terminal on March 12th for Vancouver, via 
 Montreal, catching the C. P. R. R. M. S. “Em¬ 
 press of India,” which I left, after a stormy pas¬ 
 sage, at Yokohama. 
 
 I proceeded by rail to Kobe, and thence by the 
 Japanese vessel, the N. Y. K. S. “Chefoo Maru,” 
 via Nagasaki and Taku, to Tientsin, arriving on 
 April 10th. It had proved quite merry to meet 
 old Far Eastern friends once more, after three 
 years’ absence, in both Japan and China. 
 
 The weeks from mv arrival in Tientsin until 
 May 2nd, when I started for the interior, were 
 busily taken up with engaging, or rather search¬ 
 ing for, a well-recommended interpreter and a 
 body-servant—called “boy” in China even when 
 seventy—chartering a houseboat, buying equip¬ 
 ment and a few provisions, and three hundred 
 and twenty-one other important things. 
 
 I spent almost a week in Peking in order to 
 obtain a Chinese passport through the Russian 
 Legation, then in charge of Danish interests, 
 and, while waiting and sightseeing, I had oc¬ 
 casion to consult a number of men who had 
 formerly travelled in the interior. 
 
 Among them I recall first and foremost, and 
 with infinite pleasure, the American Minister, 
 Dr. William W. Rockhill, whose explorations in 
 northwestern China, Thibet and Mongolia, some 
 
28 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 years previous, had aroused the admiration of 
 lay and learned alike. 
 
 Although considerable time had passed since 
 h‘i$ last expedition, Mr. Rockhill was able to give 
 me many a valuable tip; and in later years I had 
 the pleasure on several occasions of exchanging 
 letters with him concerning matters of mutual 
 interest. 
 
 Finally I received my passport from the For¬ 
 eign Office through the legation, whereupon I 
 returned to Tientsin. There the last touches 
 were put to my meagre outfit which was designed 
 to stand between me and actual discomfort dur¬ 
 ing the ensuing year. 
 
 It was early morning on the 2nd of May, when 
 my interpreter, Mr. Fong, and my servant, Masi, 
 presented themselves at my room in the Astor 
 House Hotel at Tientsin, telling me that the 
 houseboat was ready for departure. 
 
 We made our final arrangements on shore, 
 and at 8.15 a. m. started in our chartered ves¬ 
 sel from the Peiho Pontoon Bridge, going up 
 the river, passing the various foreign settle¬ 
 ments and Viceroy Yuan Shi Kai’s yamen, the 
 simplicity of which, from the river at least, 
 gave one the impression that Yuan’s austere 
 economy must have been of a most self-denying 
 character! 
 
 Passing under the yamen-bridge, we entered 
 
{Top) My houseboat on the Grand Canal and the Wei; the sail 
 was made of flour-bags from Minneapolis. 
 
 {Bottom) Bridge over the Wei* River; the only one between 
 
 Tientsin and Taokow. 
 
ON THE GRAND CANAL IN CHILI 
 
 29 
 
 the native city where mud-houses were leaning 
 over the steep banks at very suspicious angles. 
 
 Years ago, when first in China, I forced my 
 nostrils to accept with resignation the obnoxious 
 smells and incredible filth of Chinese city life; 
 but having been away from the Far East for 
 some years, I must have become europeanized 
 once more. Consequently, the hours we spent 
 forcing our way through the impenetrable traffic 
 of small and large cargo-junks, trade-boats, fer¬ 
 ries, and pedlar-sampans, by no means consti¬ 
 tuted any pleasure so far as the functions of the 
 smelling organs were concerned. 
 
 It must be said that our “captain,” who by the 
 way, had an excellent helmsman in his wife, and 
 his crew of five sturdy fellows, despite much un¬ 
 necessary shouting and yelling, did not allow 
 themselves to let any chance for making progress 
 go by. 
 
 During the five hours it took to reach the 
 boundary of Tientsin outer city, they employed 
 at least half a dozen different ways of propelling 
 the houseboat. The outstanding methods were 
 sail, oar, pulling-rope, punting, and scolding 
 each other and everybody. 
 
 There has always been something about the 
 disagreeable man getting along! 
 
 I had found no great difficulty in making a 
 contract with the owner of a fairly neat-looking 
 
30 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 native houseboat to take us to Taokow, in the 
 province of Honan, with all due speed, for a con¬ 
 sideration of forty-five dollars Mexican. This 
 
 could not be termed excessive for a two weeks’ 
 
 • 
 
 trip, with a crew of practically seven men, in¬ 
 cluding the captain and the “Mrs. Captain.” 
 
 When making an agreement of this kind, it 
 can easily be understood that it is greatly to the 
 interest of the boat-people to hurry on to the 
 best of their ability—exactly as it is to their 
 advantage to be slow when the boat is taken by 
 the day. 
 
 My secretary-interpreter, Mr. Fong, a former 
 station-master of the Imperial Railways of 
 North China, who was born on the island of 
 Chusan, near Ningpo, and who seemed to possess 
 rather peculiar notions as to his conception of 
 China and the “Sons of Han,” spoke English 
 and a little French; while my boy, besides 
 Chinese, spoke only some German. 
 
 I was thus in the fortunate position of being 
 able to talk with either of them without the other 
 understanding a word. Any expert of the Chi¬ 
 nese and their subtle mind would justly smile at 
 this remark, well knowing that the two would 
 invariably intercommunicate afterwards in Chi¬ 
 nese; but I have a few good reasons to believe 
 that here we met with an exception, thanks, 
 mainly, to Fong’s semi-megalomania. 
 
ON THE GRAND CANAL IN CHILI 
 
 31 
 
 When at 1.30 p. m. we arrived at the boundary 
 of the Tientsin district, we were stopped, and my 
 Wai-Wu-Pu, or Foreign Office, passport from 
 Peking was examined. The same interesting 
 and important process had to be gone through 
 later, while passing through the city of Yang- 
 liu-hsien, which has the creditable reputation 
 of supplying Tientsin with most of its Chinese 
 “sing-song” belles. 
 
 While approaching a small, insignificant vil¬ 
 lage in the afternoon, my factotum and myself 
 sitting on the little foredeck, we heard a great 
 deal of shouting, and some fearful shrieks. I 
 already hoped for some excitement—but, alas, 
 the whole thing turned out to be a striking ex¬ 
 ample of much ado about nothing, consisting of 
 a flaming though insignificant fire in the corner 
 of the straw-roof of one of the mud-houses. The 
 conflagration-to-be was duly subdued and ex¬ 
 tinguished before we had even passed through 
 the village. 
 
 When it grew dark, the “hook was dropped” 
 on the mud-embankment, and at nine I was 
 sleeping on my wooden bunk, a mode of resting 
 that reminded me of my earliest navy days, when 
 we snatched a nap on the bare deck at noontime. 
 
 My sleeping cabin was right in the middle of 
 the boat. The aft-quarters of the vessel were 
 occupied by the skipper, his wife and his two 
 
32 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 children, separated from me only by a thin 
 wooden partition. In front of my den was our 
 living cabin, then a small room where my two 
 Chinese slept, and finally the fore-deck, where I 
 sat in the daytime trying to make observations. 
 
 When stretching myself on my bunk that 
 night I noticed a busy, black cockroach of rather 
 imposing size, but I paid no heed to the creature, 
 having heard frequently that this peculiarly dry 
 kind of insect was usefully instrumental in 
 destroying, with never-ceasing energy, smaller 
 creatures of a still less inviting nature. 
 
 At one, however, I suddenly woke up, hearing 
 the sounds of many small workpeople and feel¬ 
 ing busy feet crawling over face, hair and hands. 
 I felt somewhat disgusted when, after striking a 
 match, I found the cabin literally swarming with 
 large, busy, black cockroaches. 
 
 It seemed that the light rather frightened the 
 poor things, for most of them disappeared mys¬ 
 teriously through secret trap-doors of their own 
 and all kinds of creaky crevices, in the course of 
 less than a minute. 
 
 One large fellow, sitting on the ceiling, or 
 rather under the deck, directly over my head, got 
 such a scare that he landed with a thud on my 
 forehead, where he was duly caught and after¬ 
 wards deposited in a turned-down glass. I meas¬ 
 ured him with mathematical conscientiousness, 
 
ON THE GRAND CANAL IN CHILI 
 
 33 
 
 finding him one and a quarter inches long, before 
 sending him back to his brethren. 
 
 I was thankful that I had a mosquito-net with 
 me. It never was out of use when I was lying 
 down—especially at one a. m., when energetic 
 cockroaches desired to hold their general share¬ 
 holders’ meeting on my face and hair. 
 
 I did not sleep very soundly after this incident, 
 as I had to keep the candle burning for obvious 
 reasons, my net not yet being in commission. 
 
 Already at about 3 a. m. the boat started on 
 its southbound voyage, and at five I got up, and 
 to the undiluted consternation of the “Mrs. Cap¬ 
 tain,” who was at the helm, enjoyed a refreshing 
 cold tub on the “promenade”-deck. 
 
 Neither my alarm-clock, nor my repeated 
 passing through their cabin, woke up my two 
 Chinese companions, so, when I had dressed 
 and smoked a pipe on deck, I took the im¬ 
 mense liberty of waking them up, a proceeding 
 which evidently did not meet with their full ap¬ 
 proval. For which very reason I then and 
 there ordered breakfast ready at 7 a. m. every 
 morning. 
 
 In the forenoon we passed the great village- 
 inn at Tungkiutien, and later on we stopped at 
 Tsinghai-hsien, where Masi went shopping to 
 buy provisions. 
 
 Mr. Fong and I took our chance here to go 
 
34 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 ashore in order to enjoy a walk. I had, thanks 
 to old experience, taken a Cossack whip with me, 
 which, as expected, proved very effective in 
 keeping away the numerous, objectionable, stray 
 dogs. 
 
 It is but a few years since the Shanghai Vol¬ 
 unteer Corps was ordered out to shoot all stray 
 dogs in the vicinity of the city, as cases of 
 hydrophobia were getting disagreeably frequent. 
 These mangy beasts never attack the natives, but 
 lose their temper very effectively whenever a for¬ 
 eigner heaves into sight. 
 
 We walked along the Grand Canal, making a 
 few short cuts, and passed several villages, where 
 I found the population busy and peaceful, al¬ 
 though, of course, the adults stared wildly, the 
 children usually ran away, and an occasional 
 outburst of “Yang Kwei Tsz,” or foreign devil, 
 might be heard. 
 
 In the afternoon the boatmen took a little rest 
 at Tungkwan-hsien, and while waiting there, two 
 large junks, loaded with railway sleepers for the 
 Peking Syndicate at Taokow, our own present 
 destination, passed us. 
 
 My boy wanted to buy some beef, but the local 
 magistrate had forbidden the slaughtering of 
 cattle, animals for field-work being very scarce. 
 Still, he was able to obtain a small piece of veal 
 from some irregular source. 
 
ON THE GRAND CANAL IN CHILI 
 
 35 
 
 On both sides of the Grand Canal a well- 
 trodden path is to be found. Most of the boats 
 are pulled along by from two to seven men ac¬ 
 cording to size, a long rope being fixed to the 
 mast-head and extended to the coolies on shore, 
 who each carry a sling and yoke over the 
 shoulder as the easiest way of pulling. It must 
 be almost as hard work to be a land-sailor of this 
 description as a ’rickshaw-coolie—both very 
 often working almost constantly sixteen hours 
 out of the twenty-four. 
 
 We did not anchor till 9 p. m. for the night at 
 a village cheerfully called Liuliho. It was a 
 beautiful starlit night; and Mr. Fong and I en¬ 
 joyed a smoke and a talk on deck before turn¬ 
 ing in. 
 
 We left Liuliho at three, and when I got 
 on deck at daylight, I found that the scenery 
 had by no means changed. We were still pass¬ 
 ing slowly along, pulled by our five land-sailors, 
 at a seeming speed of about two miles an hour, 
 between the eternal mud-banks, passing in¬ 
 numerable boats of all descriptions and being 
 stared at by everybody who saw us. 
 
 Thanks to my mosquito-net, I spent an excel¬ 
 lent night and the gigantic cockroaches held no 
 meeting on my forehead. 
 
 After having worked for a couple of hours, I 
 jumped ashore and took a lonely walk along the 
 
36 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 mud-embankment, Mr. Fong having said that he 
 could “smell the rain coming.” 
 
 The district around Sinho-hsien seemed rather 
 poor as far as the population was concerned. 
 I noticed many beggars, especially very old 
 women and small naked boys. The ground 
 itself, however, seemed to be as fertile as every¬ 
 where else and well cultivated, the one wheat- 
 field following the other in endless, blessed 
 succession. 
 
 The irrigation of the fields is carried out on 
 quite an elaborate scale. Along the embank¬ 
 ments we constantly passed constructions for 
 irrigation purposes, making one think of 
 Egypt and the Nile in the days of King 
 Tutankhamen. 
 
 A hole of about the size of a square yard is dug 
 in the mud, so that the milk-chocolate-coloured 
 water of the canal may freely flow in and form a 
 small pond. On either side, and above this 
 muddy pool, and almost exactly half way up the 
 embankment, two coolies are stationed. By 
 manipulating and constantly swinging a double 
 set of ropes, which is attached to the edge and 
 bottom, respectively, of an ordinary round 
 basket, they cleverly succeed in throwing up¬ 
 wards a basket-full of water—alternately dip¬ 
 ping and turning the basket through the medium 
 of the ropes—the water ‘landing” in an upper 
 
ON THE GRAND CANAL IN CHILI 
 
 37 
 
 pond, dug on the top of the embankment, from 
 which it is led through miniature canals all over 
 the fields. 
 
 In some cases, where the embankment is 
 very high, four coolies and three ponds are 
 necessary for the carrying out of the work, and 
 in a few instances, but these are exceptions, we 
 find that a well has been dug a little distance 
 from the bank, its bottom being under the level 
 of the water-surface—thus simply allowing a 
 single man to pull up a large pail of water at the 
 time, which is disposed of in the usual way. 
 
 In the afternoon we had quite an exciting race, 
 when our pull-man decided to overtake a large 
 cargo-junk, loaded with mats; we had only five 
 men, while the cargo-boat used seven. I never 
 found much “sporting” ambition in China, but I 
 must say that I did admire the twelve fellows 
 who literally ran amuck with the passion of 
 hoped-for victory. 
 
 After about twenty minutes, we had crept up 
 close to the stern of the larger boat—inch by inch 
 —and ten minutes more sufficed to bring the 
 victory home to our men, who had then been 
 working, with two very short intervals, for four¬ 
 teen hours. 
 
 That evening we anchored south of the city of 
 Changsha-hsien, in heavy rain and strong north¬ 
 east wind. 
 
38 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 In the late afternoon I was sitting on deck, 
 when we passed what had once been a little live 
 baby-girl. She was lying stiff and cold on the 
 mud in rather a desolate part of the district, and 
 I have not the faintest doubt that it was a genu¬ 
 ine case of infanticide—one of the worst curses 
 of Chinese community life. Her tiny neck was 
 quite swollen, as if she had been strangled before 
 having been thrown into the water. 
 
 Infanticide in China is a common crime. Yet, 
 a boy, unless deformed, is never deprived of his 
 life—the girls, only, must suffer. 
 
 In the district of Hankow on the Yang-tse, 
 statistics have proven, so far as I remember, that 
 the proportion between the sexes is ten to seven. 
 In Fukien province, Amoy being the worst of¬ 
 fender, an average of upwards of forty per 
 centum of the baby-girls are put out of life 
 before having peeped into it. The law does not 
 try to cope with this evil, because such infanti¬ 
 cide is not considered a crime from a Chinese 
 point of view. 
 
 Poverty, of course, is the main reason, but 
 often disappointment at not getting the longed- 
 for son, or desire to save the inevitable dowry, or 
 the likelihood of not being able to find a suitable 
 husband, are considered quite sufficient excuse 
 for committing this more saddening than really 
 infamous crime. 
 
ON THE GRAND CANAL IN CHILI 
 
 39 
 
 Greece and Rome did not give a good example. 
 Solon gave permission to practice infanticide, 
 while Plato and Aristotle strongly encouraged 
 the act. In old Rome, likewise, infanticide was 
 officially permitted, or at least tolerated. 
 
 The captain started our vessel before sunrise, 
 and when, a little later, I ascended the “com¬ 
 panion-ladder” which very modestly consisted of 
 one step, I watched the beautiful dawn while 
 enjoying my cold tub. After “shaving and 
 hairdressing,” and a quick breakfast, consisting 
 of two eggs, dry biscuit, and tea, I spent a few 
 hours on deck, where the strong sunlight per¬ 
 mitted me to take some fine snapshots with my 
 kodak. 
 
 At the village of Fungkiakow we passed a 
 Chinese camp, which is supposed to hold five 
 hundred of Yuan Shih Kai’s banner-men. 
 
 If Mr. Fong had not told me the opposite, I 
 would have thought the camp deserted some 
 decades ago, as*we could see no sentries, nor any 
 banners flying from the solitary flagstaffs. But, 
 as it was only noon, perhaps nobody was up yet. 
 
 In the afternoon we passed a second case of 
 infanticide, only that this time the poor child was 
 floating on the surface of the dirty water. 
 
 As is generally known, Sunday is not cele¬ 
 brated, or rather no weekly holiday exists, in 
 China. A working Chinaman gets only one holi- 
 
40 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 day, in the prolonged meaning of the word, dur¬ 
 ing the year. That is when Chinese New Year 
 sets in. 
 
 But then he certainly makes up for lost time 
 and eats and drinks for close on a fortnight, like 
 a madman. 
 
 Chinese New Year usually falls from four to 
 six weeks after our own. It is a generally 
 acknowledged fact even among the Chinese 
 themselves, that the death-rate among all classes 
 rises enormously during the two weeks of the 
 New Year celebrations, thanks to all forms of 
 immoderation. 
 
 Our land-sailors worked all Sunday, until we 
 anchored for the night just outside the city of 
 Tungpaotu-hsien. 
 
 Mr. Fong and I succeeded in finding quite a 
 catching, if not wholly complimentary, name for 
 our five land-sailors. We called them “camel- 
 men.” To sit on the observation-deck and look 
 at these fellows, as they walked slowly but stead¬ 
 ily ahead, is really a study that craves for an 
 analogy of some kind. 
 
 And I think we have found the right idea! 
 They walk along, behind each other, steadfastly, 
 in slow tempo, with an aspect as if they were 
 carrying on their bent, pulling necks and backs 
 the greater part of “peccavi mundi.” 
 
 I pity them as they work along in the scorch- 
 
ON THE GRAND CANAL IN CHILI 
 
 41 
 
 ing midday sun; but I cannot alter their lot— 
 only occasionally buy them an orange. And I 
 do not think they suffer; their deeper instincts 
 are not sufficiently developed to allow them to 
 reason much. They think but very little, know 
 no agitators, and eat precisely like animals, 
 gestures and sounds; they take what sleep they 
 can get, and they perform without demur their 
 —camel-work. 
 
 While in Peking I several times had an op¬ 
 portunity to go out to the western part of the 
 Manchu city, and it thus came to pass that I 
 often followed the camel-track through greater 
 Peking. I tried to study the strange way of be¬ 
 having, peculiar to these animals, as they walk 
 along one after another—a string of camels—in 
 a slow and dignified procession. 
 
 Their eyes are very expressive, sometimes sup¬ 
 plicating, and they always turn their heads and 
 look attentively at you. 
 
 They have a weird, unnatural way of carrying 
 their heads, as if desirous of intimating that they 
 are under perpetual unjust treatment. When 
 their humps are heavily loaded with cross-sacks, 
 containing all kinds of merchandise, some of 
 their strange pride seems to vanish; but when 
 thev return without burden, their heads and 
 necks sway from one side to another in a strange, 
 frivolous, cast-back manner. 
 
42 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 I have little or nothing to say about Peking. 
 
 It is unquestionably one of the most interest¬ 
 ing cities I have ever had the good fortune to 
 visit, but it is not my intention in this book to try 
 to describe accessible Peking. What is the good 
 of my endeavouring, after only a few days’ visit, 
 to give anything like an exact or complete ac¬ 
 count of even my own impressions of that mag¬ 
 nificently walled city, with its legations and 
 legation-guards; its mediaeval, crass-conservative, 
 and yet internationally modern aspect; its filth 
 and awful dust when the wind blows; its beauti¬ 
 ful “temple” and Altar of Heaven, where the 
 emperor worshipped at summer and winter sol¬ 
 stices ; its interesting, decaying lama-temples; its 
 “big bell”; its wide, imperial avenues, and nar¬ 
 row, poverty-stricken lanes; its vices; its tre¬ 
 mendous wall pierced by sixteen gates, each an 
 imposing tower; its “Forbidden City”; its 
 “China in Convulsion”; and its many more 
 unique features; what is the use, I say, when so 
 many far more able men have already done so 
 before? 
 
 We left Tungpaotu-hsien in the middle of the 
 night, making our headway along the ever- 
 winding canal. 
 
 It was quite a cool day, the thermometer only 
 registering 62 degrees at noon, so when I had 
 finished my morning’s work and ascertained that 
 
ON THE GRAND CANAL IN CHILI 
 
 43 
 
 we had gained twenty-four miles during the past 
 twenty-four hours, with sixteen hours’ continual 
 work, I went ashore to get a little exercise. Mr. 
 Fong again appeared hostile to the idea of prom¬ 
 enading ; at any rate he did not want to come. 
 
 It certainly was considerably more interesting 
 to walk on the high mud-embankment, where a 
 fair view of the country, with its numerous mud- 
 built villages, and fertile wheat-fields, might be 
 obtained, than to sit all day on the observation 
 deck, watching the embankment, which practi¬ 
 cally conceals everything except the backs of the 
 “camel-men” and the “cafe-au-lait”-coloured 
 water, with its many water-snakes, its floating 
 filth, its sparse water-fowl, and an occasional 
 frightened turtle. 
 
 I walked quickly along the bank, leaving the 
 boat far behind me; I passed unmolested, though 
 wildly stared at, through a couple of small vil¬ 
 lages, and eventually, when I wanted to rest in 
 order to allow the boat to overtake me and pick 
 me up, I came across a big flock of sheep, herded 
 by three or four sunburnt lads from fifteen to 
 eighteen years of age. 
 
 They looked the very picture of health and 
 evidently carried all their belongings with them 
 in a strap over the shoulder. They governed 
 their flocks with long whips without ever actu¬ 
 ally hurting the animals. 
 
44 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 The boys were just going to water the sheep, 
 when I turned up at the ferry-landing, where I 
 intended to wait for the boat; and so it happened 
 that we met. 
 
 They were not a bit shy—these sons of nature 
 —they came and touched my sun-helmet and 
 goggles and tried my Cossack-whip, which I re¬ 
 gret to admit they evidently found useless for 
 their purposes. 
 
 We quickly got on amicable terms and, during 
 the half hour which ensued before the boat ar¬ 
 rived at that sunny place, we played “hide and 
 seek” amongst the hilly graves on the fields; we 
 ran races, all of which I lost; we caressed the 
 newly-born lambs, and we even arranged a real 
 fight between two paterfamilias of the goat-tribe, 
 who certainly did their best to dash out each 
 other’s brains—ramming one another in admi¬ 
 rable naval style. 
 
 Eventually my houseboat came up, and I had 
 to leave the merry company. 
 
 Mr. Fong, the interpreter, was on deck, some¬ 
 what uneasy about my long absence, and the 
 young suburban shepherds besieged him with 
 questions in order to satisfy their natural curios¬ 
 ity. He later on told me that they had asked 
 about my name, age and occupation, and that 
 they thought I was a Japanese schoolboy! 
 
 No love was ever lost between my secretary- 
 
ON THE GRAND CANAL IN CHILI 
 
 45 
 
 interpreter, Mr. Fong Hsien Chang of Ningpo 
 origin, and my boy-cook, Masi, of Tientsin city. 
 I was happy that it was so. It may sound para¬ 
 doxical, but I preferred that they should not be 
 on the best of terms. I foresaw in Tientsin that 
 it would come. 
 
 I took very good care not to let them meet 
 until the morning of departure in order to pre¬ 
 vent any previous understanding between them 
 —partly because I dislike the oriental passion of 
 mind for secret union, partly because it might 
 hurt the ultimate hoped-for results of my 
 mission. 
 
 Indeed, until Mr. Fong and Masi parted com¬ 
 pany on the upper Tan river many a week later, 
 they never had a chance, thanks to the hostility 
 between them, to indulge in any intrigue against 
 their alien employer—a great boon indeed. 
 
 After a good day’s work we anchored at 7.30 
 p. m. near the village Anling-hsien, this being 
 our last “port” in the province of Chili—the 
 domains of that energetic viceroy Yuan Shih 
 Kai, the man who came nearer than any other 
 Chinese since the days of the Ming Dynasty, to 
 creating a China for the Chinese, but whose im¬ 
 perial, imperialistic, and imperious tendencies in 
 the long run proved his own undoing. 
 
II 
 
 THROUGH SHANTUNG INTO 
 
 HONAN 
 
 A T 2.30 a. m. on May the 7th I woke up, 
 and the usual, inevitable set of noises in¬ 
 formed me that we were leaving Anling. 
 When I got on deck we had crossed the border 
 between the provinces of Chili and Shantung. 
 
 Shantung is the kitchen garden of North 
 China, the amount of vegetables grown in the 
 province far exceeding the production of the 
 neighbouring provinces. All through the day we 
 passed men and boys busily occupied in washing 
 vegetables in the delicious mud-water of the 
 canal. 
 
 We passed Sangkiayuen early in the morn¬ 
 ing, being our first visit to a Shantung city. I 
 was quite unable, in spite of Mr. Fong’s prom¬ 
 ises, to detect the faintest difference between this 
 town and Anling, or any other Chili hamlet. 
 
 In the forenoon I went ashore alone for a two 
 hours’ stroll. I walked across country, proving 
 the cause of many an encounter between the 
 mangy stray dogs and my good whip. I believed 
 myself unlucky so far as Chinese pariah-dogs 
 
 46 
 
THROUGH SHANTUNG INTO HONAN 47 
 
 were concerned, because, whether in the country 
 or in a city, I invariably was attacked. 
 
 I once, some five years ago, had to shoot, in 
 sheer self-defence, a big brute of a yellow cur in 
 Tiendong, close to Ningpo; and I shall certainly 
 take great pleasure in exterminating a few more 
 pro bono publico , before I once again get back to 
 western civilization. 
 
 Walking along, I struck upon a “joss-house” 
 in sad decay. Mr. Fong, being an adversary of 
 exercise, was not with me; although of course it 
 really was part of his duty to accompany me. I 
 concluded, without the corroboration of Mr. 
 Fong, that this temple had once been dedicated 
 to the God of Agriculture by the villagers of 
 the vicinity. 
 
 Now it was certainly in a most distressing 
 state of disrepair. Half of the roof had fallen 
 in, while wind and rain had washed away the gilt 
 and colour from the face and garb of one side of 
 the poor joss. 
 
 Minor idols were standing on either side of the 
 farmers’ god, or rather had been standing, two of 
 these having been buried under the ruins of the 
 roof, and two others—the one being the Goddess 
 of Mercy, Kwan Yin—leaning affectionately 
 against one another, each having lost a foot. 
 
 The whole scene was painful, whether the 
 decay was due to poverty of the district, want of 
 
48 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 interest in those special deities, or perhaps to that 
 marvelous and almost incomprehensible Chinese 
 idea of “supposee one thing makee spoil, no use 
 makee repair.” 
 
 During the day we passed an impressive fleet 
 of seven large junks, with new sails unfurled 
 from strange tripod-masts, reminding one of 
 H. B. M. S. “Dreadnought”; and late in the 
 afternoon we met one of Yuan Shih Kai’s river 
 despatch-luggers, speeding northwards for a 
 fresh breeze. 
 
 In the evening we arrived at Teh-chow, where 
 we were to spend the night; and when we had 
 finished our frugal dinner, a note written in 
 faultless English, and signed J. Wong Quincey, 
 was brought to me. Mr. Quincey intimated that 
 he was dead tired of his own society after eight 
 days’ solitude in his houseboat, and that he would 
 be glad to call. 
 
 We, ourselves, were not averse to a temporary 
 caller offering a bit of mental change, so we 
 spent a couple of pleasant hours after young 
 Quincey had made his debut. 
 
 He was quite a handsome young Chinese, who 
 spoke excellent English and who was open to 
 enter into animated discussions on all subjects 
 that ever came within the scope of human effort. 
 He was evidently subconsciously anti-foreign, in 
 spite of the fact that he, as he intimated, was a 
 
THROUGH SHANTUNG INTO HONAN 49 
 
 great friend of Diana, and foreign guns, and 
 other alien paraphernalia. To my amazement 
 he declined a Manila cheroot, but asked whether 
 he might not borrow one of my briar-pipes. 
 
 I was, of course, delighted! 
 
 He used eighteen of Bryant and May’s large, 
 expensive club-matches for half a pipe of to¬ 
 bacco, and then stopped in despair. 
 
 Mr. Quincey, senior, whose name I knew well, 
 had an interesting career. He was, as it pleased 
 his son to express himself, formerly closely con¬ 
 nected with General Gordon and his “Ever 
 Victorious Army” during the Taiping rebellion. 
 Later, General Gordon took young Quincey, 
 senior, with him to England and there gave him 
 eleven years of good education. 
 
 The elder Quincey then returned to his native 
 country and has since been engaged in police 
 work. He has, with great success, superintended 
 the Chinese police forces in Shanghai and Tient¬ 
 sin native cities; and he was then organizing the 
 police of Tsinan-fu, the capital of Shantung. 
 
 His youthful son was going to visit him on his 
 way from Tientsin to Shanghai, and thus we had 
 the good fortune to meet him at Teh-chow, where 
 he was going to leave his boat and proceed 
 by cart. 
 
 We left Teh-chow at the unearthly hour of 
 1.30 a. m. The morning was rather cold and 
 
50 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 windy for May, and having the wind against us, 
 we only made slow headway. 
 
 At about 10 a. m. we stopped for a while at a 
 small town called Hsiaotsichwang, where Mr. 
 Fong, who appropriately wore a pair of black 
 embroidered satin slippers, and I went ashore to 
 look at a Buddha temple. 
 
 The statue of the son of the King of Kapil- 
 avastu, who later became the Buddha, “The One 
 Through Whom Truth Is Known,” was old and 
 faded, but the temple possessed a sub-department 
 for finances, where the indigenous civil and 
 military gods were exhibited for money, attired 
 in gorgeous gold and silver caps and gowns, 
 helmets and uniforms. They displayed vivid, 
 colourful countenances, with black glass-eyes, 
 beaming with satisfaction at the thought of heav¬ 
 ily filled money-bags, and their protruding stom¬ 
 achs made one think of tables groaning under 
 dishes unnumbered. 
 
 We were shown around by a very kind 
 Buddhist priest, who invited us to tea; but un¬ 
 fortunately we had to decline, time not allowing 
 us to stay longer than a few minutes. 
 
 The weather being very unsettled, I did not go 
 ashore for my daily walk, but spent the after¬ 
 noon reading, writing, eating, smoking and ob¬ 
 serving the turtles, snakes, and other branches of 
 natural history from the observation-deck. 
 
THROUGH SHANTUNG INTO HONAN 51 
 
 At night we anchored in the wilderness, sev¬ 
 eral li * from the nearest town. All around us, 
 thunderclouds were reaching up towards the 
 zenith, concealing moon and stars, and shooting 
 forth dazzling lightning. 
 
 And so we all went to bed tired, tho’ prepared 
 for a night of nature’s troubles— 
 
 Kublai Khan, Emperor of China, of Mongol 
 birth, and peerless beacon of the Yuen dynasty, 
 China’s first foreign reign, is frequently ad¬ 
 judged the greatest emperor the Far East has 
 ever seen. 
 
 About Kublai Khan the famous Venetian ad¬ 
 venturer and traveller, Messer Marco Polo, says 
 “that the emperor has caused a water communi¬ 
 cation to be made from this city (Kwachou) to 
 Peking in the form of a wide and deep channel, 
 dug between river and river, between lake and 
 lake, like a great river on which large vessels 
 may ply.” 
 
 And, indeed, it must be said that Kublai had 
 the work carried out to such a degree of perfec¬ 
 tion that we, who travel on the “Chah Ho,” or 
 “River of Flood Gates,” today, must admire 
 with something almost akin to awe, this tre¬ 
 mendous piece of work, which was successfully 
 consummated some six centuries ago. 
 
 * About 3 li to 1 mile, although the li varies. 
 
52 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 The Grand Canal was dug so as to establish 
 an inland water-communication between north 
 and south, between Peking and Hangchow, and 
 from east to west by linking up the large rivers 
 with one another. 
 
 Today the Grand Canal practically starts in 
 Tientsin native city, but formerly one might 
 continue the voyage along the Peiho River to 
 Peking and disembark, under favourable water- 
 conditions, close to the British Legation. The 
 bigger boats unloaded at the east-gate. 
 
 Now the waterway only takes one so far as 
 Tungchowchi, a few miles from Peking. 
 
 During the past week I had constantly noticed 
 that the canal has indeed a very winding course, 
 except for a few long straight stretches. There 
 can hardly be any doubt about the fact that, 
 when the canal was originally dug, nature was 
 employed as extensively as possible to facilitate 
 the enormous task. 
 
 I thus feel confident that what would repre¬ 
 sent a stupidly winding course for an artificial 
 canal through unobstructed flat territory, is sim¬ 
 ply the bed of former rivers which have, so to say, 
 been absorbed by the “Yun Ho” or <c Transit 
 River.” The former rivers and rivulets, further¬ 
 more, were deepened and widened so as to 
 correspond harmoniously with the interlinking 
 straight lines of artificial waterway. 
 
THROUGH SHANTUNG INTO HONAN 53 
 
 All along the canal we find small hills of mud 
 on both sides. They are deposited there for the 
 frequent and very necessary repairs of the banks. 
 Although the Chinese mind is not usually bent 
 on repairing anything, it must be admitted that 
 the Grand Canal is kept in a remarkably good 
 condition considering its great age, and its enor¬ 
 mous importance is by no means underestimated 
 by the Chinese officials or population. 
 
 The Grand Canal and the Great Wall are the 
 two grandest monuments to Chinese inclination 
 of bygone days for titanic undertakings. The 
 former is today almost as important for inland 
 communication as it was on the day it opened; 
 while the latter is more like a tombstone to 
 wasted human labour and imperial vanity, al¬ 
 though a tombstone well worth studying. 
 
 We spent rather a miserable night, for nature 
 was very angry. 
 
 At about one hour after midnight the expected 
 thunderstorm broke loose over our heads, sig¬ 
 nalling its coming by sending forth a few blind¬ 
 ing darts of lightning accompanied by several 
 regiments of heavy field-artillery. 
 
 When the captain’s children began to cry on 
 the other side of the thin partition which sepa¬ 
 rated me from them, and when from my castrum 
 doloris, in a flash of lightning, I had perceived 
 Mr. Fong busily securing windows and fancy- 
 
54 , MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 doors, I got up on deck myself, in order to ad¬ 
 mire the beautiful and violent spectacle. 
 
 It was a “cold” thunderstorm, which promised 
 nothing good for the coming day; but the sight, 
 which lasted for a little over half an hour, made 
 one forget both the temperature and the desolate 
 surroundings. 
 
 I was almost blind and deaf when I turned 
 in once more; and before I fell asleep I had 
 time to think about the fate of a houseboat, 
 far away from human aid, struck by lightning, 
 and consequently metamorphosed into a bon¬ 
 fire for the delectation of roving ancestral 
 spirits. 
 
 In the early morning we stopped at a village 
 called Chengkiakow, where Masi went ashore in 
 order to buy provisions. I gave him my last few 
 Mexican dollars, but he soon returned, saying 
 that he could not have these coins exchanged for 
 copper cash, the little Chinese coins with a square 
 hole in the center, worth about 800 to a Mexican 
 dollar. 
 
 If I had had some lately coined Chinese dol¬ 
 lars, it would have been all right in every town 
 along the canal; but as I had none such with me, 
 we were obliged to resort to the Sycee, with 
 which the Chartered Bank had furnished me. 
 
 Sycee is paid in “shoes” of so and so many 
 taels, a tael averaging about $1.33 Mexican. 
 
THROUGH SHANTUNG INTO HONAN 55 
 
 The “shoes,” which by the way happen to look 
 like soft hats and not like foot-gear, are simply 
 silver ingots of a certain weight. 
 
 The Sycee system is exceedingly difficult and 
 disadvantageous to the itinerant merchant, ex¬ 
 plorer, or traveller, who constantly loses when 
 exchanging—the “shoes” being quite expensive 
 to buy, but comparatively difficult to sell at a 
 decent rate of exchange. Thus, on a ten tael 
 “shoe” I received seventy-five Mexican cents 
 less than I had paid for the identical “shoe” a 
 week before in Tientsin. 
 
 And still it is necessary to carry Sycee along, 
 because it is by no means feasible in the farther 
 interior to use even Chinese-coined dollars or 
 ten-cash pieces equal to one Mexican cent. 
 
 And while on the subject of troublesome native 
 money, I may as well dwell on another aspect of 
 finance, the Chinese system of “squeeze,” a pet- 
 system of graft and corruption obtaining in the 
 old Land of Sinim. 
 
 It is part of native life, and morally fully 
 recognized, even permitted, that everybody who 
 has the faintest chance to do so, shall “levy a 
 tax” or “secure a commission” on every copper- 
 cash that goes through his hands. 
 
 This is called squeezing. 
 
 Everybody squeezes in China—the highest 
 official as well as the humblest coolie. 
 
56 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 When in China you order a carriage through 
 the hotel, the porter gets his squeeze from the 
 livery-stable; when you give the boy your laun¬ 
 dry, he gets his squeeze from the washerman; 
 when you travel in the interior—Heaven forbid 
 you should ever have to!—and you have to en¬ 
 trust your boy-cook with funds, he will get his 
 squeeze on both his own provision-bill and from 
 the provision-dealer, besides a very good squeeze 
 from the exchange-shop, amounting altogether to 
 some fifteen or twenty per centum. When, in 
 China, a government official has to buy fodder, 
 guns, ammunition, uniforms, or anything else, or 
 when he has to pay out salaries, allowances or 
 wages, he holds himself indemnified for the 
 trouble by pocketing a good squeeze in hard cash; 
 and when you die, you may rest assured that your 
 life in China, as well as your funeral, represents 
 a beautifully selected bouquet of more or less 
 conspicuous squeezes. 
 
 Yet, all this is only a side-issue of life in China, 
 and it is no use to kick unless one is actually 
 robbed. 
 
 Being springtime, it was hardly to be ex¬ 
 pected that we should be able entirely to avoid 
 a sand-storm. 
 
 One fine day we went through that experience 
 from 10 a. m. till 7 p. m., and it was, to say the 
 least, very trying. I was sitting writing in the 
 
THROUGH SHANTUNG INTO HONAN 57 
 
 forenoon, when suddenly one of the windows 
 blew open and a strong gust of wind swept away 
 my maps and loose calculation-slips. I thought 
 that we had deserved a pleasant day after the 
 thunderstorm of the night, but my hope was 
 doomed to disappointment. 
 
 The storm had been but a messenger of 
 warning. 
 
 For nine hours the houseboat with the twelve 
 human beings it contained, was kept a prisoner, 
 chained to the same spot, on the bank of the deso¬ 
 late canal, the craft quivering from mast-top to 
 keel every time one of the violent gusts of wind 
 shook its frame, as if trying to break it asunder, 
 pressing it with full force against the muddy 
 bank. 
 
 For nine hours we saw no sun, no sky, and no 
 clouds! 
 
 Overhead a thick, impenetrable pall of yellow- 
 gray sand-dust had lowered itself. The storm 
 whirled the sand in every direction, and as the 
 trying hours passed, everything became covered 
 with a thick layer of immovable sand-dust, the 
 gravity of which was such that, when a book was 
 raised from its horizontal position, the sand 
 would gracefully slide off and fall in a smoking 
 heap on the table. 
 
 The sand, as the hours went by without the 
 wind diminishing at all, got into our ears, eyes, 
 
58 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 mouths and nostrils. We suffered agonies, and 
 became irritable and nervous; we found sand in 
 our butter and in our soup, and our hair grew 
 dirty and discoloured from the dust. 
 
 Eventually, being afraid of completely losing 
 my temper from sheer nervous irritability at the 
 disagreeable and trying situation, I turned into 
 my bunk which was literally covered with sand 
 in spite of the mosquito-net, and slept for two 
 hours, a large silk handkerchief tied around 
 my head. 
 
 Everybody was feeling nervously exhausted, 
 and I do not wonder that ague is a common dis¬ 
 ease among the people of the Grand Canal. 
 
 We started from our desolate anchorage in the 
 middle of the night, and before breakfast we suc¬ 
 ceeded, thanks to the assistance of the captain, 
 in getting a few pounds of the worst sand-dust 
 removed from our living quarters. 
 
 In the morning we passed two or three places 
 where the canal, which is unquestionably in bet¬ 
 ter repair in the province of Chili than in Shan¬ 
 tung, was very narrow, small islets having 
 formed in the middle of the current. We passed 
 the wreck of a large cargo-junk, which had 
 doubtless foundered in the darkness of some 
 stormy night. 
 
 At the district city of Wucheng we stopped 
 for provision purposes. The boy went up to the 
 
THROUGH SHANTUNG INTO HONAN 59 
 
 town, while Mr. Fong and I took a walk up and 
 down the embankment. 
 
 But the mob of curious natives, mostly street- 
 arabs and old men, were so annoying that I 
 preferred to board our proud vessel again and 
 smoke a solitary pipe in meditation, trying to 
 figure out why the people of Shantung did not 
 seem half as nice as the people of her northern 
 sister, Chili. 
 
 In the afternoon, although a disagreeable wind 
 raised tons of dust in the air, I went ashore for a 
 cross-country walk, Mr. Fong, as usual, pre¬ 
 ferring to remain on board. I peeped into many 
 houses of farmers and labourers. 
 
 The men, and even the women, were busily 
 occupied in the surrounding fields, and I conse¬ 
 quently found most of the houses deserted for the 
 time being. Everywhere I noticed an utter ab¬ 
 sence of comfort. No furniture, no wooden 
 floors, very few utensils—at most an abandoned 
 oil-can, or an occasional uncovered couch. 
 
 They, I mean the men and women of inner 
 Shantung, must be almost entirely cut off from 
 the outer world. They seem a strange mixture 
 of the refreshing, work-inspiring sea-breeze from 
 the east, and the stale, mind-depressing, Chinese 
 civilization, four thousand years or more from 
 the west. 
 
 Shantung is historically famous because the 
 
60 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 great teacher Confucius was born, b. c. 551, in 
 the southern part of the province. The well- 
 known philosopher, Mencius, Confucius’ inter¬ 
 preter, who was 23 years old when Plato died, 
 was also born in Shantung, b. c. 371. 
 
 I visited another Buddha temple during my 
 afternoon walk. The priests were very kind and 
 evidently most astonished at seeing a white man 
 unaccompanied. They were as anxious to ex¬ 
 amine my Russian whip, and especially my 
 stockings—I wore khaki knickerbockers—as I 
 was to examine their temple and idols, so we got 
 on very well together. 
 
 Besides the newer temple, which was in toler¬ 
 ably good repair, there was an old temple on a 
 little artificial hill behind the new one. This 
 temple had evidently once been a costly structure 
 and still contained the upper half of a bronze 
 Buddha, who had been sitting on a large lotus 
 flower. This idol, or rather what remained of it, 
 had fallen to the floor from the smashed altar, 
 and rather looked as if it had originally been cast 
 in Japan. 
 
 Half an hour’s brisk walk brought me to the 
 village of Yufangcheng, where I waited for the 
 houseboat. Eventually, this excellent vessel, 
 pulled by its five “camel-men” who had cele¬ 
 brated the sand-storm of yesterday as a holiday, 
 arrived. 
 
THROUGH SHANTUNG INTO HONAN 61 
 
 Mr. Fong, who had borrowed my collapsible 
 field-chair for use on the observation-deck, told 
 me a sad story about an unexpected gust of wind, 
 which had carried my chair away to an eternal 
 rest at the bottom of the canal. I quietly re¬ 
 minded him that, as I had especially asked him 
 before I left not to leave the deceased chair un¬ 
 guarded on deck, I should find it necessary to 
 deduct three dollars when his salary was once 
 more due. 
 
 At 9 p. m., after having left behind us twenty- 
 seven miles, besides the folding-chair, we an¬ 
 chored for the night amidst the noises of the 
 village of Panpitien. 
 
 The skipper started the boat a little later than 
 usual, but I was up early to admire the Ta Wan 
 Pagoda, which is over a thousand years old and 
 nearly 150 feet high. The pagoda is situated in 
 the vicinity of the city of Lintsing-chow. 
 
 This town, which exercises the power of a “fu,” 
 or prefectual city, is called Lin-tsing-fu on the 
 German map which I use; but this is hardly cor¬ 
 rect as the city has only got the rank of “chow,” 
 also pronounced “cho” or “chou,” or first-class 
 district town. 
 
 The German military maps of China proper 
 are undoubtedly the best maps accessible to the 
 general public, though the spelling of the names 
 is sometimes most confusing when one has to 
 
62 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 write in English. The drawback about the Ger¬ 
 man maps is that most of the distances are not 
 quite accurate.* 
 
 It was abnormally cold for the middle of May, 
 the thermometer only registering 58° F. when, at 
 7 a. m., we anchored near Lintsing-chow. 
 
 When the boy had finished his provision pur¬ 
 chases on shore, and I the writing of my diary, 
 Mr. Fong, most elegantly attired, and I, went 
 ashore together. We headed for the American 
 Protestant mission, where we had the good luck 
 to meet Mr. and Mrs. Ellis, who received us in a 
 most hearty manner. They, together with a 
 woman physician, were in charge of this mission- 
 station, where schools for boys and girls, a small 
 hospital, native teachers and preachers, and sev¬ 
 eral other departments are maintained at a con¬ 
 siderable yearly outlay of money. 
 
 After a cup of coffee—we kept only tea, cocoa, 
 and beef-tea on the houseboat—Mr. Fong went 
 to have his forehead shaved and his queue beauti¬ 
 fied, a process that occupied the better part of 
 ninety minutes for any true gentleman. 
 
 In the meantime, Mr. Ellis was kind enough 
 to take me for a long walk. 
 
 We first went to the site of land where the 
 American mission had formerly had its build¬ 
 ings. It was discouraging to hear that only 
 
 * There are later and better maps now. 
 
THROUGH SHANTUNG INTO HONAN 63 
 
 seven years before, a large station with its pul¬ 
 sating life had been standing here, and that Box- 
 erism had not left a single stone, when it swept 
 Jhe country in 1900. 
 
 We passed a Mohammedan mosque—there 
 were not less than four in the city—and a little 
 later arrived at a Buddhistic temple in good 
 repair. 
 
 We went inside and looked at the gilded image 
 of Buddha, as well as the richly coloured Chinese 
 idols, representing law, authority, war, music, 
 and a half dozen other faculties. 
 
 The sun was out, and the temperature was 
 rapidly mounting, as we walked along the city 
 wall, a heavy stone structure, which indicates 
 that Lintsing-chow was once destined to become 
 an important center. 
 
 Outside the north-gate we found a couple of 
 scores or more of big mud-hills and two huge 
 tombstones with elaborately chiselled inscrip¬ 
 tions. These mounds cover the graves of all the 
 local victims of the Taiping massacre of the 
 early sixties. 
 
 I am indebted to Mr. Ellis for the following 
 story. 
 
 After the fateful massacre of the peaceful 
 citizens of Lintsing-chow, the central administra¬ 
 tion at Peking despatched a special commissioner 
 to investigate the extent of the damage done by 
 
( 
 
 64 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 the Taipings and the number of victims of the 
 massacre. The mandarin reported that the num¬ 
 ber of victims was 100,000, but the government 
 forthwith informed him that this figure was by 
 no means satisfactory. He accordingly added 
 an 0, which brought the total up to one million. 
 The latter figure was more appreciated! Today, 
 the story goes that every one of the graves con¬ 
 tains 10,000 victims. The men and women were 
 buried separately and each sex has its own 
 tombstone. 
 
 We entered the city by the north-gate, and it 
 was strange to notice that, within the wall, like in 
 old Babylon, extensive wheat-fields were culti¬ 
 vated, with plenty of room to spare for growing 
 vegetables and the like. Where the fields are 
 now, houses formerly were standing, but political 
 rebellions, like the Taiping and Boxer troubles, 
 were not only guilty of murder and plunder, but 
 also of sweeping the country clean after them, as 
 they went. 
 
 Near the northern gate is a beautiful Con- 
 fucian temple. 
 
 In these quiet temples are no idols, no priests, 
 no pictures, no noise, no need of reform. The 
 Confucian temples all over China—they amount 
 tQ about 1,400 and are mostly found in bigger 
 cities—are solemn, heavy structures of wood, 
 painted a sombre red. In the anterior court is 
 
THROUGH SHANTUNG INTO HONAN 65 
 
 found an artificial stone-pond with marble or 
 granite balusters and a stone-bridge, and in the 
 main-temple, on the central altar, in front of 
 which is placed a bronze incense-burner with 
 candelabra, we notice a simple but beautifully 
 carved tablet, giving the name of the great sage, 
 and mentioning the fact that he has been exalted 
 to share rank with the gods. 
 
 On either side of the main altar we find the 
 names of six of the twelve Confucian apostles, 
 and in two long sheds on both sides of the court, 
 and consequently not in the chief-temple proper, 
 we find the names of the seventy odd disciples. 
 
 The sanctity and solemn peace of a Kong- 
 fu-tsz temple is rarely forgotten by anybody who 
 has been, if only for a few minutes, under its 
 spell. 
 
 We walked back through the city and, passing 
 one of the mosques with its lively-coloured, 
 triple-pointed roof, entered. As we had no de¬ 
 sire to take our shoes off, we did not walk into 
 the building itself, but simply looked into the 
 large, gloomy, chilly room from the outside. 
 Arabian characters were in evidence everywhere, 
 and had it not been for the Chinese surroundings, 
 I might have thought myself in Port Said or 
 C onstantinople. 
 
 The Moslems in China—there are over 200,000 
 in Peking alone—are forced to put a tablet with 
 
66 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 the emperor’s name in their mosques, but they 
 place a tablet, dedicated to their great prophet 
 immediately behind it. 
 
 The province of Kansu in northwestern China 
 is almost entirely Mohammedan, and, in 1860- 
 1875, the greater part of the bloody Moslem 
 rebellion was instigated and fought in that far-off 
 province, and in its eastern neighbour, Shensi. 
 
 The Alkoran has never been translated into 
 Chinese. 
 
 From the mosque we went back to the mission, 
 on the way passing the old bed of the Grand 
 Canal, which was abandoned by Kublai Khan 
 and re-dug outside the city. Some six bridges 
 lead over this dry bed. 
 
 About two years ago, one of these stone 
 bridges was on the verge of collapsing, but no¬ 
 body took the initiative to have it repaired. It 
 would have meant disaster to the neighbouring 
 houses, were the bridge not repaired at once, so 
 a Buddhist priest, realizing this, voluntarily in¬ 
 carcerated himself in a stone-pillar of the bridge, 
 swearing that he would not eat nor drink until 
 sufficient money had been collected for effect¬ 
 ing the essential repairs. Private contributions 
 saved the life of the enterprising and courageous 
 priest, so that his departed spirit should not 
 haunt the district. 
 
 At the mission I bade Mrs. Ellis good-bye, 
 
THROUGH SHANTUNG INTO HONAN 67 
 
 but not until I had, with some hesitation, ac¬ 
 cepted a welcome gift of tinned butter and 
 condensed milk from their admirably well- 
 provisioned store-room. 
 
 Mr. Ellis came down to the boat and did us the 
 pleasure of sharing our frugal tiffin. 
 
 We left Lintsing-chow a little later, after a 
 most interesting stop of some five hours, and 
 went up the Wei-ho, or Wei River—Lintsing- 
 chow being the practical terminus for larger 
 boats going south on the Grand Canal. Still 
 further south, from the city of Tungchang, as 
 far as Tsining, the canal is devoid of water; but 
 from the latter town it is possible to proceed 
 south by boat as far as Shanghai and Hang¬ 
 chow, crossing the Yang-tse at Chingkiang. 
 
 South-south-west we sped against the current 
 of the Wei-ho which hails from the mountains in 
 southeastern Shansi. There is, incidentally, in 
 China at least one other river Wei, which passes 
 near the capital of Shensi province, Sian-fu, and 
 forms a most important affluent of the Yellow 
 River. 
 
 Late in the afternoon we passed the body of a 
 drowned man, surrounded by curious spectators, 
 evidently waiting for the magistrate’s deputy to 
 perform an inquest. 
 
 Some years ago, at Shanghai, I had to cross 
 the river once a day from the Chinese Bund to 
 
68 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 the Yangkadoo Wharf. I usually employed the 
 same sampan to take me to the opposite bank of 
 the Whampoa. 
 
 One day I found a drowned man tied with a 
 bit of rope to one of the poles of the jetty. The 
 other end of the rope was knotted around his 
 ankle. I concluded the corpse was awaiting the 
 Chinese coroner’s examination. 
 
 Thirteen days in succession, I beheld the dead 
 body, the appearance of which did not improve. 
 On the fourteenth it had vanished. I hoped it 
 had been buried. 
 
 But the next morning I encountered the same 
 corpse some four miles down the river, when 
 visiting the Hongkew and Shanghai Wharf. 
 The bit of rope was still around the ankle—but 
 the other end had been cut clean with a knife. 
 Probably the Chinese ferry-folk at the native 
 jetty got tired of waiting for the coroner and cut 
 the poor departed loose from Chinese territory. 
 
 That very same afternoon, after I had seen 
 him for the fourteenth time, he was buried by 
 order of the authorities of the Municipal Council 
 of the International Settlement. 
 
 Our second houseboat Sunday turned out a 
 quiet day of rest. 
 
 It was rather hot in the middle of the day, the 
 thermometer showing 92° F. in the shade; and 
 after having finished the preceding notes on 
 
THROUGH SHANTUNG INTO HONAN 69 
 
 Lintsing-chow and some other work at about 
 eleven o’clock, I found that it was already too 
 broiling for a walk on shore. I consequently 
 stayed on board, sleeping two hours and a half 
 in the afternoon, Mr. Fong being on the look¬ 
 out for worthy objects for my camera on the 
 observation-deck, with instruction to call me if 
 anything should occur. 
 
 But nothing happened, and I enjoyed my 
 peaceful Sabbath fully as much as the “camel- 
 men” had enjoyed the sand-storm three days 
 before. 
 
 The Wei-ho is not as wide as the Grand Canal, 
 and in some places the river is very shallow. We 
 touched the bottom every quarter of an hour, and 
 a few times were delayed through running 
 aground. 
 
 It will easily be understood that when the 
 “camel-men”—we now had six, since leaving 
 Lintsing-chow—suddenly pull their long ropes 
 sideways, the rope as already mentioned, being 
 fixed to the top of the mast, the boat is apt to 
 careen very sharply. 
 
 Such a manoeuvre resulted in the breaking of 
 our three solitary saucers! The cups themselves 
 did not share their fate, the reason for which 
 stroke of luck I was unable to ascertain; but 
 every single plate had surely broken had they not 
 been—enamelled. Such was our simplicity of 
 
70 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 household, that we ate everything on metal 
 plates, imagining that it was sterling silver, and 
 only our tea was drunk out of porcelain cups— 
 subsequently minus saucers. 
 
 When eventually we got to Sian-fu, I ex¬ 
 pected that we should have retained only a frac¬ 
 tion of our property—having already lost a 
 chair, a carving-knife, and three beauteous sau¬ 
 cers. I shivered when I thought of the possibil¬ 
 ity of losing my “library’’-trunk, or even my 
 seven razors from William Whiteley. 
 
 We anchored at Chinkwan for the night. It 
 was a warm, starlit evening and I enjoyed a pipe 
 on deck before joining the cockroaches. 
 
 The following day we continued our winding 
 way against the current of the Wei-ho, the water 
 getting perceptibly clearer and cleaner as we 
 were nearing, mile by mile, its mountain sources. 
 In some places, where the water was not too 
 deep, it was possible even to discern the bottom, 
 covered with coarse greenish-brown water-plants. 
 
 Once more it was a very hot day, and I was 
 agreeably surprised to observe even adult China¬ 
 men come down to refresh themselves with a 
 bath. It has always been said, and not quite 
 without foundation, that the Chinese wash their 
 clothing, while the Japanese wash their bodies. 
 This old saying seemed to be contradicted along 
 the banks of the Wei. 
 
THROUGH SHANTUNG INTO HONAN 71 
 
 At about 10 a. m. we left the province of 
 Shantung with its too dense and consequently 
 very poor population, which in some instances 
 amounts to two thousand souls to the square 
 mile, and entered that southern arm of Chili, 
 Nan-Chili, which reaches down between Shan¬ 
 tung and Honan as far as 35 degrees N. L.. 
 We re-entered Chili close to the village of 
 Hsiautan-hsien and, after another uneventful 
 day, anchored in the evening at the village of 
 Chataukow. 
 
 We started long before dawn from this hamlet, 
 and the only thing that happened during the day, 
 worth recording, was that we again left the 
 province of Chili, entering its neighbour Honan. 
 
 We were stopped and “examined” at the first 
 Likin, or internal revenue station in Honan; and 
 when the petty official had admired a tattered 
 “Union Jack,” which the captain had insisted 
 upon flying ever since we left Tientsin, because 
 he labours under the delusion that he is carrying 
 a British officer as passenger, and had inspected 
 my crimson, Chinese visiting-card, which clearly 
 shows that I am a Dane, the rusty wire-rope 
 barring the river was graciously lowered, and we 
 proceeded in peace, the official evidently having 
 forgotten all about the possible existence of a 
 Chinese Foreign Office passport. 
 
 We crept slowly along all day, having both 
 
72 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 wind and water against us, and eventually 
 stopped over night at an insignificant village 
 called Santichwang. 
 
 Strange to say, fine as some of the German 
 General Staff maps are, the Wei-ho and sur¬ 
 roundings have certainly been step-motherly 
 treated. I thus found a stretch of nearly thirty- 
 five miles, where not a single name appears along 
 the river-bank on the map, but where we passed 
 several towns and villages.— 
 
 The forenoon following, we saw but very few 
 boats. Those we met were going down-stream 
 with heavy cargoes of gray granite, which we 
 were told came from the mountainous parts of 
 southeastern Shansi. 
 
 The day was fairly cool, so, having finished 
 writing, I put on my walking-boots, when, to my 
 consternation, I observed in passing through the 
 fore-cabin on my way to the deck, Masi, the boy- 
 cook, behaving himself in the strangest way on 
 his bunk. He twisted and writhed as if suffering 
 from an attack of cholera or cramp, and when I 
 asked him what was the matter, he started crying 
 —he was very manly then, this 4 ‘boy” of thirty— 
 and stammered in worse German than usual that 
 he had pains in “the head, and everywhere.” 
 
 I had not the slightest doubt about the fellow 
 simulating, so I told him not to behave as if he 
 were a child of five, and then went ashore, telling 
 
THROUGH SHANTUNG INTO HONAN 73 
 
 Mr. Fong to go down and find out whether Masi 
 was perhaps devising some ingenious scheme for 
 carrying himself and my “Sycee”-shoes back to 
 the fleshpots of Tientsin upon our arrival at 
 Taokow. 
 
 An hour later, I was onboard again after a 
 most refreshing walk among wheat-fields, and 
 pariah-dogs, and irrigation-coolies. 
 
 Mr. Fong reported that Masi, who had been 
 perfectly all right in the morning, had told him 
 that he felt very “faint,” and that he had never 
 been “abroad” before. This was contradictory 
 to his original statement that he had travelled in 
 Mongolia, so I gave him his choice between leav¬ 
 ing the boat immediately—what a mess if he had 
 done so!—or getting up at once and preparing 
 tiffin. 
 
 He chose the latter alternative, washed the 
 tear-grease off his face, prepared tiffin, and once 
 more got on good terms with us and his health. 
 He was not “dying,” after that, but I firmly 
 believe that he suffered somewhat from a form of 
 lazy nostalgia, which made him think that we 
 were getting too far away from Tientsin for him 
 ever to get back. 
 
 In the afternoon we passed Kauticheng, and 
 later arrived at Wulung, where I perceived a 
 boat like ours, flying the French tricolor . This 
 looked, indeed, like the possibility of a social 
 
74. MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 entente cordiale on Chinese soil. As we drew 
 nearer, Mr. Fong was able to read the characters 
 in the white of the flag; they showed that the 
 boat belonged to a Roman Catholic mission. 
 
 Meanwhile, the customs officials came down to 
 inspect our boat, and I let my interpreter ask 
 whether the boat carried any missionaries. 
 
 “Oh, no,” was the reply, “the captain of the 
 boat, like many others, are converts, and sail 
 under the French flag, whereby they are usu¬ 
 ally much more quickly passed by the inland 
 revenue authorities than ordinary boats.” 
 
 In the afternoon we were able to see the Tung- 
 shan, or Tung mountains, in the distance some 
 thirty miles away. It was quite refreshing to the 
 eye to see some hills again, after two weeks of 
 pancake-country. 
 
 There was an appreciable difference between 
 the skipper’s and my own calculations concern¬ 
 ing the exact distance from Tientsin to Taokow. 
 
 According to my various maps, the distance is 
 315 miles, which means that sixteen working 
 hours per day during fourteen days gives an 
 average speed of 1.4 miles an hour, or twenty- 
 two and one-half miles per diem . This, I think, 
 is almost correct, when taking into consideration 
 my several walks ashore, when I have been in a 
 position better to compare the speed of the craft. 
 
 The captain’s idea was 1600 li, or ca. 484 miles 
 
THROUGH SHANTUNG INTO HONAN 75 
 
 —rather a difference! I do not think that the 
 unmapped windings of the Grand Canal and the 
 Wei-ho make up for a difference of 169 miles, 
 which would show an average speed of 2.2 miles 
 per hour and 34.6 miles per diem of sixteen 
 hours—a speed I consider well-nigh unattainable 
 when pulled by “camel-men.” 
 
 In the evening we anchored close to a small 
 village called Sankuinmiao. 
 
Ill 
 
 FIRST TASTE OF CARAVAN TRAVEL 
 
 I HAVE later been able to ascertain from out¬ 
 side sources that my houseboat skipper’s 
 estimate of the distance from Tientsin to 
 Taokow is the more correct, the distance being 
 usually put down at the figure of five hundred 
 miles. All credit is thus due to our boatmen for 
 a speedy passage, and the average progress of 
 the “camel-men” must, accordingly, have been a 
 fraction over two miles per hour. 
 
 The value of the German ordnance-maps, 
 which one would certainly think ought to be cor¬ 
 rect so far as the province of Shantung is con¬ 
 cerned, can thus hardly be said to meet the 
 requirements of the traveller who seeks exact 
 information. 
 
 The English military maps are, in so far as I 
 have been able to find out, only procurable by 
 applying directly to Staff Headquarters in 
 India. I have never seen the British maps, 
 but hope that they are more correct than the 
 German. 
 
 The best general map of China proper today, 
 although on a smaller scale, is unquestionably 
 
 76 
 
FIRST TASTE OF CARAVAN TRAVEL 77 
 
 Dr. Bretschneider’s Russian map, an English 
 edition of which was issued in 1901. Still, in the 
 interest of truth, it must be said that even this 
 map gives the above-mentioned distance as only 
 about 350 miles. 
 
 The China Inland Mission published a map of 
 China in 1905, which is an excellent copy of 
 Bretschneider’s English edition, but on a larger 
 scale. This map may be had in London, Shang¬ 
 hai, Toronto, and Melbourne, at the mission 
 offices, for a most reasonable price. 
 
 We started, as usual, early in the morning, 
 and at 9 a. m. arrived at the old city of Hsun- 
 hsien. We had to lay down the mast here when 
 passing under the first bridge we had seen since 
 leaving Tientsin, two weeks earlier. 
 
 There are no bridges over the Grand Canal, 
 and all cross-traffic is undertaken on ferries, of 
 which one or two are to be found in all the cities 
 and villages, and everywhere, where a highway 
 or common road crosses the more important 
 waterway. Ferries of this kind, which are able 
 to cross with carts, mules, pack-animals, mer¬ 
 chandise of every description, and passengers, 
 are really government property and gratuitous 
 to the traveller, but the boatmen are always on 
 the lookout for a few copper-cash as squeeze 
 which in most cases are very well deserved. 
 
 A little distance from Hsun-hsien, when 
 
78 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 speeding along before a strong northerly breeze, 
 we passed a fisherman standing on a small bam¬ 
 boo raft. He caught his fish through the medium 
 of four cormorants, strange-looking birds that 
 dive under the surface of the river, catching every 
 fish they can get hold of. A piece of string, tied 
 around their necks, prevents them from actually 
 enjoying their prey, and when the birds have 
 caught a few victims, their master pulls them 
 back to the raft, where they willingly give up 
 their take. This way of catching fish is very 
 ancient and simple and is more common in South 
 China—that is south of the Yang-tse—than in 
 the north. 
 
 Early in the afternoon—after two weeks of 
 continual travel—we arrived at our first desti¬ 
 nation, Taokow. 
 
 This village was originally intended to become 
 the chief shipping-place of the Peking Syndi¬ 
 cate; but since the Kin-Han, or Peking-Hankow 
 Railway, has been completed, its significance has 
 greatly diminished. The syndicate has built a 
 mining railway from the coal-mines at Chiaotso 
 to Taokow, but this line has now, like most 
 others, been taken over and “bought” by the Im¬ 
 perial Government, although the Peking Syndi¬ 
 cate still manages the line on behalf of the 
 Chinese. 
 
 After having paid off the houseboat, together 
 
FIRST TASTE OF CARAVAN TRAVEL 79 
 
 with a little wine-money for the “camels” and 
 a few ten-cash pieces for the skipper’s chil¬ 
 dren, we had our luggage loaded on a couple of 
 large carts, which took it to the small but neat 
 railway-station. 
 
 Viceroy Yuan Shih Kai has instituted an ef¬ 
 fective protection system on all governmental 
 lines, every station having a “garrison” of an 
 officer and some twenty soldiers or perhaps 
 rather gens-d'armes. They are armed with mod¬ 
 ern rifles and with sticks, and appear on the 
 platform whenever a train comes in. 
 
 The Chinese station-master, who was kind 
 enough to shelter my luggage and allot a room 
 to Mr. Fong and my servant, introduced me to 
 the two foreigners on the spot, Mr. Clark, who 
 was in charge of the engines, and traffic-inspector 
 Watson. The former hospitably put me up at 
 his house, where I spent a very pleasant evening, 
 and where for the first time in a fortnight I 
 rested in a comfortable bed. 
 
 I had the good fortune to meet the mandarin- 
 comptroller of the line, Mr. Wong. He was a 
 most intelligent Chinese gentleman who had 
 studied in the United States. After having 
 found out that we had several mutual acquaint¬ 
 ances in Chinese official circles, we had a long 
 and pleasant talk together. 
 
 The next morning we took the early train to 
 
80 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 Chiaotso, where the present sphere of action in 
 Honan of the Peking Syndicate is centred. 
 
 The Syndicate has not been dancing on roses. 
 The Chinese Government, especially since the 
 Russo-Japanese war, has done nothing but make 
 matters as difficult as possible for this promising 
 concern. It appears that the Chinese are un¬ 
 willing to permit the officials of the syndicate to 
 carry out their duties according to the conces¬ 
 sions originally granted, and while it is perhaps 
 true that the Chiaotso coal-shafts do not, as yet, 
 yield a dividend, it should not be forgotten that 
 the syndicate’s most valuable property lies in the 
 province of Shansi and that the Chinese Govern¬ 
 ment, for the time being, hinders the syndicate in 
 working its property in that rich province. The 
 British and Chinese governments are naturally 
 exchanging notes in this important matter, but 
 the result is difficult to predict, and the question 
 may, of course, create considerable friction at 
 any moment. 
 
 In the beginning of 1908 the Shansi conces¬ 
 sions of the Peking Syndicate were yielded to the 
 Chinese against an indemnity. There were many 
 foreign residents who expressed their astonish¬ 
 ment at this unexpected result of the prolonged 
 negotiations. 
 
 The comfortable train passed the old city of 
 Weihui where we obtain an excellent view of the 
 
FIRST TASTE OF CARAVAN TRAVEL 81 
 
 city walls and the tall pagoda from the station 
 platform. 
 
 At noon we passed the junction between the 
 syndicate line and the Kin-Han railway, and at 
 2.30 p. m. we arrived at Chiaotso. 
 
 The Peking Syndicate’s mining property is 
 situated about a mile from the station. 
 
 The engineer-in-chief, Mr. Alexander Reid, 
 received me in a most cordial manner, put me up 
 at his house and arranged a small dinner-party 
 in the evening, Dr. Bryson, Locomotive-Super¬ 
 intendent Ridgway and Mr. Brown, manager of 
 the local mines, being present. The accountant, 
 Mr. Foley, joined us in the evening. 
 
 Before dinner I was, by the kind permission 
 of Mr. Reid, shown over the works; the shafts, 
 the machinery, the work-shops alike commanding 
 my deepest admiration when I remembered that 
 we were in the heart of the Chinese Empire. 
 
 In the afternoon I was introduced in the small 
 club, maintained by the score of foreigners on the 
 spot. I found English beer, an English billiard- 
 table, English papers and an excellent American 
 gramophone. 
 
 The following day being Saturday, I was in¬ 
 vited to young Dr. Bryson’s hospitable roof, and 
 after having visited the little hospital, where 
 numerous victims of railway accidents are looked 
 after, Mr. Foley, the doctor and I had an ex- 
 
82 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 cellent cross-country ride lasting some three 
 hours. Afterwards we went for a swim in the 
 cool reservoir—nine feet deep—the thermom¬ 
 eter having registered nearly 100° F. in the 
 shade. 
 
 Overwhelmed by the hospitality and kindness 
 of the Peking Syndicate people, and full of 
 pleasant memories of the past two days, I took 
 the train Sunday morning early for the terminus 
 of the line, a town by the name of Tsinghwa, 
 where I was met by a guard of honour. 
 
 The railway had altogether carried us ninety- 
 three miles from Taokow, but it will easily be 
 understood that it was never the intention to 
 terminate the line at Tsinghwa, but to build it 
 further into Shansi, a scheme that has now been 
 frustrated by the Machiavellian machinations of 
 the Chinese Government. 
 
 Forty li from Tsinghwa, is the town of 
 Hwaiking-fu. We hired two big carts to take 
 our baggage, magnificently guarded by a couple 
 of armed soldiers, given us as an escort by the 
 commandant of the railway-guard. 
 
 Mr. Fong and I rode in two bamboo chairs, 
 through the fertile country, where wheat and 
 opium grew side by side. It was once more an 
 abnormally hot day for May, and a half-closed 
 sedan-chair is but badly ventilated. 
 
 We accordingly suffered from heat, thirst and 
 
(Top) My military Guard of Honour at Clung Hua. 
 
 ( Bottom ) Typical courtyard of native inn, with the “Knlanebra” 
 and a warrior, given me for “protection.” 
 

FIRST TASTE OF CARAVAN TRAVEL 83 
 
 dust and felt rather worn out when, at 3 p. m., 
 we arrived at Hwaiking-fu. 
 
 Outside the city walls we saw four or five 
 large, fortress-like brick-buildings, and on pro¬ 
 ceeding thither we found that these martial- 
 looking edifices formed the Canadian Presby¬ 
 terian Mission station. 
 
 I was kindly received by the Rev. Dr. Menzies 
 and Mrs. Menzies, who had already been over 
 twelve years in China, and put up in their com¬ 
 fortable house for the night. As it was Sunday, 
 I retired immediately after tea, in order not to 
 disturb the missionaries’ Sabbath, and in order 
 to take a few hours’ rest after the heat of our 
 afternoon journey. A hospital managed by Dr. 
 Menzies, assisted by Dr. Scott, is attached to the 
 mission, and gives the two medical men plenty 
 to do. 
 
 The missionary doctor had been kind enough 
 to engage two carts for me, but unfortunately 
 the price proved to be considerably higher than 
 the terms Mr. Fong had already been able to 
 obtain in the city proper. 
 
 On Monday morning we started on our two 
 days’ trip of 160 li to Honan-fu, the second 
 town in importance in the province of Honan, 
 which simply means “south of the river”—the 
 river alluded to being the Yellow River or 
 Hwang-ho. 
 
84 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 It is a most trying experience to travel by 
 native cart in North China. They are heavily 
 and clumsily constructed and possess no springs. 
 Furthermore, the so-called roads are in a very 
 sadly neglected condition, the state of even the 
 most important highways being of such a nature 
 that it would be impossible to employ any other 
 kind of vehicle than the springless torture- 
 implement named a Chinese cart. 
 
 If Dante had ever tried to ride in a cart in 
 North China—and the roads were better when he 
 lived than now—I have little doubt that he would 
 have introduced this mode of travelling as a form 
 of punishment in his “Inferno,” and the Fathers 
 of the Holy Inquisition would have welcomed an 
 artificial combination of Chinese roads and carts 
 as a worthy addition to their torture-chamber. 
 
 The luggage was divided between the two 
 carts. Mr. Fong and I were sitting in the first, 
 and my servant and two new soldiers from the 
 magistrate’s yamen at Hwaiking-fu in the 
 second. 
 
 After several hours of shaking and near spill¬ 
 ing, we arrived at Meng-hsien, where, for the 
 first time during our journey, we had to put up 
 at a Chinese inn. The local mandarin sent a 
 minor official to inspect my passport, and upon 
 being asked how the magistrate could possibly 
 know that we had arrived, he answered that they 
 
FIRST TASTE OF CARAVAN TRAVEL 85 
 
 had expected us for some time, having been ad¬ 
 vised by telegram from Viceroy Yuan Shi Kai at 
 Tientsin. 
 
 It seemed to me strange that that high official 
 took so much trouble in insuring the safety of a 
 Danish tramp-journalist; but later on it proved 
 correct, that the viceroy had despatched tele¬ 
 grams along the greater part of our intended 
 route after our departure from Tientsin early 
 in May. 
 
 The assistant magistrate did not return with 
 my passport until midnight, which allowed me a 
 rest of only four hours during the night. I con¬ 
 sequently promised myself never again to part 
 with my passport for a moment, but to be more 
 liberal, even extravagant, with my Chinese visit¬ 
 ing cards which would have to suffice. 
 
 As soon as we were outside the city the fol¬ 
 lowing morning, we entered a region of Loess, 
 that much talked of formation which still puzzles 
 the geological world in spite of Richthofen’s and 
 other theories. I shall later return to this inter¬ 
 esting question. 
 
 At noon, after several hours’ ride through nar¬ 
 row defiles and ravines, we reached the enormous 
 Hwang-ho, “China’s Sorrow” and inundator, the 
 Yellow River. 
 
 Our two carts and four mules were taken on 
 board one of the huge government ferries, and a 
 
86 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 strong northerly wind and swift current took us 
 safely to the southern bank in less than twenty 
 minutes. The mules seemed to like the maritime 
 experience, for they were very unwilling to leave 
 the ferry, and consequently gave the mafoos a 
 good deal of trouble. 
 
 We paid the Kang-Yu ferry-men a little 
 money, as they had taken us over in a special 
 ferry by virtue of instructions given them by the 
 Meng-hsien magistrate through the medium of 
 our military escort. 
 
 In the afternoon we passed several beautiful 
 Loess perspectives. The weather being warm 
 but not too hot as on the preceding days, we were 
 able to enjoy the superb scenery, which is hardly 
 adequately describable by words, although a 
 landscape-painter of talent might quickly be¬ 
 come both famed and wealthy in case he took up 
 interpreting the weird formations of the Loess. 
 
 In many places the road was too narrow for 
 two vehicles to pass one another, but our soldiers 
 proved very effective in forcing a quick passage. 
 They did not always restrict themselves to gentle 
 means; and it often happened that a blow or kick 
 in the stomach of some obstructing party had to 
 be applied before they would get out of the way 
 by forcing the animals into some incredibly small 
 corner, if in a ravine, or into the surrounding 
 fields when on level country. 
 
FIRST TASTE OF CARAVAN TRAVEL 87 
 
 This violence on the part of the soldiers was 
 greatly against my desire—but I knew that in¬ 
 terference would never be understood—at best 
 only found ridiculous. 
 
 Darkness came upon us as we entered the 
 suburb of Honan-fu, where we paid our cartmen 
 the balance due them. We put up at the cleanest 
 native inn we were able to find. It was very 
 dirty. 
 
 I slept like a stone after the two days’ caravan 
 journey, and did not get up until eight o’clock. 
 After breakfast I called at the Swedish mission- 
 station, where I met Pastor Anderson, who wore 
 Chinese dress and a pigtail. 
 
 In the evening I had dinner at the mission with 
 Mr. Anderson and Dr. Beinhoff, who both lived 
 a simple life in hard work. The mission field be¬ 
 longing to Honan-fu is undoubtedly one of the 
 worst in China, and the Swedes were the first who 
 have been able—about one year and a half ago— 
 to establish a permanent mission in this pro¬ 
 nouncedly anti-foreign city. The converts at 
 Honan-fu numbered but sixteen, in spite of 
 superhuman zeal on the part of the missionaries. 
 
 Originally it was not my intention to stop over 
 at Honan-fu, but unfortunately it proved very 
 difficult to get together a small caravan, as a big 
 military transport to Ili had temporarily swept 
 the city clean of carts and animals. 
 
88 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 The province of Honan is the Chinese Eldo¬ 
 rado for robbers, thugs, desperadoes, brigands, 
 banditti, and highwaymen. 
 
 In the wintertime when food is scarce and the 
 temperature low, murders and robberies are daily 
 perpetrated in the immediate neighbourhood of 
 Honan-fu, especially in the mountainous regions 
 towards the south. 
 
 On the same evening we arrived, a peaceful 
 wayfarer had his throat cut outside the west-gate, 
 and a short time before the prefect’s own secre¬ 
 tary had been attacked in full daylight on the 
 highway from the provincial capital, Kaifeng-fu, 
 east of Honan city. The latter exploit cost the 
 robber organization some ten captives, who were 
 all executed on the spot. 
 
IV 
 
 ON THE ROAD TO SHENSI 
 
 M R. FONG, as once before, had luck where 
 the mission failed, and succeeded in ob¬ 
 taining two covered, springless carts for 
 himself, my servant and the luggage, while he 
 got hold of a mule for me, a pony not being 
 procurable. 
 
 Our little caravan, when we left the next morn¬ 
 ing, passing out through the west-gate, thus con¬ 
 sisted of five mules, two carts, three mule-drivers, 
 two armed soldiers, my servant Masi, Mr. Fong, 
 and myself. 
 
 I did not envy Mr. Fong, who had a cart-trip 
 of over 250 miles before him; but on the other 
 hand I must say that, even if my mule were con¬ 
 siderably better than a cart for travelling pur¬ 
 poses, I by no means experienced anything akin 
 to comfort, for my animal had a very strange 
 character, and I truly wondered whether it was 
 in reality a mule at all. 
 
 Some of the great explorers of Central Asia, 
 Prejevalsky and Sven Hedin, speak of wild 
 asses, the latter, I believe, calling the animal a 
 “kulan.” Remembering the description of the 
 
 89 
 
90 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 kulan, I came to the conclusion that my riding- 
 mule, as far as its looks went, must be related to 
 that animal through intimate ties, while its pe¬ 
 culiar obstinacy of mind and dislike of the rider 
 pointed to a relationship with the zebra. 
 
 Therefore, I decided to create a new zoological 
 name, and I called my Hosinante a “kulanebra,” 
 
 My heart swells with pride when I think of this 
 new addition to zoologic terminology, which I 
 trust may graciously be accepted by Sir Ray 
 Lankester and other authorities. 
 
 And I am equally proud when I remember, 
 that none of the kulanebra’s daily vicious at¬ 
 tempts on my “balance” succeeded—thanks to 
 constant vigilance on my part and perpetual 
 though mild application of the distracting whip 
 from Russia. 
 
 The worst thing about the kulanebra, however, 
 was that, despite assurance from the head mafoo, 
 it had obviously never been used for riding pur¬ 
 poses before. This necessitated the continued 
 presence of a mafoo, and as the proper mafoo ran 
 back to Honan-fu on the first evening, saying 
 that he forgot to bring his winter clothes for the 
 “cool” nights, I took the liberty of using one of 
 His Imperial Majesty’s soldiers in said humble 
 capacity. 
 
 From the very first moment, when the 
 Tsinghwa officials gave us a military escort of 
 
ON THE ROAD TO SHENSI 
 
 91 
 
 two riflemen, I had objected to the idea, but 
 in vain. 
 
 Personally, I do not believe that the mandarins 
 on our way took the slightest individual interest 
 in the safety of my person or property; but to 
 send soldiers along with me was always a pre¬ 
 caution, vitally concerning their own peace of 
 mind in case I should get into serious trouble or 
 even be killed on the way. It should, further¬ 
 more, not be overlooked that the soldiers were 
 always able to furnish an exact account of what 
 I had been doing during the day—in other words, 
 they did very well as spies. 
 
 Every evening, when we arrived at the desti¬ 
 nation of our day’s travel, usually a hsien, or 
 district city, we would have to change our sol¬ 
 diers; and we thus changed our escort over a 
 dozen times on the road from Tsinghwa to 
 Sian-fu. As to the worthy soldiers themselves, 
 they appeared increasingly poorly uniformed, 
 shod and armed as we proceeded west, excepting, 
 however, our double escort of four soldiers from 
 the important city of Tungkwan. 
 
 While Yuan Shi Kai’s railway troops were 
 armed with modern breech-loading rifles, we ar¬ 
 rived in Sian with soldiers who carried no arms 
 at all. En route ■, we observed the receding stages 
 of muzzle-loaders from the early sixties, iron 
 swords in leather-sheaths, as used in the Boxer 
 
92 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 and Taiping rebellions, and round, black-painted 
 sticks that could hardly kill a puppy. There is 
 something distressing in such a state of things in 
 one of the largest empires of the world, but, of 
 course, it is no use crying. The necessary re¬ 
 forms are sure to come here as elsewhere, if not 
 before, then when the railway has been extended 
 along the banks of the Hwang-ho and the Wei 
 into Shensi. 
 
 One day, one of our soldiers saved me from 
 what certainly looked like a very serious accident. 
 
 We passed through the dark and narrow thor¬ 
 oughfare of some small village in the afternoon. 
 Due to the fact that the street was full of ox¬ 
 carts, which made a quick passage impossible, I 
 had induced my kulanebra to walk on the stony 
 “sidewalk,” which was elevated some eleven feet 
 over the deep-cut main-road. 
 
 My soldier, a tall, poorly clad, but good- 
 looking young chap, was walking a little distance 
 ahead, the sidewalk being only some three feet 
 wide on this particular spot. Suddenly he 
 turned and ran towards me, catching hold of my 
 mule by the headgear, and in the same moment I 
 observed a runaway pony coming towards us at 
 a terrific speed, swaying to and fro as it galloped 
 along the narrow, elevated sidewalk. 
 
 A few seconds more, and the white runaway, 
 which was mad with pain or fear, had plunged 
 
ON THE ROAD TO SHENSI 
 
 93 
 
 its head into my left knee with such force that 
 the hind feet of my mule slid over the slippery 
 stone edge of the sidewalk—I, myself, having 
 had no time at all to dismount. Had the mule 
 fallen down the half-score of feet I should un¬ 
 doubtedly have had my back or neck broken, and 
 credit is solely due to the energetic pulling of the 
 courageous Chinese soldier that no accident, ex¬ 
 cept a bruised knee, befell me. 
 
 The white pony, after the collision, half fell, 
 half jmnped down into the main road, and 
 having been inspired by a new direction of 
 thought after the fall, turned round, mounted the 
 opposite sidewalk, jumped over three small 
 naked children playing in the sand, and eventu¬ 
 ally disappeared in a dust-cloud outside the 
 village. 
 
 It can easily be understood that I paid the 
 soldier, who had indeed acted as a true “body¬ 
 guard,” a handsome gratuity when he left us, 
 and he insisted on “kowtowing” in the dust sev¬ 
 eral times before leaving my company. 
 
 Our two carts were very strong vehicles, cov¬ 
 ered with semi-circular wood-frames which, with 
 their outside cover of faded blue cotton, were 
 intended to keep out sun and rain. Against the 
 terrible dust in the Loess plateaux the covers are, 
 however, quite useless. It would be altogether 
 impossible to construct anything “dustproof” in 
 
94 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 North China. Ask the diplomats who have to 
 keep their expensive, gold-embroidered uniforms 
 in Peking! 
 
 The mafoos showed themselves to be very un¬ 
 obliging, intriguing fellows. Although I had 
 paid the customary substantial sum in advance— 
 the total price for the whole caravan being fifty- 
 six taels, or about forty dollars gold, from 
 Honan-fu to Sian-fu, on account of the harvest, 
 which always raises the price of carts—they in¬ 
 variably came every other night and desired to 
 borrow money for buying “horse-chow” or fod¬ 
 der. I resolutely refused these unreasonable 
 demands and at last threatened to deduct one 
 tael every time I was bothered about advances. 
 That threat stopped the practice! 
 
 The four cart-mules were not bad, except one. 
 This poor animal had the skin worn off in several 
 places by the stiff harness. Three days before 
 our arrival in Sian-fu, this mule had a violent 
 attack of sunstroke. 
 
 An old Chinese “vet” was sent for, and the 
 treatment of this excellent man, who seemed to 
 be well up in sunstrokial veterinary surgery, 
 cured the animal. He poured cool water into the 
 ears of the stricken beast and pierced its nose, 
 eye-sockets and other soft accessible parts with 
 red-hot, four-inch nails. This made the patient 
 dance as perhaps never before. The doctor got 
 
ON THE ROAD TO SHENSI 
 
 95 
 
 his fee of a couple of dimes, and the animal 
 worked comparatively well for the rest of the 
 way. Antiseptics had, of course, not been used, 
 and the eyes of the not very attractive animal 
 were flowing with matter. 
 
 At nightfall, when we arrived at the inns which 
 were to shelter us for the night, the five animals 
 had a charming habit of rolling themselves in the 
 inch-deep dust of the court-yard; this proved 
 especially beneficial to us when the wind bore 
 the dust towards our already sufficiently filthy 
 rooms. The animals took the dust-bath as soon 
 as they were relieved of the harness in order to 
 soothe the pain of insect-bites received during the 
 day. Perhaps they also cooled off unpleasant 
 memories of the everlastingly applied whip. 
 
 The dozen or more Chinese inns we frequented 
 during the westward journey were all built alike. 
 
 Facing the street is a “restaurant,” the food 
 offered in these regions being very poor and 
 monotonous, always consisting of wheat in some 
 shape, eggs, weak tea, thin vegetable soup and, 
 practically never, rice. Next to the open res¬ 
 taurant we find a large gate with cheap prints of 
 the God of Protection pasted on the doors in 
 multi-coloured display. 
 
 Inside is found a large square court-yard, part 
 of which is always covered with a wooden roof for 
 protecting the carts, not the animals, against the 
 
96 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 rain, when that rare visitor arrives in the autumn. 
 
 In the furthest end of the court-yard are the 
 entrances to the “state-suite” of rooms. These 
 usually consist of two or three rooms with a table 
 and a few suspicious-looking chairs or benches, 
 which seem to have been constructed so as to 
 force, through their lack of comfort, the traveller 
 to go to bed on his “kang” as early as possible. 
 
 The “kang” is the bedstead of northern China, 
 and is not found in the south. It must not be 
 forgotten that houses in North China are built of 
 mud, intermixed with straw, and the inns form 
 no exception. Even large bricks for city walls 
 are made of mud. The kang is simply a solid 
 bedstead, some seven feet long, about three feet 
 high, and four feet wide, or even larger, built of 
 mud. A foot or so from the ground we find one 
 or two deep, horizontally excavated holes, which 
 in the cold winter months are filled with fuel in 
 the shape of dried camel, donkey or mule manure. 
 
 The kang is thus known as the “hot bedstead,” 
 and I thank Providence that it has not yet been 
 my lot to sleep on a heated kang, which I fancy 
 must be one of the most effective creators of 
 rheumatism ever invented. 
 
 Mr. Fong, who had brought no mosquito-net, 
 suffered greatly from the iniquitous vermin in 
 these inns, not a single one being found so much 
 as tolerably clean; and even I, who had the ad- 
 
ON THE ROAD TO SHENSI 
 
 97 
 
 vantage of a new mosquito-net, was very badly 
 treated all over the body, and even in the face, by 
 these indefatigable night-visitors. I tried various 
 kinds of disinfectants and powder, but they were 
 of no earthly use, and eventually I had to put up 
 with the pest. 
 
 Incidentally, we did not live like princes on 
 the way. 
 
 When we arrived at our overnight place, we 
 were always ravenously hungry; but our dinner, 
 during eleven days, consisted, with one single ex¬ 
 ception, only of scrambled or fried eggs, Chinese 
 coarse wheat bread, and tea. Our breakfast in¬ 
 variably consisted of three boiled eggs, cocoa, or 
 beef-tea, and the same bread; and our wayside 
 midday-meal of two hard-boiled eggs and cold 
 tea without sugar or milk. 
 
 I do not believe for a minute that this was a 
 healthful diet, but as we could get no decent 
 Chinese food, which by the way, I highly treas¬ 
 ure, and as I, in order to reduce the bulk of our 
 luggage, had brought but very few conserves, we 
 had to resort to eggs, which are at least clean and 
 easy to prepare. We only had one change on the 
 way in the form of a boiled chicken, which was 
 prepared on an evening when we “got in” at five 
 p. m. instead of the usual seven or seven-thirty 
 o’clock. Fortunately, I did not feel any worse 
 after the ardently pursued egg-cure. 
 
98 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 The Chinese inn-keepers, as a rule, are eld¬ 
 erly, obliging men, who charge very little for 
 the dirty rooms they let. On the average we 
 paid from twelve to twenty-five cents gold per 
 night for the “state-suite” and, when it hap¬ 
 pened that this had already been taken by trav¬ 
 elling mandarins, and we accordingly had to 
 content ourselves—it fortunately only happened 
 twice—with the small prison-like side-cells, we 
 paid still less. 
 
 For boiling water, the water usually being 
 drawn from a deep well, we had to pay a few 
 copper-cash extra, and the mafoo furthermore, 
 had his bill to settle with the inn-proprietor for 
 mule-fodder. Still, I do not believe that the 
 total bill ever reached 400 large copper-cash, or 
 half a dollar Mexican, a night, excluding the 
 fodder. 
 
 Only once or twice did we meet with incivility 
 on the part of an inn-keeper. 
 
 The first evening after our departure from 
 Honan-fu, we found that all the inns at the town 
 of Sinan-hsien were more or less occupied, and 
 we were unable to find any habitable room. I at 
 once sent a message to the magistrate with the 
 request that he would kindly see that we were 
 accommodated in some way or other as soon as 
 possible. This official was not only kind enough 
 to have rooms prepared for us in an inn in the 
 
ON THE ROAD TO SHENSI 
 
 99 
 
 suburb, but he himself came in his sedan-chair to 
 see that we were comfortable. 
 
 The situation for the mandarin was not so very 
 easy, for it was a fact that the vanguard of the 
 military transport to Hi had ordered rooms and 
 fodder all along the main-road. Still, what made 
 me angry was that the inn-keeper had not at all 
 given the true reason for his inability to receive 
 us, but had informed Mr. Fong that he was not 
 willing to receive any foreigners as they “always 
 wanted everything their own way.” 
 
 It would be of interest to know how many for¬ 
 eigners the said inn-keeper, outside missionary 
 circles, had encountered in his lifetime, as they 
 are somewhat scarce in Honan. 
 
 About a week later we had a similar case, 
 which was amicably settled without official 
 interference. 
 
 Once during the journey it happened that a 
 petty officer of the military transport’s advance 
 commissariat rode up in front of the quarters I 
 was actually occupying, loudly demanding that 
 I give up my room to the military mandarin in 
 command. I got very angry indeed at this piece 
 of tactless incivility on the part of a Mr. Nobody, 
 but when Mr. Fong had told him that I was 
 (sic!) a travelling high official from Europe, he 
 disappeared in a fit of polite haste. 
 
 We daily had to cross a number of small 
 
100 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 xivers, tributaries to the Hwang-ho. They 
 came from the southern mountains and were 
 usually easy to ford. In Honan we found no 
 bridges across the rivulets, but in the once 
 imperial province of Shensi stone-bridges were 
 frequent. 
 
 Several times we caught glimpses towards the 
 north of the Yellow River with its dark-coloured, 
 shallow waters. Little, or practically no naviga¬ 
 tion is found here, the only boats being the large 
 ferries or scows, and a few heavy flat-bottomed 
 lighters which bring soft coal from near Tung- 
 kwan, in fact from as far up the Wei River as 
 Sienyang, the “port” of Sian-fu. 
 
 On Wednesday, May 29th, we passed into the 
 province of Shensi and stayed overnight in the 
 western part of the important town of Tung- 
 kwan, which is not only a considerable trade- 
 centre, being the corner-stone of the three 
 provinces of Shansi, Shensi, and Honan, but also 
 a military city of some consideration. The great 
 numbers of travellers coming and going, was in¬ 
 teresting enough to watch, but made the inns the 
 most dirty and vermin-infested we had as yet 
 seen and experienced. 
 
 Just west of Tungkwan, the Wei River, 
 locally called, or perhaps rather pronounced, the 
 Yii, joins the broad Hwang-ho, which here bends 
 eastward from the north, after forming the 
 
ON THE ROAD TO SHENSI 
 
 101 
 
 boundary between Shensi and Shansi for several 
 hundred miles. 
 
 From Tungkwan, which we left early the fol¬ 
 lowing morning, we still had at least ninety miles 
 to Sian-fu. 
 
 In the afternoon we stopped for a few hours 
 at the village of Hwayinmiao, situated at the 
 foot of one of China’s five holy mountains, the 
 Hwa Shan. A very large and beautiful Taoist 
 temple has been built here. I found it in fairly 
 good repair, the scenery from the upper balcony 
 of the tall main-temple being very attractive 
 indeed. 
 
 The most celebrated of the Chinese holy moun¬ 
 tains is probably the Tai Shan in Shantung. 
 When at Lintsing-chow, on the Grand Canal in 
 Shantung, we found the city overcrowded with 
 pilgrims from far and near, who were waiting for 
 the yearly descent of the “Great Goddess” of the 
 Holy Shan, in order that she might stay one 
 month with her faithful on earth. Enormous 
 numbers of pilgrims come to Tai Shan every 
 spring in order to remain on a good footing 
 with the superior forces reigning from the 
 mountain-top. There is another holy mountain 
 south of Honan-fu, one in Shansi, and a fifth 
 in Honan. 
 
 Taoism was founded by the interesting thinker 
 Lao-tse, who is said to have been born in Honan, 
 
102 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 604 b. c., or over fifty years before Confucius. 
 It has also been said that Lao-tse travelled much 
 and even visited India, Persia and Judea. His 
 one short work, the Tao-Teh-King, or Theology 
 of Reason and Virtue, is probably influenced by 
 the Persian Bible or Zend-Avesta. 
 
 One may safely say that his writings are very 
 elastic and consequently give rise to many differ¬ 
 ent interpretations. Lao-tse may be translated 
 “old boy/’ which seems a somewhat humorous 
 name for the founder of a religion; but Lao-tse 
 was carried by his mother for eighty years prior 
 to his birth, and appears to have been born an 
 albino. He was thus from the outset quite an 
 extraordinary person. 
 
 The Taoist priests, who are rather few in num¬ 
 ber, are considered the professional magicians of 
 the empire. 
 
 As we proceeded further into the compara¬ 
 tively prosperous province of Shensi, the grow¬ 
 ing of opium greatly increased. It is somewhat 
 difficult to grasp, that the famous and highly 
 welcome anti-opium-growing-and-smoking edict 
 of recent date has had so very little influence. 
 The further away from Peking, the more opium! 
 It is quite a well-known fact that the present 
 Governor Chao of Shensi is a great opium- 
 smoker, and as long as the officials do not re¬ 
 frain from the objectionable and degenerating 
 
ON THE ROAD TO SHENSI 
 
 103 
 
 habit, there is, of course, very little hope for any 
 general improvement amongst the people. 
 
 If nothing happens, it may safely be predicted 
 that Great Britain’s present efforts to stop the 
 Indian opium export to China will prove quite 
 futile—so far as the practical, not the moral, side 
 of the question is concerned—and the Chinese 
 will simply futurely smoke the native instead of 
 the imported poison, although the “upper ten,” 
 who can afford it, by far prefer the superior 
 Indian poppy. 
 
 On our way we sometimes passed open carts 
 under escort of soldiers, containing three or more 
 prisoners who had been sentenced to lifelong 
 banishment to Mongolia or Turkestan for more 
 or less serious crimes. The travelling prisoners 
 wore chains around the ankles, but were gener¬ 
 ally well-treated. 
 
 One day, at a wayside inn, I had the pleasure 
 of taking my egg-and-tea tiffin in the distin¬ 
 guished company of one murderer, two burg¬ 
 lars, and their two soldier-guardians, besides 
 my own escort. We got on very well together, 
 and none of them tried to abstract my watch or 
 pocket-handkerchief. 
 
 I photographed the three excellent law- 
 transgressors and promised them, with a reser- 
 vatio mentalis, to forward enlargements in gilt 
 frames to Kashgaria, which joke they seemed 
 
104 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 to find most fascinating. Shame or remorse is 
 not found among criminals on the highroads 
 of China, only fear; and it took fully fifteen 
 minutes to explain to them that I was not 
 going to shoot, but to snapshoot them, with my 
 kodak. 
 
 On the 31st we only covered some twenty 
 miles, due to the overwhelming heat, and in the 
 forenoon on the first of June we arrived at the 
 hsien-town of Weinan, which carries the distinc¬ 
 tion of having been the cradle of the great Mo¬ 
 hammedan rebellion of northwest China, which 
 raged in Shensi, Kansu and Szechuan from 1860, 
 or even earlier according to some records, until 
 October, 1875, when it was brought to an end at 
 Suchow in farthest Kansu. 
 
 It must be said that the foreign-dressed trav¬ 
 eller in these regions is a rara avis . While 
 numerous missionaries have travelled this way 
 without attracting much notice, thanks to their 
 Chinese dress, the strange attire and unusual 
 outfit of the uncommon foreign explorer insures 
 for him the unpleasant experience of being prac¬ 
 tically mobbed every hour of the day. 
 
 I was usually half an hour or more ahead of 
 the caravan, and sometimes separated from them 
 for many hours, because in most cases I was able 
 to use high mule-tracks in the mountains and 
 Loess regions where the carts were not able to 
 
ON THE ROAD TO SHENSI 
 
 105 
 
 pass, thus obtaining a better view of the sur¬ 
 rounding country. 
 
 It therefore often happened that I stopped 
 alone at some small wayside inn over a cup of 
 boiling water or so-called tea, to wait for the 
 carts, but before five minutes had passed I was 
 invariably surrounded by dozens of curious peo¬ 
 ple of all ages, who scrutinized me, my dress, and 
 especially my foreign saddle, which is quite 
 different from the Chinese wooden saddle of 
 mediaeval pattern, their eyes lustrous with irre¬ 
 pressible curiosity. 
 
 In the meanwhile, it must be admitted that I 
 noticed no manifestations of actual unfriendli¬ 
 ness, let alone hostility, although I was, of course, 
 unable fully to comprehend the innumerable re¬ 
 marks concerning myself and my visit that would 
 be flying about when I was the centre of any 
 gathering of the curious people of the street. 
 
 A very small incidental occurrence may, how¬ 
 ever, change their whole attitude in less than two 
 seconds, and the curious mob becomes a pack of 
 crazy wolves, ravening for nothing less than the 
 life of the “foreign devil.” 
 
 I once went through such an ordeal in the 
 neighbourhood of Chingkiang on the Yang-tse, 
 twenty odd years ago, when the mob forced me 
 to use my revolver in sheer self-defence. I never 
 found out whether the man I shot and hit, died; 
 
106 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 but at any rate I desired no repetition of such an 
 occurrence. For this reason, I very often waited 
 for the caravan at some solitary spot under a 
 tree, to the great grief of my military mentor, 
 who was thus deprived of his tea at an inn, as 
 well as of his self-imposed position as village- 
 exhibitor of my European self and kit. 
 
 On the second of June, which was Sunday, 
 we arrived early at the historic city of Lintung, 
 situated at the foot of the Li-shan, or Swift 
 Horse Mountains, and some sixteen miles east 
 of Sian-fu. 
 
 Lintung-hsien is a very old town and was used 
 as a capital by the only two emperors of the 
 megalomaniacal Tsin dynasty. 
 
 Emperor Chi Hwang Ti intended to begin a 
 new era and to found a modest dynasty, which 
 should last only ten thousand generations, but 
 although he was the promoter arid engineer-in¬ 
 chief of that gigantic task, the Great Wall of 
 China, his dynasty only lasted some forty years, 
 being replaced by the first Han dynasty in 
 206 b. c. 
 
 Chi Hwang Ti had a large and beautiful 
 burial-place constructed by his son, who only 
 reigned three years, having been unable to ac¬ 
 complish anything beyond the paternal tomb. 
 
 Lintung is also famous for its hot baths. 
 
 The thermal spring, which is some 102 degrees 
 
ON THE ROAD TO SHENSI 
 
 107 
 
 Fahrenheit, and slightly sulphurous, is situated 
 a few minutes’ walk from the west-gate of the 
 town, and the several basins, small temples, pa¬ 
 vilions, gardens and stables form quite a consid¬ 
 erable establishment. The baths were in use over 
 two thousand years ago, and nothing is charged 
 for using them—only the inevitable “squeeze.” 
 
 We were kindly shown all over this ancient 
 establishment, which is maintained and managed 
 by the provincial government and which contains 
 attractive apartments even for emperors and 
 their consorts. The gardens are beautifully laid 
 out with artificial islets in small granite basins, 
 stone bridges and tea pavilions, and are in better 
 repair than many a temple or palace. This is 
 due to the fact that rich merchants and resident 
 officials all contribute freely to the funds of this 
 old health-centre. 
 
 In the great, sombre, cool, granite cave, which 
 forms the superior bath for the gentry, I saw 
 many Chinese gentlemen take their morning-dip, 
 while outside, in the public bath, old and young 
 people from near and far were enjoying a morn¬ 
 ing’s fun in the hot water. 
 
 It was originally my intention to spend all 
 Sunday at this lovely place, but unfortunately 
 this proved quite impossible, for the simple 
 reason that the new provincial treasurer of 
 Shensi had long before engaged the whole estab- 
 
108 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 lishment for that very day in order to give a large 
 party on taking over his seals of office. 
 
 I have no doubt that room might have been 
 found for us by the magistrate, but I thought it 
 hardly polite to endeavour to stay, when the 
 rooms, or most of them, had already been for¬ 
 mally engaged. 
 
 After the termination of my visit to the baths, 
 Mr. Fong and I had a troublesome climb half 
 way up the Li-shan to an old temple called Lao- 
 man. We had good tea and Canton brown sugar 
 with the priest, as we were burning with thirst 
 after the steep ascent in the blazing June sun. 
 
 The old man told us that it was four years 
 since any white man had visited him, and that I 
 was but the second white man he had ever seen. 
 I have reason to believe that my predecessor may 
 have been a German lieutenant, Herr Erich von 
 Salzmann, who passed this way, bound for Kash¬ 
 gar in Turkestan, some four years and a half 
 before we passed through. 
 
 Like Lieutenant von Salzmann, I had taken 
 my kodak with me, but unfortunately the air was 
 not clear enough distinctly to discern the walls 
 and gate-towers of Sian-fu towards the west, 
 which was, of course, rather a disappointment, 
 and my luck was thus not better than that of the 
 German officer. 
 
 After a stop of some three hours at Lingtung, 
 
ON THE ROAD TO SHENSI 
 
 109 
 
 we proceeded on our way. The road literally 
 swarmed with mandarins from Sian-fu in vari¬ 
 coloured, cloth-covered sedan-chairs, in carts, and 
 on horseback—evidently all going out to the pro¬ 
 vincial treasurer’s week-end party. 
 
 In the afternoon we crossed the long, imposing 
 stone bridge over the Ba River, and in the even¬ 
 ing, after a day of slow progress, we arrived at 
 Chilipu, where I decided to stop for the night in 
 order to be able to make my longed-for entry 
 into Sian-fu in the early morning. 
 
 More than half of the inhabitants of Chilipu 
 live in caves in the Loess, which here forms a 
 long wall, some sixty feet in height. The inns 
 were terribly poor due to the close proximity of 
 the provincial capital, very few travellers stop¬ 
 ping over at Chilipu. 
 
V 
 
 REGIONS OF THE LOESS 
 
 B EFORE entering the great city of Sian-fu, 
 it is my desire to say a word or two about 
 that most interesting feature of North 
 China, which is now universally called the Loess. 
 
 It is nothing if not natural, that the mighty 
 formations of the Loess have given rise to various 
 geological theories, the continued presentation of 
 which partly ceased since Richthofen’s theory 
 was generally acknowledged by geologists all 
 over the scientific world, geologists who have, as 
 a rule, never seen the Loess themselves. 
 
 While I do in no way dispute the greatness of 
 the late Professor, Baron von Richthofen, whose 
 works, like “China” and “Letters,” will always 
 receive the warmest admiration and acknowledg¬ 
 ment, it is a strange thing to note how very 
 quickly a theory, to wit, an unproven hypothesis, 
 or to speak plainly, a supposition, a presumption, 
 a guess, is always, when coming from an author¬ 
 ity, welcomed and nursed by everybody in minor 
 authority, and accordingly generally accepted by 
 students and the unsuspecting public. 
 
 The famous American octogenarian, Profes- 
 
 110 
 
REGIONS OF THE LOESS 
 
 111 
 
 sor Raphael Pumpelly, first visited the Loess 
 in 1863-65. 
 
 Kingsmill soon afterwards advanced a theory 
 that the stratification of the Loess pointed to the 
 fact that it was simply a fresh-water deposit. 
 
 That theory hardly holds good; and we find 
 Loess deposits—rather a misguiding name of 
 German extraction—at a height of some 7,000 
 feet or more, an altitude that was hardly reached 
 even by the great inundation under Noah, or 
 by the corresponding Chinese flood—the Deluge 
 of Yu. 
 
 Richthofen travelled in China in the early sev¬ 
 enties and, like Pumpelly, studied the Loess on 
 the spot. Afterwards, and only after very care¬ 
 ful studies and much thinking, he published his 
 great theory, which will, to say the least, give 
 everybody who is interested in nature, plenty to 
 think of and a good deal of amazement. 
 
 The Loess in China proper alone covers an 
 area equal to half that of the German Empire; it 
 is found in plenty in four provinces; it gave the 
 yellow colour to the last reigning house of China, 
 having been called Hwang-tu or “yellow earth”; 
 it has proven its high fertilizing power through 
 thousands of years; it has shaped itself through 
 local influences into weird, immense formations, 
 its cleavage and stratification proving particu¬ 
 larly remarkable; it is found at very considerable 
 
112 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 altitudes, as well as on level with the highly- 
 coloured rivers that penetrate it, the Hwang-Ho 
 being one of them; and it has, so to say, baffled 
 science to a great extent up to the present, and 
 will doubtless do so for a long time to come—the 
 work of eminent geologists notwithstanding. 
 
 As is well known, to the north of the provinces 
 of Shensi and Kansu, we find the Mongolian 
 vastness of the Gobi and Shamo deserts—not 
 Gobi “or” Shamo, as the former is a sandy, the 
 latter a stony, desert—which have undoubtedly, 
 ages ago, formed the bottom of some ocean, or 
 extensive salt lake or lakes. 
 
 Having disposed of the theories that the Loess 
 is a fresh-water deposit, or due to the work of 
 ice-age glaciers, Richthofen goes on saying that 
 the whole of the Loess formation of North China 
 is simply due to the geolian action of the sand¬ 
 storms from the northwest, which, during count¬ 
 less centuries, blew down the sand-dust from the 
 northern deserts, and in a capricious moment de¬ 
 posited this dust some hundreds of miles away 
 from its homestead. In short, a kind of inge¬ 
 nious translation scheme on the part of Mother 
 N ature. 
 
 If a learned scientist of some recognized uni¬ 
 versity were to issue a great volume tomorrow, 
 asserting after prolonged visits to Sahara and 
 Rome, that St. Peter’s Cathedral was in reality 
 
REGIONS OF THE LOESS 
 
 113 
 
 not a structure built by human hands, but simply 
 a conglomeration of sand-particles from the 
 Sahara desert, blown up as far as Rome, there to 
 create that great edifice as it now stands, basing 
 his assertion on the excellence of Sahara’s sand 
 as a building material, and the feared Sirocco as 
 a carrier, the said scientist would undoubtedly 
 find thousands of believers and admirers, and his 
 book would sell like hot cakes, chiefly owing to 
 the fact that a new and audacious theory had 
 been published by a man in a recognized position, 
 by a man of authority, and also because of its 
 absurd originality and engaging novelty. 
 
 When John Butler Bourke amazed the world, 
 in 1905 , with the message that he had been able 
 to create life through the mediums of radium- 
 salt and gelatine, he was eagerly believed by 
 millions; and the newspapers printed flaming 
 articles telling us that “God Has Been Seen,” 
 “Creation By Man Achieved,” and many other 
 awe-inspiring things. In an article written for 
 the Potentia Organization, and published in 
 London on September 4 , 1905 , in “The Daily 
 Chronicle,” Professor Sir William Ramsay did 
 not waste many words in proving the exagger¬ 
 ation of Bourke’s divine disclosures. 
 
 Possibly we are not in danger of altogether 
 missing the point, when saying that a party of 
 highly-trained, independent modern geologists 
 
114 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 and zoologists, if sent on an expedition, say from 
 Transbaikalia, via Urga, Lanchow, Sian-fu, east 
 to Honan-fu, and north to Taiyuan-fu in Shansi, 
 thus first traversing the Mongolian deserts, and 
 subsequently all the important Loess regions of 
 the Middle Kingdom, such a party would most 
 likely have a good many new and interesting 
 things to say, upon their return, concerning the 
 formation of Loess. 
 
 Conceivably they might even revolutionize the 
 present ideas of the Loess, and the theory, as 
 such, of Baron von Richthofen might possibly 
 cease to exist. 
 
 One of the chief-experiments to be undertaken 
 by such an exploring party—it is not proposed 
 that any single man should be entrusted with the 
 task—would be, on numerous spots in the deserts 
 and Loess regions, to collect a great number of 
 samples of sand and Loess, taken not only from 
 the surface, but also from various depths. 
 
 These samples, on being brought to Europe 
 and America, hermetically sealed, would natu¬ 
 rally have to undergo a microscopic analysis, 
 undertaken by men of great skill, in the chemical 
 laboratories of various universities, a process that 
 has, so far as I am able to ascertain, already 
 taken place to a limited extent. There would, 
 however, be no good reason for telling the 
 analysts beforehand what the different sample- 
 
REGIONS OF THE LOESS 
 
 115 
 
 boxes contained, as the main object would natu¬ 
 rally be to let the scientific investigators testify 
 as to the inter-relation, or lack of same, between, 
 e. g., the Gobi sand and the China Loess. 
 
 Still, we feel sure that even if such a series of 
 careful examinations should prove that the sand 
 from the northern deserts and the Loess have no 
 more to do with each other than have a relict 
 mountain in Norway with the detritic forma¬ 
 tions of the island of Bornholm in the Baltic, lots 
 of people in minor authority would still say with 
 Richthofen that Loess is desert-sand, blown 
 southeast during centuries by perpetual north¬ 
 west winds, and recall the “terrible sand-storms 
 of North China, when the air is filled with an 
 impalpable yellow powder, which leaves its coat¬ 
 ing upon everything, and often extends, in a 
 fog-like cloud, hundreds of miles to sea.” 
 
 May I insert here that it appears strange that 
 the action of these northwestern dust-storms, 
 which are accused of forming the Loess plateaux, 
 can not so well be traced beyond the eastern limit 
 of the Loess regions, no Loess to speak of being 
 found in the provinces of Shantung, Kiangsu or 
 Chekiang on the coast, in spite of the fact that 
 the dust which, when deposited forms the Loess 
 according to Richthofen, can be observed “hun¬ 
 dreds of miles at sea.” 
 
 It is somewhat inconsiderate on the part of 
 
116 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 these aforesaid storms to deprive the poor, often 
 famine-stricken coast-provinces of the blessings 
 of fertilization as bestowed by the Loess, by 
 blowing the golden sand-dust out to sea, while 
 showing a preference for the western provinces, 
 especially Honan, Shensi, Shansi, Kansu. 
 
 For the furtherance of the establishment of a 
 final and correct Loess theory, and ow r ing to the 
 incredulity generally exercised by a few sceptics 
 toward new theories that are not absolutely 
 bomb-proof, it will likewise be necessary for the 
 members of the party of Loess explorers to 
 gather samples—for instance from a ballon 
 captif —of the dust blown up from the deserts 
 during one of those most disagreeable storms, 
 and to go through the same trying performance 
 when nearing the Loess proper, and also after 
 having reached same. 
 
 It is difficult to believe that the Richthofen 
 and other theories concerning the Loess forma¬ 
 tions have ever been generally accepted before 
 such simple experiments, as on the lines sug¬ 
 gested above, have been carried out. 
 
 A description worthy of the wonders of the 
 Loess formations, as indicated before, might 
 come from a painter’s brush, not from an 
 author’s pen. 
 
 There is something histrionically unreal about 
 the marvellous picturesqueness of the deep ra- 
 
(Top) Loess stratification with terraces showing caves 
 ( Bottom) Loess panorama in Honan. 
 
118 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 cleft and crevice amidst the cracking Loess, hun¬ 
 dreds of feet above the bottom of the gorges, 
 protected only by a low, usually broken mud- 
 wall less than a man’s height, gives us opportuni¬ 
 ties, ever repeated and unparalleled, to admire 
 the sights which the Loess defiles, sometimes half 
 a mile wide and running in a straight line for 
 miles, open up to our wondering eyes. 
 
 And where isolated Loess-columns stand duty 
 as sentries, new wonderful perspectives of strati¬ 
 fication, looking like titanic stair-cases built for 
 the conquest of Heaven, amaze us; while deep, 
 deep down, and far, far away, we catch a glimpse 
 of the large, winding river—now the Hwang-ho, 
 then the western Wei. 
 
 Finally we tear ourselves loose from the won¬ 
 drous outlook and make our descent into the deep 
 valley, along the stony, steep Loess-slide, until 
 we reach the rivulet, which we ford under yelling 
 and shouting; and again we patiently start a 
 new ascent on the other side, leading us toward 
 weirder formations and new sights never to be 
 forgotten. 
 
 And we pass through villages, the majority of 
 whose inhabitants live in caves, dug in the Loess 
 walls, cool during summer, cosy during winter, 
 the villagers being mostly farmers, who take ad¬ 
 vantage of the virtually inexhaustible fertility of 
 the Loess for grain-growing, procuring harvests 
 
REGIONS OF THE LOESS 
 
 117 
 
 vines, misleading mountainousness, abrupt hills, 
 and ferocious wildness of these yellowish cre¬ 
 ations, which remind one of the smugglers’ scene 
 of “Carmen,” and of everything connected with 
 highway-robbers, crimes of mountaineers and 
 gallant self-defence of ages gone by. 
 
 We can almost imagine hearing the trumpet- 
 signal of the government’s caravan! From our 
 high stand on the edge of the ravine which has 
 cut its way a hundred feet below into under¬ 
 ground semi-darkness and midday-dusk, we hear 
 the shouts and shots of the soldierly, pagoda- 
 hatted, sword and bow-and-arrow armed high¬ 
 waymen, who fight the escort of the transport 
 with usual success—the escort itself getting a 
 share of the booty, part of which will see the bot¬ 
 tom of the nearest mandarin’s money-chest. 
 
 A fine and noble life, the chain of murders and 
 thefts of the highway-robber, who is decapitated, 
 if caught, but who is very, very seldom caught. 
 For it might happen that the capture of the 
 rascals would prove detrimental to the financial 
 interests of the authorities in the neighbourhood. 
 
 We work our way to the top of the plateau, 
 and we obtain a peep into mighty nature, such 
 as Loess formations in North China alone can 
 furnish. 
 
 The age-old trading-road, where it swings and 
 sways and balances along the perilous edge of 
 
118 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 cleft and crevice amidst the cracking Loess, hun¬ 
 dreds of feet above the bottom of the gorges, 
 protected only by a low, usually broken mud- 
 wall less than a man’s height, gives us opportuni¬ 
 ties, ever repeated and unparalleled, to admire 
 the sights which the Loess defiles, sometimes half 
 a mile wide and running in a straight line for 
 miles, open up to our wondering eyes. 
 
 And where isolated Loess-columns stand duty 
 as sentries, new wonderful perspectives of strati¬ 
 fication, looking like titanic stair-cases built for 
 the conquest of Heaven, amaze us; while deep, 
 deep down, and far, far away, we catch a glimpse 
 of the large, winding river—now the Hwang-ho, 
 then the western Wei. 
 
 Finally we tear ourselves loose from the won¬ 
 drous outlook and make our descent into the deep 
 valley, along the stony, steep Loess-slide, until 
 we reach the rivulet, which we ford under yelling 
 and shouting; and again we patiently start a 
 new ascent on the other side, leading us toward 
 weirder formations and new sights never to be 
 forgotten. 
 
 And we pass through villages, the majority of 
 whose inhabitants live in caves, dug in the Loess 
 walls, cool during summer, cosy during winter, 
 the villagers being mostly farmers, who take ad¬ 
 vantage of the virtually inexhaustible fertility of 
 the Loess for grain-growing, procuring harvests 
 
REGIONS OF THE LOESS 
 
 119 
 
 twice yearly that yield a hundred-fold. Millions 
 of Chinese live and die in Loess-caves like ordi¬ 
 nary troglodytes of old. 
 
 As we travel along we shall become enveloped 
 in one of the trying dust-storms of these regions, 
 which raise the Loess into the air and make man 
 and beast equally sick and unable to see or pro¬ 
 ceed. Ears, mouth, and eyes, and even the pores 
 of the skin, are filled with yellow Loess-powder. 
 
 But when the storm ceases, new beauties will 
 be unveiled by the returning sun, and offer con¬ 
 solation for the hours of suffering, spent in a 
 deserted cave by the wayside, when animals and 
 travellers crouched together in discomfort, sub¬ 
 dued by the wrath of the elements. 
 
 Through the foregoing remarks on Loess we 
 have almost reached the moment, when we enter 
 the city and provincial capital of Sian-fu, a 
 moment we have been looking forward to during 
 the past six years. 
 
 Yet, we cannot enter the destination of our 
 expedition until we have,—in an unscientific and 
 modest way—expressed it as our firm conviction 
 that the Loess plateaux in China are as local, 
 that is locally born, locally evolved, locally 
 bound, and locally developed, as are the ranges 
 of Himalaya, the lake of Koko Nor, or—St. 
 Peter’s Cathedral. 
 
 The underlying “ginger-stone,” as the natives 
 
120 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 appropriately call the Loess, is, to our mind, 
 nothing but a peculiar form of sandstone in the 
 transitional stage of disintegration. 
 
 The Loess presents to the modern geologist a 
 living chapter of the geological history of our 
 earth, giving him an exceptional opportunity— 
 hitherto but little cultivated—to study the with¬ 
 ering away of thousands of square miles of 
 surface. Just as he studies the action of glaciers, 
 past and present, and of volcanoes, and earth¬ 
 quakes, and a dozen other natural phenomena, he 
 should pay attention to the Loess in North 
 China, for there is honour in store for him who 
 solves the difficult problem of its origin in a 
 proper scientific way, without employing either 
 too drastic or too easy-going measures. 
 
 We are very well aware of the fact, that the 
 acknowledged Loess-theory will quickly and suc¬ 
 cessfully contest a statement, as the above, that 
 the underlying Loess is but a peculiar kind of 
 sandstone in the ultimate stage of disintegration; 
 but this not being the opinion of a geologist, it is 
 necessary to make room for all our reasons 
 concerning our conviction, which is, of course, 
 mainly based on the areal extent, or rather limi¬ 
 tation, of the formations; their strictly local 
 nature, including the restricted locality of the 
 “terrible dust-storms” and their dust-productive 
 power; and, above all, our desire to break the 
 
(Top) Fertility, cultivation, and wilderness of the Loess. 
 (Bottom) Habitated cave-dwellings in the Loess. 
 
REGIONS OF THE LOESS 
 
 121 
 
 thorny flower of awakening the world of geolog¬ 
 ical science from its present Richthofen-slumber. 
 
 And, while we brush off the last particles of 
 Loess, so far as this be possible, from our sun- 
 helmet and khaki-suit, we approach the towering 
 eastern gate of the old, imperial city of Sian-fu 
 —unquestionably one of the most interesting 
 centres of the world’s ancient history. 
 
 On the broad highway between Chilipu, where 
 we had stopped overnight, and Sian-fu, we met 
 several detachments of cavalry. The horsemen, 
 who were old-style Manchu soldiers—that is, 
 not modernized troops, but few modern-drilled 
 troops being found in Shensi as yet—were well 
 mounted on Kansu and Mongolian ponies, but 
 their arms consisted merely of lances with huge 
 character-embroidered, multi-coloured banners 
 attached, and some rusty old muzzle-loaders, 
 which had, perhaps, been through the Dano- 
 Prussian or the American Civil War. 
 
 At the inner gate we were requested to leave 
 our names with the soldiers on duty, after which 
 mediaeval procedure we continued to the very 
 centre of the town under the guidance of our 
 mafoos, who found us a very good, but of course 
 dirty and ill-smelling inn near the governor’s 
 yamen. 
 
 We paid our mule-men, who were, as was to 
 be expected, very dissatisfied—as all Chinese are 
 
122 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 —with what we gave them, and we then pro¬ 
 ceeded to make ourselves as comfortable as cir¬ 
 cumstances would permit, as we expected to stay 
 for some time. 
 
 One of my first actions was to instruct my 
 servant to get some fowl ready in order that the 
 eternal egg-diet might be changed, forgotten, 
 and buried in history. 
 
 I then sent Mr. Fong to the Chinese Imperial 
 Telegraph Office with a couple of messages, and 
 proceeded myself to take a very necessary and 
 very hot bath, to the great astonishment and 
 trouble of the inn-people, to whom such a con¬ 
 sumption of hot water, which is otherwise only 
 used for brewing tea, was entirely unknown. 
 
 The bath, a shave and clean clothes after a 
 couple of weeks on mule-back, were indeed celes¬ 
 tial, and an hour’s subsequent sleep on a Chinese 
 couch changed me into a new, if not better being. 
 
 When Mr. Fong came back, he was the bearer 
 of good news. 
 
 As I had expected, there was a Roman Cath¬ 
 olic, as well as two Protestant mission-stations in 
 the capital; and to my delight, he informed me 
 that there was also a foreign postmaster. I de¬ 
 cided to call on this official, and, accompanied by 
 Mr. Fong, went to the Chinese post-office, where 
 I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Ernest 
 Schaumloeffel, a German, who in spite of his age 
 
REGIONS OF THE LOESS 
 
 123 
 
 of twenty-eight, held the rank in the Chinese 
 Postal Service of District Postal Inspector, with 
 a working-field of two provinces, Shensi and 
 Kansu. 
 
 I was well aware of the fact that the postal 
 service in China had been progressing favour¬ 
 ably for years under the auspices of Sir Rob¬ 
 ert Hart’s inspector-generalship, but I had no 
 idea that foreigners were employed so far in the 
 interior as Sian-fu. 
 
 A very effective system of mounted carriers 
 has been introduced all over the empire and 
 seems to work very satisfactorily. It is easily 
 understood that in a country where the highways, 
 especially in the winter months, are unsafe from 
 robbers and brigands, with whom the local 
 authorities are unable and sometimes unwilling 
 to cope, mails are frequently robbed and plun¬ 
 dered, but this evil will of course be done away 
 with in due time. Although the postal service 
 does not pay as yet, it is progressing financially 
 every year, and the day may not be very far off, 
 when China will be able to join the Postal Union 
 and be in a position to derive a revenue from 
 this service.* 
 
 Mr. Schaumloeffel asked where I was staying, 
 and when he heard that we had selected an inn, 
 he informed me that he had plenty of room in his 
 
 * This has now happened. 
 
124 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 residence and would be very glad to house me 
 and my two followers there. 
 
 After some reluctance, due to the fact that I 
 intended to stay for some weeks, I gratefully 
 accepted the hospitable offer, and we conse¬ 
 quently returned together to the inn, packed 
 once more, and had everything removed to 
 Mr. Schaumloeffel’s residence. The innkeeper 
 watched the manoeuvre with but little joy and 
 no approval. 
 
 Mr. Schaumloeffel’s home formed a spacious 
 collection of buildings, which had formerly been 
 occupied by a retired mandarin. There were 
 about a score of rooms, of which the present ten¬ 
 ant had furnished two in semi-European style 
 for his personal use. I was allotted a large, cool 
 bedroom with a huge, carved, Chinese wooden 
 bedstead; and both Mr. Fong and Masi were 
 amply accommodated. 
 
 It was indeed a royal as well as a most unex¬ 
 pected reception we got in the ancient capital of 
 Sian-fu, which means “Western Peace,” and 
 never did I expect to live in such comfort and 
 peace so far in the interior, where I had pre¬ 
 pared myself for a lengthy stay in a boisterous 
 inn, devoting the greater part of the day to end¬ 
 less quarrels with the inn-people concerning my 
 little wants—bath-water, for instance. 
 
 Unfortunately, I only had the pleasure of Mr. 
 
Loftily perched, troglodytic Loess home at Chilipu in Shensi. 
 
128 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 the meantime, the truth of the report is not alto¬ 
 gether incredible, as a good many Japanese are 
 engaged in the provincial college as teachers. I 
 sometimes met one or two of them in the streets \ 
 they wore, strangely enough, Chinese dress like 
 the foreign missionaries and looked uncommonly 
 little like serious professors from Dai Nippon. 
 
 During my stay in Sian-fu I also had the 
 pleasure to come into contact with the members 
 of the Scandinavian Alliance Mission, an Ameri¬ 
 can enterprise, the secretary of which, the Rev¬ 
 erend Pastor Hagquist, showed me both interest 
 and hospitality. This mission works hand in 
 hand with the China Inland Mission. The mem¬ 
 bers of the third sect of Christianity represented, 
 the English Baptists, I unfortunately did not 
 meet during my first stay in Sian-fu. 
 
REGIONS OF THE LOESS 
 
 125 
 
 Schaumloeffel’s company in the evenings, for his 
 great district gave him so much work to attend 
 to, that he stayed from early morning till late at 
 night in the office without even finding time to 
 come home for tiffin. But then, of course, I had 
 my own work to do and could easily make 
 time fly. 
 
 On the second day, Mr. Schaumloeffel took me 
 to the Catholic Mission, where I was introduced 
 to Bishop Goette, Father Gabriel, Father Hugh, 
 and several Sisters. I was very kindly received 
 and shown over the large establishment, which 
 includes a new hospital, various schools, and a 
 remarkable cathedral. The bishop hospitably 
 invited me to accompany Mr. Schaumloeffel and 
 Father Gabriel to Tung Yuan Fang on the fol¬ 
 lowing Friday in order to attend the annual 
 festivities in connection with the celebration of 
 the name-day of the Mother-provincial. 
 
 On Friday, therefore, we set out early in the 
 morning; Father Gabriel in an antediluvian but 
 strong dog-cart of his own, Mr. Schaumloeffel in 
 his sedan-chair—quite an elaborate contrivance, 
 carried shoulder-high by four coolies—and I, 
 myself, on the latter’s capricious Kansu pony, 
 which he does not like to ride himself owing to its 
 frequent shying and strange behaviour. 
 
 The chair, meanwhile, proved too slow, and 
 Mr. Schaumloeffel entered the missionary’s little 
 
126 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 vehicle, which I felt sure would collapse under 
 the weight of the two men. Fortunately, nothing 
 untoward happened. 
 
 Our strange procession, strange to native eyes, 
 was headed by a young Chinese student with an 
 enormous straw-hat which looked like a stone- 
 age shield. 
 
 We crossed the Wei, locally called Yli, thirty- 
 five li north of Sian-fu; and, after having crossed 
 another river, where we cooled and drank a bottle 
 of German Pilsen, which the French Father had 
 brought, we speedily reached Tung Yuan Fang, 
 some twenty-five miles northeast of the capital, 
 where the Franciscans maintain a large educa¬ 
 tional institution. 
 
 Father Daniel, the director, received us with 
 great cordiality, and, after cleaning up a bit, we 
 partook of an excellent meal, prepared by the 
 Sisters, who also kindly waited on us. 
 
 In the afternoon and the next dav we were 
 present at the performance given by the children 
 of the orphan and other schools, and it was in¬ 
 deed wonderful to see what these little ones, 
 many of whom had been picked up in the streets, 
 were able to do and what they had been taught 
 by the Sisters. 
 
 One of the strangest or perhaps most natural 
 things is that the Chinese child’s ear is perfectly 
 susceptible to European music and it needs 
 
REGIONS OF THE LOESS 
 
 127 
 
 no Professor Friedenthal to verify this state¬ 
 ment—any missionary will tell you. The boys 
 and girls sang the foreign hymns, and even 
 French songs, just as European children would 
 have done it, with clear, melodious soprano 
 voices. 
 
 In fact, the bishop told me that the Chinese 
 child was quite able to be entirely educated as a 
 foreigner, without any mental, racial signs show¬ 
 ing in the least—a statement that was very well 
 borne out by the fact that the boys performed 
 several small theatrical pieces in French—their 
 pronunciation proving irreproachable. 
 
 After two days’ stay, I returned to Sian-fu on 
 Mr. Schaumloeffel’s interesting pony, while he 
 himself went to Sanyuan, an important trade 
 centre further north, in order to inspect the post- 
 office and make propaganda for the service 
 among the bankers of that town, who insisted 
 upon maintaining their own postal arrangements. 
 
 On the way back, especially between the capi¬ 
 tal and the Wei, which it took an hour and a half 
 to cross this time owing to heavy traffic on the 
 main-road, I noticed several artificial mounds. 
 
 They are the graves of emperors ahd princes 
 of the Tang and other dynasties, and it is whis¬ 
 pered that several Japanese exploring parties 
 have excavated some of the graves, although I 
 have never heard anything about the results. In 
 
130 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 the northern gate, we find the wells that supply 
 the whole population of at least a quarter of a 
 million with drinking water. It is laboriously 
 distributed everywhere by coolies, who peddle 
 the water from wooden buckets on wheelbar¬ 
 rows. There are wells enough in the city proper, 
 but the water is not pure, and is used for wash¬ 
 ing only. 
 
 The principal streets, which run almost 
 straight from gate to gate, divide the town in 
 four natural parts. 
 
 The northwestern part is the foreign or Mo¬ 
 hammedan quarter. Here we find the emigrants 
 from the over-populated province of Szechuan, 
 towards the southwest, and the Mohammedan 
 community which everywhere holds itself apart 
 from the Chinese. The Moslems themselves say 
 that they originally came from the west, brought 
 in as bodyguard-soldiers for some distant em¬ 
 peror. This sounds true enough; they are cer¬ 
 tainly distinct from the Chinese, whom they 
 loathe, and even today they are mostly mili¬ 
 tary men. 
 
 I found many, especially in and around the 
 mosques, who had distinctly West-Asian traits 
 in face and complexion. Their origin in China 
 is perhaps not unlike that of the old Warings at 
 Constantinople, or the popes’ Swiss guard, while 
 their history is fully as bloody as that of the 
 
{Top) Towering East Gate of 
 ( Bottom ) The roofs and 
 
 Sian-fn, capital of Shensi. 
 Bell-Tower of Sian-fu. 
 
134 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 ated in this part of the city. It was formerly 
 occupied by the Viceroy of the Shen-Kan prov¬ 
 inces, but since the great Mohammedan rebel¬ 
 lion, this official has resided in Lanchow-fu, the 
 capital of Kansu, and his yamen has been occu¬ 
 pied by his subordinate, Shensi’s governor, His 
 Excellency Chao Hung Sheng. 
 
 This gentleman, who is said to be a learned 
 scholar, is unfortunately a confirmed opium- 
 smoker, and will hardly be of any service in en¬ 
 forcing the government’s famous opium-edict. 
 It is a tell-tale sight to see the enormous amount 
 of opium grown in the province which this worthy 
 man has been selected to govern. I met him 
 twice in the streets; he was rushing by in his 
 green sedan-chair, an old, tired, and very dissi¬ 
 pated man, with a red nose. 
 
 The outer public courtyards of the governor’s 
 yamen may be termed the market-place of the 
 town. It is a veritable bazaar and a busy life 
 may be watched there. Various theatrical shows, 
 small menageries, dentists, quack-doctors with 
 unmentionable medicines for all ailments, ocu¬ 
 lists, occultists, palmists, fortune-tellers, as¬ 
 trologers, fancy-goods pedlars, confectioners, 
 corn-cutters, “fiscal” agents, and many, many 
 others do a roaring trade here as long as the sun’s 
 light permits. 
 
 People jostle jollily against one another in the 
 
THE ANCIENT CITY OF SIAN-FU 
 
 131 
 
 Huguenots in France. In spite of their total 
 submission after the furious rebellion in the 
 sixties, it is still their hope to attain some de¬ 
 gree of autonomy, and to form an imperium in 
 imperio. 
 
 For some reason or other, which has never 
 been properly found out, the Mohammedans of 
 Sian-fu proper took no part in the great rebel¬ 
 lion, and, consequently, neither they nor the city 
 suffered, while Shensi and the surrounding coun¬ 
 try, for hundreds of miles in all directions, was 
 pillaged and plundered unmercifully. 
 
 Mr. Schaumloeffel’s residence was situated in 
 the Mohammedan section, all his servants being 
 accordingly adherents of Islam, and close to one 
 of the oldest mosques in China. I often visited 
 the old place with its many courtyards, memorial 
 slabs with Chinese and Arabic characters, and 
 green-tiled pavilions, where education was dis¬ 
 seminated by the mullahs to the young followers 
 of Mohammed. 
 
 The northeastern part of the city is the Tatar 
 or Manchu city, which is encircled by its own 
 inner wall. Since the Manchus conquered the 
 Chinese Empire in a. d. 1644, it has been the 
 custom of the alien rulers to maintain Tatar 
 garrisons in all larger cities. The government- 
 subsidized Manchu communities, usually consti¬ 
 tute a haughty, lazy, good-for-nothing lot, and 
 
132 MY NESTOR IAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 their part of the city is quite devoid of busi¬ 
 ness transactions or any other kind of activity 
 whatsoever. To enter the Tatar citv from the 
 busy Chinese streets is like entering St. Patrick’s 
 Cathedral from Fifth Avenue, or St. Paul’s from 
 the buzz of Ludgate Hill. 
 
 The very houses seem aimlessly scattered 
 about, and the streets, which are unpaved, are 
 kept in very bad repair. Amidst the Manchu 
 section we find, enclosed by yet another wall, a 
 piece of land of many acres, where the palaces of 
 former dynasties, notably the Tang, a. d. 618- 
 907, used to stand. Nothing remains above¬ 
 ground now to remind one of the splendour of 
 a former imperial city, and this site of land, 
 which is now chiefly used for sheep pasturage 
 and occasional military drill, and manoeuvres, 
 will do very well some time in the future as a 
 railway-depot, a small foreign settlement, or a 
 race-course. 
 
 Near one of the corners of this prospective 
 recreation-ground, which was formerly the gay 
 and resplendent centre of more than one mighty 
 court, we find a ten feet high eerolite with the 
 clear impression of a very large human hand and 
 foot on it. These marks are said to have been 
 impressed by the once reigning Empress Wu 
 Tse Tien, who must have been a formidable lady, 
 judging from the size of her hand. I inquiringly 
 
THE ANCIENT CITY OF SIAN-FU 
 
 133 
 
 placed my own hand in the indentation on the 
 stone; but although I pursued a naval career for 
 years, my horny hand could cover only a modest 
 part of the imperial palm’s impression. 
 
 The Empress Wu Tse Tien was of the 
 Elizabeth-Catharina type, and must have been an 
 extraordinarily strong woman. Looking apart 
 from the Empress-Dowager Tsz-Hsi, who was 
 very much like her in many respects, Wu IIao is 
 the only woman-ruler China can boast of. It is 
 true that she was a usurper and murderess on an 
 elaborate scale, but we must not overlook the fact 
 that she reigned more than 1,200 years ago, when 
 human life was still cheaper than now, having 
 become empress a. d. 655. 
 
 She was undoubtedly the first Chinese ruler to 
 prosecute Christianity, which was then flourish¬ 
 ing in Shensi in the Nestorian form; and it may 
 thus truthfully be said that the Chinese contu¬ 
 macious disregard of the teachings of Christ is 
 not of recent date. 
 
 In the southwestern section of Sian-fu we find 
 many large residences that look impressive and 
 pleasant to the rare visitor from afar. The 
 yamen of the Governor of Shensi, with whom I 
 exchanged cards, going through the same per¬ 
 formance with the other high officials of the prov¬ 
 ince, the treasurer, the judge, the taotai, and, 
 last but not least, the Tatar general, is also situ- 
 
134 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 ated in this part of the city. It was formerly 
 occupied by the Viceroy of the Shen-Kan prov¬ 
 inces, but since the great Mohammedan rebel¬ 
 lion, this official has resided in Lanchow-fu, the 
 capital of Kansu, and his yamen has been occu¬ 
 pied by his subordinate, Shensi’s governor, His 
 Excellency Chao Hung Sheng. 
 
 This gentleman, who is said to be a learned 
 scholar, is unfortunately a confirmed opium- 
 smoker, and will hardly be of any service in en¬ 
 forcing the government’s famous opium-edict. 
 It is a tell-tale sight to see the enormous amount 
 of opium grown in the province which this worthy 
 man has been selected to govern. I met him 
 twice in the streets; he was rushing by in his 
 green sedan-chair, an old, tired, and very dissi¬ 
 pated man, with a red nose. 
 
 The outer public courtyards of the governor’s 
 yamen may be termed the market-place of the 
 town. It is a veritable bazaar and a busy life 
 may be watched there. Various theatrical shows, 
 small menageries, dentists, quack-doctors with 
 unmentionable medicines for all ailments, ocu¬ 
 lists, occultists, palmists, fortune-tellers, as¬ 
 trologers, fancy-goods pedlars, confectioners, 
 corn-cutters, “fiscal” agents, and many, many 
 others do a roaring trade here as long as the sun’s 
 light permits. 
 
 People jostle jollily against one another in the 
 
THE ANCIENT CITY OF SIAN-FU 
 
 135 
 
 crowd; some swear, while some excuse them¬ 
 selves ; and in the midst of this noisy mob, which 
 is perhaps similar to the one Jesus drove out of 
 the Jewish temple, we discover a couple of Chris¬ 
 tian native missionaries with a portable organ, 
 who sing, or rather shriek, holy hymns to the 
 great astonishment of some and the marked 
 amusement of others. 
 
 Suddenly the crowd is dispersed by military, 
 scarlet-coated lictors, making room for some 
 mandarin, who is going to transact business with 
 the governor in the yamen. Sitting in his sedan- 
 chair as grave as an image, the official is hustled 
 by with his retinue of riding attendants and 
 shouting coolies, who carry his crimson umbrella 
 of authority and his name and rank painted in 
 gold on red signboards. 
 
 Still the crowd continues its easy-going life in 
 “bazaar-square,” listening to the story-tellers, 
 looking open-mouthed at the Marionette show, 
 and staring rudely at the psalm-singers. 
 
 The site of the Imperial Post Office has wisely 
 been selected on this much-frequented and cen¬ 
 trally located square. 
 
 The southeastern part of Sian-fu also contains 
 many fine residences, besides shops and artisans’ 
 workshops, and near the south gate we find the 
 Confucian Peilin—the “Forest of Tablets” or 
 “Stone Coppice”—which is a superb collection of 
 
136 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 memorial stones with inscriptions of different 
 kinds. The hard limestone slabs, which are all 
 smooth and black from the constant taking of 
 paper-rubbings of their inscriptions, stand in 
 several sheds and nearly all date from the Han 
 dynasty. One set of stones is inscribed with the 
 whole of the thirteen classics, which naturally 
 represents an enormous amount of expert chisel¬ 
 ling, and on others we will find well-traced im¬ 
 ages of men, animals and plants. 
 
 In one of the houses a stone-statue of Con¬ 
 fucius, in a sitting position, is exhibited; this does 
 not exactly signify that this building is a temple 
 dedicated to his worship, for the Confucian tem¬ 
 ples, as formerly mentioned, are net adorned 
 with images or idols. I rather venture to think 
 that the close intimacy of Confucius with the 
 classics induced the creators of the Peilin to put 
 his statue there as a mark of distinction and 
 reverence. 
 
 It has been mentioned by some writer that one 
 of the buildings of the Peilin is always kept 
 locked, as it contains an image of Confucius. I 
 was not able to find any locked house on the 
 grounds and consequently believe that the edifice, 
 containing Kong-fu-tze’s image, had only been 
 temporarily closed, or possibly was thrown open 
 after the above-mentioned writer’s unsuccessful 
 visit. 
 
THE ANCIENT CITY OF SIAN-FU 
 
 137 
 
 The oft-visited “Stone Coppice” in Peking is 
 of a later date. 
 
 Above the very centre of the city, where the 
 two principal streets cross each other, a bell- 
 tower is situated. Like the nearby drum tower, 
 it is built of red-painted wood, and a very fine 
 view of the city and the surrounding country, 
 with its two pagodas toward the south and the 
 imperial graves toward the north, may be had 
 from its balcony. 
 
 I do not believe that I have ever seen, in any 
 other Chinese city, or elsewhere in the world, 
 such a disgusting army of beggars as the one 
 which was in sad evidence everywhere in the 
 streets of Sian-fu. Winter and summer they 
 are clad in practically nothing except the 
 millimeter-thick layers of filth on their vermin- 
 bitten bodies. They are usually bald, owing 
 to disease, and their black-yellow bodies are 
 covered with horrible dripping sores. They 
 are of all ages and constitute a clan of their 
 own. 
 
 For hours they sit outside a shop, and yell and 
 shout, and act their self-imposed part until the 
 weary shopkeeper throws them a copper-cash, 
 when they condescendingly move on to the next 
 shop, where they will weep and shriek, and stop 
 the traffic and trade, and spread disease till the 
 moment comes when the exasperated shopman 
 
138 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 thinks it wise to get rid of them by submitting to 
 their blackmail. 
 
 I spoke to a missionary about the marked evil, 
 the existence of which he fully acknowledged, but 
 “the beggars do not desire to reform or work, 
 even if we help them along; and we can do 
 nothing,” was the reply, not very merciful, but 
 probably quite true. It is hard to fathom that 
 the citizens do not induce or force the magistrates 
 to expel this army of hundreds of voluntary un¬ 
 employed, who entail considerable expense, not 
 to speak of the constant spread of contagious 
 diseases. 
 
 During the Boxer troubles in 1900, the re¬ 
 doubtable empress-dowager found it wisest for 
 her personal safety to go into self-inflicted exile, 
 and she, the emperor, and their court arrived as 
 fugitives at Sian-fu early in November, 1900, in 
 order to rule China from its ancient capital, while 
 Count von Waldersee and his international army 
 desecrated the imperial and forbidden cities at 
 Peking. 
 
 The journey through Shansi and Shensi had 
 been a long and troublesome one for an old lady 
 in her sixties, and the governor of the province, 
 the later Viceroy Tuan Fang of Nanking, had 
 evacuated his yamen and prepared it for his im¬ 
 perial visitors. Meanwhile the court decided to 
 take up its abode in the yamen, which had for- 
 
THE ANCIENT CITY OF SIAN-FU 
 
 139 
 
 merly been occupied by the Governor of Shensi, 
 previous to the removal of the viceroy’s seat to 
 Lanchow. This old yamen, called the Pe-Yuan, 
 or North Court, had been deserted for years and 
 enjoyed the reputation of being visited by 
 ghosts, but this did not deter Her Majesty, who 
 cheerfully settled down with the emperor and 
 her little suite in this modest abode. 
 
 The court, I remember very well, issued the 
 daily imperial edicts from Sian-fu, when I first 
 came to Shanghai in March, 1901, as a boy of 
 nineteen. It did not leave its exile until Sep¬ 
 tember when it returned slowly, and with more 
 or less dignity, to Peking, via Honan-fu and 
 Kaifeng-fu. 
 
 While in Sian-fu the imperial fugitives prac¬ 
 tically never left their residence and altogether 
 lived a very retired, quiet life. 
 
 Having been introduced the first time by Mr. 
 Schaumloeffel, who knew the minor officials in 
 charge of the former palace, which can now never 
 be inhabited by anyone since Their Sacred 
 Majesties have dwelt there, I visited the Pe- 
 Yuan several times, and I invariably found the 
 attendants willing to unlock and show me every¬ 
 thing, when I had paid the always expected 
 “squeeze.” 
 
 Considering the generous size of the imperial 
 city in Peking, I should say that Their Majes- 
 
140 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 ties must have looked upon their Sian-fu palace 
 as a kind of prison. The yamen is by no means 
 a large or extended one. It consists of some 
 seven or eight buildings with the usual court¬ 
 yards to separate them. A little formal garden 
 is also found between the dwellings once occu¬ 
 pied by the dowager-empress and her imperial 
 nephew, while an artificial fish-pond and a pictur¬ 
 esque little tea-pavilion adorn the garden, which 
 is now permitted to grow into a jungle. 
 
 All the imperial apartments were very simple, 
 and not too extravagantly furnished. Although 
 many smaller things have, of course, been taken 
 back to Peking, the furniture stands almost as it 
 stood, when the court resided there. 
 
 We first pass through a fairly large audience- 
 hall with a simple wooden throne for its only 
 ornament, and crossing a courtyard, where high 
 grass is now growing up between the stones, we 
 enter, through a glass door, the private apart¬ 
 ments of the empress-dowager. 
 
 A thick Chinese carpet is spread over the floor, 
 and the chairs and couches, with imperial yellow 
 and scarlet silk covers and cushions, are plentiful 
 in the central drawing-room. Still, large mirrors 
 and cheap foreign clocks seem to be a main- 
 feature of the outfit. On the walls we find draw¬ 
 ings on white silk, several of which have been 
 executed by the enterprising empress herself. 
 
THE ANCIENT CITY OF SIAN-FU 
 
 141 
 
 Her Majesty has duly signed and sealed her own 
 art productions, some of which, a set of four, 
 represent a mountain landscape, while others 
 simply show huge Chinese characters, meaning 
 longevity, happiness, and other mundane and 
 celestial endowments. 
 
 We enter the bedchamber and find a carved 
 wooden bedstead of no remarkable elegance, with 
 a red silk cover. On a table near the bed is a 
 large, beautiful sang-de-bceuf vase, flanked by a 
 couple of clocks, and behind the bedroom is a 
 small, empty bathroom. A few more rooms, 
 furnished in a way similar to the central living- 
 room, made up the whole comfort of a reigning 
 empress in exile. 
 
 The emperor’s rooms were in another house, 
 facing the little garden. His bed-chamber did 
 not even contain a proper bed. His Majesty 
 slept on a castrum doloris, looking half like a 
 kang, half like a short Chinese sofa. 
 
 In another house with entrance from the gar¬ 
 den we find what the sinister custodian called the 
 emperor’s council-room, but this is hardly a well- 
 chosen name, as the empress-dowager and not 
 Kwang Hsii, although the latter was usually 
 present, presided over the council of state. 
 
 The council-room was certainly the most 
 elaborate of all, with a fairly handsome throne 
 covered with yellow silk, and several chairs, 
 
142 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 beautifully finished in inlaid marble, with yellow 
 and red covers, marble tables for serving refresh¬ 
 ments, and fine wall-hangings, all painted on 
 white silk. The inevitable mirrors and a large 
 clock were not lacking. I trust that the young, 
 unfortunate emperor spent many a happy hour 
 of leisure in this attractive sanctum. 
 
 There were no fishes in the pond, and no birds 
 in the cages; and unfortunately it proved impos¬ 
 sible to obtain a small souvenir from the palace, 
 the attendants being afraid of the consequences 
 of committing sacrilege. 
 
 According to Chinese custom, the emperor 
 having lived in them, the palaces will remain un¬ 
 inhabited and be allowed to fall into decay. 
 Repairs will not be effected; the buildings will 
 disappear with time that passes unconcerned, and 
 some day, if nothing unexpected happens, the 
 ground, where the palace of the Tsing fugitives 
 stood, will serve as a pasture ground for sheep, 
 as does now the site of land where the Tang 
 imperial city once stood—unless indeed, the de¬ 
 veloping and opening-up of China eventually 
 inspires somebody to make better use of the 
 valuable ground. 
 
 The week-end, June 22nd to 24th, Mr. 
 Schaumloeffel and I spent very pleasantly at the 
 thermal baths at Lintung-hsien. We quickly 
 covered the sixteen miles on a beautiful moon- 
 
THE ANCIENT CITY OF SIAN-FU 
 
 143 
 
 light night, Mr. Schaumloeffel in his chair, our 
 servants in carts, and I on the postmaster’s danc¬ 
 ing pony, which had, I believe, never seen the 
 moon before. 
 
 I used the strong young animal almost every 
 day during my stay at Sian-fu, riding my own 
 English saddle. To this moment I do not under¬ 
 stand why none of the pony’s numerous schemes 
 and ingenious attempts to throw me off suc¬ 
 ceeded. He had some most fascinating, unex¬ 
 pected side-springs, whenever his three-year-old 
 eye perceived anything he did not apprehend, or 
 whenever some object dared to move in the fields. 
 Usually I let him have his own sweet way and 
 allowed him to run to the joy of his, and my own 
 heart until he got tired of it. 
 
 My worst turn with him, I think, was when 
 once he accidentally stepped on the drum-dry 
 follicle of a poppy-plant on the way back from 
 Tung Yuan Fang. The detonation of the burst¬ 
 ing seed-vessel was loud enough to make him lose 
 his light head completely, and I truly expected 
 that he would make a serious attempt to jump 
 across the Wei in order speedily to get home. 
 
 Mr. Schaumloeffel told me of his intention of 
 presenting the Fathers with the pony; but I be¬ 
 lieve the matter was dropped for the time being, 
 as I associated the idea with manslaughter in a 
 polite but firm way. 
 
144 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 We did not arrive at Lintung until the small 
 hours of the morning, but everything was pre¬ 
 pared, as we had despatched a messenger in good 
 time. The imperial pavilion was in readiness for 
 us; and I had the unearned distinction of occupy¬ 
 ing the same apartment, and even bed, which had 
 been used by the empress-dowager, when the 
 court had sojourned here on its way back to 
 Peking in the autumn of 1901. 
 
 We enjoyed our stay and the sulphur-baths 
 very much for two days, and then returned to 
 Sian-fu the same way we had come. 
 
VII 
 
 CHINA’S FOREMOST MONUMENT 
 
 O F all the historical and memorial tablets 
 in and near Sian-fu, or for that matter in 
 the whole world, the famous Nestorian 
 Monument,* or Chingchiaopei, as the natives call 
 it, undoubtedly ranks as one of the first. It is 
 perhaps not too much to say that, while these 
 lines are being written on the river Han, in 
 Hupeh province, medio July 1907, the Nestorian 
 Monument, as it stands outside the west-gate 
 of Sian-fu, unheeded and neglected, although 
 known to science, is the most valuable archaeolog¬ 
 ical treasure in the world that has not, as yet, 
 been acquired by any museum, scientific institu¬ 
 tion, or learned corporation. 
 
 It is true that rubbings and photographs have 
 been taken of the unique inscription, and that 
 translations of it have been made and published 
 —but the Stone itself stands there, abandoned 
 
 * The author has already written fully on the archaeo- 
 logic aspects of his mission, and on the historical and other 
 scientific questions anent the great Monument. He hopes, 
 however, that even in this popular account of his efforts, 
 some mention of the object of his labours may not prove 
 entirely amiss. 
 
 145 
 
146 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 and deserted, in all kinds of wind and weather, 
 and only the very rare traveller who gets as far 
 as Sian-fu, or an occasional missionary, pays the 
 Chingchiaopei a visit of brief duration. 
 
 As has already been said, Christianity first 
 came overland from “Ta Tsin” (Syria?) to 
 China in the sixth or surely in the first half of 
 the seventh century in its Nestorian Protestant 
 form, and was allowed to flourish under the 
 early emperors of the golden and oft-referred-to 
 Tang dynasty. 
 
 Nestorian Christians were encountered in 
 Cathay and Manji, that is North and South 
 China, by Marco Polo, when he travelled in these 
 regions towards the end of the thirteenth century. 
 
 Olopun and his fellow-priests of Nestorianism 
 enjoyed the favour of the imperial court and 
 were allowed to erect churches and monasteries. 
 The Nestorian Monument proves above all sus¬ 
 picion the early existence of Christianity in the 
 Middle Kingdom. 
 
 The Chingchiaopei, or Luminous Teaching 
 Stela, is dated a. d. 781 and was accidentally ex¬ 
 cavated by some native work-people in 1625, 
 when it was placed on “a fair pedestal” by the 
 Governor of Shensi. 
 
 It was soon visited by many Chinese, who took 
 an interest in the ancient inscription, which is 
 almost miraculously well-preserved. Father 
 
152 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 ways and means of trying to obtain possession of 
 the Chingchiaopei for the scientific world, in 
 order that the Monumentum Syro-Sinicum 
 might become accessible to scholars and the gen¬ 
 eral public alike. 
 
 I visited several museum officials and certain 
 leading men, who take an interest in the preser¬ 
 vation of irreplaceable historical monuments, and 
 I was encouraged everywhere. Just as there is 
 but one Rosetta stone, one Moabite stone, and 
 one Aztec Calendar stone, respectively in Lon¬ 
 don, Paris and Mexico City, there is but one 
 Nestorian Stone—probably the world’s four 
 leading monuments of their kind. 
 
 As said, I found encouragement both in Lon¬ 
 don and New York for my plan, and although in 
 no way charged with any official mission, I made 
 it the chief object of the expedition to do every¬ 
 thing in my power to try to obtain possession of 
 this ancient Monument, which is certainly better 
 off in any well-organized museum than exposed, 
 in a Chinese temple-ground amidst opium and 
 wheat-fields, to inclement weather and spoliation. 
 
 The fact should not be overlooked that it is 
 only a mere question of time, when the railway 
 will reach Sian-fu; and it is consequently certain 
 that the Nestorian Monument will not long be 
 permitted to remain in its present undeserved 
 state of degradation, unless it gets under the 
 
CHINA’S FOREMOST MONUMENT 
 
 147 
 
 Alvaro Semedo, the Portuguese Jesuit, visited 
 the Monument in 1628 and reported on it. 
 
 For decades afterwards the Stone was little 
 thought of and rarely visited, and the brick-niche 
 which once had been built over it disappeared. 
 
 Toward the end of the last century, in 1891, a 
 small roof was erected over the Stone at the sug¬ 
 gestion of the corps diplomatique in Peking, 
 which had induced the Tsungli Yamen, the then 
 Foreign Office, to guard the Monument against 
 injury. 
 
 One hundred taels were sent to Sian-fu from 
 Peking; but in those days there was no post 
 office, and only five taels reached Sian-fu in 
 safety, the balance having inconveniently been 
 absorbed underway. 
 
 Thus the shed erected was of a very inferior 
 kind and, in a year, had quite disappeared! 
 
 Mr. W. W. Rockhill, the United States 
 former envoy to China, who made a great name 
 for himself by exploring parts of Thibet some 
 fifteen years back, told me while I was at Peking, 
 that “the Chinese thought quite a good deal of 
 the Stone and had had a shed erected to protect 
 it some time ago.” 
 
 I am afraid, however, that the distinguished 
 diplomat and traveller would be very disap¬ 
 pointed to behold the precious old Monument 
 stand as naked and unprotected as its numerous 
 
148 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 fellow-stelae of minor value and lesser age, which 
 are found by the score in the vicinity of the 
 ancient capital. 
 
 Several translations of the Chinese and Syriac- 
 Estrangelo inscriptions, as we shall see in the 
 following chapter, have been made and printed; 
 but the task of deciphering and putting exact 
 meaning into the two thousand odd ideographs 
 on the Stone is almost an impossible one. 
 
 The translation by the well-known Dr. A. 
 Wylie, and the more recent one by Professor 
 P. Y. Saeki, both of which are rendered in 
 eoctenso further on, are probably the best and 
 most lucid. 
 
 Between Semedo and Saeki is a span of 
 three hundred years, and many are the dis¬ 
 tinguished names that, at one time or another, 
 have become attached to matters concerning the 
 Chingchiaopei. 
 
 I mention, almost at random, such names as 
 Trigault, Kircher, Voltaire, Heller, Williamson, 
 Muller, Cordier, Kreitner, Wells Williams, 
 Chavannes, Pauthier, Pelliot, Havret, Yohan- 
 nan, Legge, Moule, and many others, who have 
 contributed their valuable opinions and reports, 
 or who have, at least, inspired discussion of the 
 history and importance of the Monument. 
 
 On the 10th of June, 1907, I first visited the 
 resting place of the Nestorian Monument. 
 
CHINA’S FOREMOST MONUMENT 
 
 149 
 
 I went out alone on horseback, through the 
 western gate, traversed the western suburb and, 
 having passed some military barracks outside the 
 suburban gate, had no great difficulty in locating 
 the old Buddhistic temple, on the premises of 
 which the Stone was situated. 
 
 An arched brick-entrance in ruins, and some 
 indications of a withering mud-wall, show the 
 former impressive extent of this ecclesiastic es¬ 
 tablishment, but today we only find a compara¬ 
 tively modern centre-building, which is more like 
 a farm than a temple. 
 
 Everybody was busy with the wheat harvest, 
 even the three Buddhist priests, and nobody in¬ 
 terfered with me as I walked about taking 
 snap-shots, wondering at the dilapidated sur¬ 
 roundings of China’s foremost Monument. 
 
 Behind the farm-temple is a piece of ground, 
 where a stone-arch and several memorial tablets 
 are situated. 
 
 In a row of five stones the Chingchiaopei is 
 the fourth, counting towards the east. Like 
 most stones of a memorial nature, it stands on 
 the back of a clumsily-worked stone-tortoise, 
 although the Monolith itself is of superb 
 workmanship. 
 
 Nothing is left of a protecting shed, and 
 nothing indicates, as some writers, most likely 
 wrongly, assert that the Stone and its neigh- 
 
150 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 hours, which do not even stand in a straight line, 
 have even been built into a brick-wall. 
 
 An old picture of the Stela shows it encased in 
 a kind of brick-niche, and it is by no means im¬ 
 possible that this has given rise to the wrongful 
 idea concerning a brick-wall. But there is now 
 no trace of any niche around the Slab, nor of 
 any later wooden shed; and the seventy-six year 
 old chief priests, Yu Show, who has been con¬ 
 stantly on the spot for more than fifty years, 
 only remembers the priceless Tablet standing 
 free and frank and lonely, looking apart from 
 the five-tael, ramshackle contraption of 1891. 
 
 The Syro-Chinese inscription, in upwards of 
 two-thousand Chinese ideographs, carved with 
 supreme skill in matchless Tang calligraphy by 
 Lii Siu Yen, following the authorship of the 
 priest Ching Tsing, is, as indicated, in splendid 
 preservation. Only two of the characters are 
 really badly impaired, which is said to have been 
 done by the bonzes, who thought too much 
 attention was being paid to this non-Buddhistic 
 memorial. Such an accusation, however, is prob¬ 
 ably untrue. 
 
 The nine large characters, forming the title of 
 the inscription, and which, when romanized, read 
 
 TA-TSIN-CHING-CHIAO-LIU-HSING-CHUNG-KUO-PEI, 
 
 are surmounted by a beautiful Christian Cross, 
 
CHINA’S FOREMOST MONUMENT 
 
 151 
 
 which latter is traced with a hand much less cer¬ 
 tain and positive than the hand that chiselled the 
 Chinese inscription itself. The same applies 
 without doubt to the Syriac portions of the 
 inscription. 
 
 I have, therefore, more than a decade ago, 
 advanced the probability that one of the Nesto- 
 ,rian missionaries added the Cross, as well as the 
 Syriac words, as an afterthought, and a very 
 gracious one at that. However, in workmanship 
 he fell far behind the Chinese calligrapher, whose 
 “penmanship” all scholars agree in lauding. 
 
 Near the Nestorian Stone I noticed a large, 
 grey-white stone-basin of fine workmanship, 
 which looked quite European. The idea readily 
 suggests itself that this stone-basin may be an 
 old baptismal font, but it bears an inscription 
 inside, dated 1797, and it is stated that it was 
 presented to the temple by a a travelling high 
 official for some unknown reason. 
 
 The other stones in the temple-grounds are of 
 no immediate interest, their inscriptions giving 
 the history of the once important farm-temple as 
 a monastery, and the names and titles of various 
 donors. 
 
 For years I had known about the undignified 
 emplacement of the Nestorian Monument of 
 Sian-fu. In January last I discussed, as indi¬ 
 cated, with various authorities in London the 
 
152 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 ways and means of trying to obtain possession of 
 the Chingchiaopei for the scientific world, in 
 order that the Monumentum Syro-Sinicum 
 might become accessible to scholars and the gen¬ 
 eral public alike. 
 
 I visited several museum officials and certain 
 leading men, who take an interest in the preser¬ 
 vation of irreplaceable historical monuments, and 
 I was encouraged everywhere. Just as there is 
 but one Rosetta stone, one Moabite stone, and 
 one Aztec Calendar stone, respectively in Lon¬ 
 don, Paris and Mexico City, there is but one 
 Nestorian Stone—probably the world’s four 
 leading monuments of their kind. 
 
 As said, I found encouragement both in Lon¬ 
 don and New York for my plan, and although in 
 no way charged with any official mission, I made 
 it the chief object of the expedition to do every¬ 
 thing in my power to try to obtain possession of 
 this ancient Monument, which is certainly better 
 off in any well-organized museum than exposed, 
 in a Chinese temple-ground amidst opium and 
 wheat-fields, to inclement weather and spoliation. 
 
 The fact should not be overlooked that it is 
 only a mere question of time, when the railway 
 will reach Sian-fu; and it is consequently certain 
 that the Nestorian Monument will not long be 
 permitted to remain in its present undeserved 
 state of degradation, unless it gets under the 
 
{Top) The Nestorian Monument, second from the right in a 
 
 row of five memorial stones. 
 
 ( Bottom ) Dilapidated arch and desolate surroundings of the 
 ancient Stela, when I first visited it. 
 
160 
 
 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 much as he is the source of all 
 that is honourable. This is our 
 eternal true lord God, triune and 
 mysterious in substance. He ap¬ 
 pointed the cross as the means for 
 determining the four cardinal 
 points, he moved the original 
 spirit, and produced the two prin¬ 
 ciples of nature; the sombre void 
 was changed, and heaven and 
 earth were opened out; the sun 
 and moon revolved, and day and 
 night commenced; having per¬ 
 fected all inferior objects, he then 
 made the first man; upon him he 
 bestowed an excellent disposition, 
 giving him in charge the govern¬ 
 ment of all created beings; man, 
 acting out the original principles 
 of his nature, was pure and unos¬ 
 tentatious; his unsullied and ex¬ 
 pansive mind was free from the 
 least inordinate desire; until 
 Satan introduced the seeds of 
 falsehood, to deteriorate his pur¬ 
 ity of principle; the opening thus 
 commenced in his virtue gradually 
 enlarged, and by this crevice in 
 his nature was obscured and 
 rendered vicious; hence three hun¬ 
 dred and sixty-five sects followed 
 each other in continuous track, 
 inventing every species of doc¬ 
 trinal complexity; while some 
 
 istence on all the Holy ones, is 
 the only unoriginated Lord of the 
 Universe,—is not this our Aloha 
 the Triune, mysterious Person, 
 the unbegotten and true Lord? 
 
 Dividing the Cross, He de¬ 
 termined the four cardinal points. 
 Setting in motion the primordial 
 spirit (wind), He produced the 
 two principles of Nature. The 
 dark void was changed, and 
 Heaven and Earth appeared. 
 The sun and moon revolved, and 
 day and night began. Having de¬ 
 signed and fashioned all things. 
 He then created the first man and 
 bestowed on him an excellent dis¬ 
 position, superior to all others, 
 and gave him to have dominion 
 over the Ocean of created things. 
 
 The original nature of Man was 
 pure, and void of all selfishness, 
 unstained and unostentatious, his 
 mind was free from inordinate 
 lust and passion. When, how¬ 
 ever, Satan employed his evil de¬ 
 vices on him, Man’s pure and 
 stainless (nature) was deterio¬ 
 rated; the perfect attainment of 
 goodness on the one hand, and the 
 entire exemption from wickedness 
 on the other became alike impos¬ 
 sible for him. 
 
 In consequence of this, three 
 
CHINA’S FOREMOST MONUMENT 
 
 153 
 
 direct protection of the Chinese Government 
 before that event. This, as we shall see later, 
 was soon to happen. 
 
 As one may observe from the photograph, the 
 Monument is a large one, measuring nine feet in 
 height (ten feet, when the prolongation at its 
 base is included), between three and four feet in 
 width, and nearly one foot in thickness. The 
 weight of the Monolith is two tons, rather more 
 than less. The difficulties in connection with 
 transporting it—or an exact Replica—were, in 
 view of the state of the alleged roads, appalling, 
 as it would first be necessary to haul the Stela on 
 a specially constructed cart, over 350 miles before 
 reaching the Peking-Hankow railway. However, 
 I had evolved certain ideas how to overcome all 
 these apparently insurmountable difficulties. 
 
 I also had conceived a minute plan in connec¬ 
 tion with the actual acquisition of the Monument 
 —and a perfectly straight one at that, as I 
 should strongly object to being the chief of any 
 marauding expedition into the interior of the 
 peaceful Land of Sinim. 
 
 During my stay in Sian-fu, I consequently 
 paid numerous visits with my interpreter to the 
 temple, where the Monument stands, and event¬ 
 ually, principally through the easy medium of 
 well-selected presents, I got on very friendly 
 terms with the kind-hearted, old chief-priest* Yii 
 
154 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 Show, who has resided on the spot during the last 
 five decades. 
 
 According to his statement, which I believe, 
 theoretically at any rate, holds good, all the 
 monuments on the premises, together with the 
 stone-basin and the arch, belong to the temple, 
 which again, he says, belongs to him. 
 
 It will eventually pass into the possession of 
 his opium-steeped, adopted son, the secondary 
 priest of forlorn visage, whom I took the liberty 
 to exclude from our conferences. 
 
 Still I am quite aware of the fact that temples 
 and temple-belongings are generally considered 
 imperial property—but then, everything in 
 China, without exception, according to the law, 
 belongs to the emperor. 
 
 What might have been the final outcome of 
 these promising negotiations, which I did not 
 care to carry too far all of a sudden, I shall not 
 venture to conjecture; but the result might have 
 proven a very satisfactory one, had complications 
 not arisen from an unexpected quarter. 
 
 It has often been averred, by Chinese and for¬ 
 eigners alike, that much trouble in the Celestial 
 Empire is due to the sometimes unwise propa¬ 
 ganda of inexperienced missionaries, new in their 
 chosen profession. 
 
 This statement may, perhaps, be exaggerated, 
 although I voice the opinion that, politically 
 
CHINA’S FOREMOST MONUMENT 
 
 155 
 
 speaking, China would be better off without de¬ 
 nominational, foreign missions. 
 
 Yet, the recall of missionaries in general would 
 hardly be in line with the Far Eastern policy of 
 the greedy powers, whom the proselytizers serve 
 in many ways as true pioneers and enterprising 
 intelligence officers in return for moral, govern¬ 
 mental support. 
 
 It was nothing if not natural that the local 
 missionaries, whom I had the pleasure of meeting 
 in Sian-fu, should mention the historical objects 
 of their district worth seeing, and it was a fore¬ 
 gone conclusion that the Nestorian Monument 
 was prominently mentioned, and its tremendous 
 importance discussed, during these conversations. 
 
 I have never been able to forget the Roman 
 Catholic missionary-bishop’s mention of the old 
 Tablet. 
 
 This hospitable prelate said to me, in casually 
 mentioning that I ought to go and see the Monu¬ 
 ment while in Sian-fu, that he had at one time 
 seriously considered shipping the Stela to the 
 Vatican as a gift from himself. 
 
 The difficulty of transportation, the bishop 
 said, would have been overcome by —Deo vol- 
 ente —cutting the two-ton, nine-foot Monument 
 into three pieces! 
 
 From my discussions with the Sian-fu mis¬ 
 sionaries, it gradually, and with increasing force, 
 
156 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 became clear to me that all the mission-stations 
 at Sian-fu virtually considered the ancient 
 Monument their lawful property; and that every 
 local missionary sincerely and fondly considered 
 himself a co-operative proprietor and high pro¬ 
 tector of the Stela. 
 
 This conception of things appears to my hum¬ 
 ble mind, to say the least, somewhat extraordi¬ 
 nary, for while the missions are certainly most 
 welcome to protect the Stone of Stones—a task 
 they have hitherto, by the way, utterly and 
 wholly neglected—they surely had no more legal 
 right to the Monument than the man in the 
 moon, or the author of these pages. 
 
 The great Monument belongs, of course, to 
 the Chinese nation. 
 
 The missionaries apparently think that, be¬ 
 cause the Stela was laboriously carved and rev¬ 
 erently erected by the first Christian missioners 
 to China, nearly eleven and a half centuries ago, 
 they possess a sort of inherited, perpetual pro¬ 
 prietorship in the Stone, being themselves mis¬ 
 sionaries at Sian-fu. 
 
 Be that as it may, I had no difficulty in sensing 
 that some kind of suspicion against me and my 
 object in visiting Sian-fu, where I stayed four 
 weeks, was crystallizing day by day. 
 
 I realized, through remarks that I was fortu¬ 
 nate in picking up here and there, and which I 
 
THE NESTORIAN INSCRIPTION 
 
 165 
 
 Emperor Taitsung, the illustrious 
 and magnificent founder of the 
 dynasty, among the enlightened 
 and holy men who arrived was 
 the Most-virtuous Olopun, from 
 the country of Syria. Observ¬ 
 ing the azure clouds, he bore the 
 true sacred books; beholding the 
 direction of the winds, he braved 
 difficulties and dangers. In the 
 year a. d. 635 he arrived at 
 Chang-an; the Emperor sent his 
 Prime Minister, Duke Fang 
 Hiuen-ling; who, carrying the of¬ 
 ficial staff to the west border, con¬ 
 ducted his guest into the interior; 
 the sacred books were translated 
 in the imperial library, the sover¬ 
 eign investigated the subject in 
 his private apartments; when be¬ 
 coming deeply impressed with the 
 rectitude and truth of the relig¬ 
 ion, he gave special orders for its 
 dissemination. In the seventh 
 month of the year a. d. 638 the 
 following imperial proclamation 
 was issued: 
 
 “Right principles have no in¬ 
 variable name, holy men have no 
 invariable station; instruction is 
 established in accordance with the 
 locality, with the object of bene¬ 
 fiting the people at large. The 
 Greatly-virtuous Olopun, of the 
 
 peror T’ai-Tsung (627-649 a. d.) 
 began his magnificent career in 
 glory and splendour over the (re¬ 
 cently) established dynasty and 
 ruled his people with intelligence, 
 he proved himself to be a brilliant 
 Sage. 
 
 And behold there was a highly 
 virtuous man named A-lo-pen in 
 the Kingdom of Ta-ch’in. Augur¬ 
 ing (of the Sage, i. e. Emperor) 
 from the azure sky, he decided to 
 carry the true Sutras (of the True 
 Way) with him, and observing the 
 course of the winds, he made his 
 way (to China) through difficul¬ 
 ties and perils. Thus in the Ninth 
 year of the period named Cheng- 
 kuan (635 a. d.) he arrived at 
 Ch’ang-an. The Emperor des¬ 
 patched his Minister, Duke Fang 
 Hsiian-ling, with a guard of hon¬ 
 our, to the western suburb to 
 meet the visitor and conduct him 
 to the Palace. The Sutras (Scrip¬ 
 tures) were translated in the Im¬ 
 perial Library. (His Majesty) 
 investigated “The Way” in his 
 own Forbidden apartments, and 
 being deeply convinced of its cor¬ 
 rectness and truth, he gave spe¬ 
 cial orders for its propagation. 
 
 In the Twelfth year of the 
 Cheng-kuan period (a. d. 638) in 
 
Yu Show, Chief Priest of the Buddha Temple, near which he 
 had guarded the Monument more than fifty years. He 
 stands in front of the tnmbled-down Temple Bell, while the 
 shed behind him is the barn within which the Replica was 
 executed in secret. 
 
CHINA’S FOREMOST MONUMENT 
 
 157 
 
 correctly interpreted, that the suspicion was un¬ 
 questionably taking shape; and, as I was, for 
 obvious reasons, in no position openly to run 
 counter to the ideas of ISTestorian ownership, as 
 subvoiced in missionary circles at Sian-fu, I pre¬ 
 ferred outwardly to abandon, or at least abate, 
 my ambitions for the time being, and to depart 
 from Shensi without finishing my Buddhistic 
 negotiations for obtaining possession, in a fair 
 and above-board manner, of China’s foremost 
 Monument. 
 
 After making some confidential arrangements, 
 which later on will become of interest in this nar¬ 
 rative, I informed Mr. Schaumloeffel, between 
 whom and myself the natural friendship of exiles 
 had sprung up during my sojourn under his roof, 
 that my studies and investigations were at an end, 
 and that the literary results had been satisfactory. 
 
 But, whatever my words of adieu, I nourished 
 a reservatio mentalis , that it was hy no means my 
 intention never to revisit Sian-fu, nor forever to 
 give up my plan in connection with the acquisi¬ 
 tion of the ISTestorian Monument, or even of a 
 perfect Nestorian Beplica. 
 
 Likewise, I promised myself, while arranging 
 for my cross-alpine departure, that the secret 
 arangements I had made in and near Sian-fu 
 should not be allowed to meet with premature 
 death, nor even with failure. 
 
VIII 
 
 THE NESTORIAN INSCRIPTION 
 
 T O make a literal translation of the Syro-Chinese in¬ 
 scription on the Nestorian Monument is impossible. 
 The fine shadings of words, or rather ideographs, 
 that gave colour and highlights to the exquisite prose and 
 verse of the Tang Dynasty writers, have, in a measure, 
 been lost. While the meaning of each and every character 
 on the Stone, in the grosser sense of the word, is undoubt¬ 
 edly the same today as it was in a. d. 781, the subtler 
 values have, even according to Chinese scholars, changed 
 and sideshifted, however imperceptibly. 
 
 The bilingual inscription bears incontestable witness to 
 one of the greatest historic romances ever enacted on 
 Asian or, for that matter, on any other soil. 
 
 It fires the imagination to think of the heroism of that 
 little band of Nestorian emissaries, who crossed Asia and 
 introduced Christianity to the Sons of Han even more 
 than six centuries before the second Christian mission 
 came into China, namely that of Bishop John of Monte- 
 corvino, for Nestorianism arrived not later than a. d. 635, 
 while the Roman Catholicism came, via India, a. d. 1292. 
 But let the inscription speak for itself! 
 
 The two translations chosen here from a goodly number 
 are those of the English scholar, the Rev. Dr. Alexander 
 
 158 
 
THE NESTORIAN INSCRIPTION 
 
 159 
 
 Wylie, and of the distinguished Professor P. Y. Saeki, 
 of Waseda University in Tokio. They are printed in 
 parallel columns, as an experiment, for better comparison. 
 
 By A. Wylie. 
 
 (Reprinted from “ The Nesto- 
 rian Monument,” hy Frits Holm 
 and Paul Carus, 'published by the 
 Open Court Publishing Company, 
 Chicago, 1909.) 
 
 Tablet Eulogizing the Propaga¬ 
 tion of the Illustrious Religion in 
 China, With a Preface; Composed 
 by King-Tsing, a Priest of the 
 Syrian Church. 
 
 Behold the unchangeably true 
 and invisible, who existed through 
 all eternity without origin; the 
 far-seeing perfect intelligence, 
 whose mysterious existence is 
 everlasting; operating on primor¬ 
 dial substance he created the 
 universe, being more excellent 
 than all holy intelligences, inas- 
 
 By P. Y. Saeki. 
 
 (Reprinted from “ The Nesto- 
 rian Monument in China,” by P. 
 Y. Saeki, published by the Society 
 for Promoting Christian Knowl¬ 
 edge, London, 1916.) 
 
 A Monument commemorating 
 the Propagation of The Ta-ch’in 
 Luminous Religion in the Middle 
 Kingdom. 
 
 Eulogy on a Monument com¬ 
 memorating the propagation of 
 the Luminous Religion in the 
 Middle Kingdom, with a Preface 
 to the same, composed by Ching- 
 ching, a priest of the Ta-ch’in 
 monastery. (In Syriac), Adam, 
 priest and chorepiscopos, and 
 papas (pope) of Zhinastan. 
 
 Behold! there is One who is 
 true and firm, who, being Un¬ 
 created, is the Origin of the 
 origins; who is ever Incompre¬ 
 hensible and Invisible, yet ever 
 mysteriously existing to the last 
 of the lasts; who, holding the 
 Secret Source of Origin, created 
 all things, and who, bestowing ex- 
 
160 
 
 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 much as he is the source of all 
 that is honourable. This is our 
 eternal true lord God, triune and 
 mysterious in substance. He ap¬ 
 pointed the cross as the means for 
 determining the four cardinal 
 points, he moved the original 
 spirit, and produced the two prin¬ 
 ciples of nature; the sombre void 
 was changed, and heaven and 
 earth were opened out; the sun 
 and moon revolved, and day and 
 night commenced; having per¬ 
 fected all inferior objects, he then 
 made the first man; upon him he 
 bestowed an excellent disposition, 
 giving him in charge the govern¬ 
 ment of all created beings; man, 
 acting out the original principles 
 of his nature, was pure and unos¬ 
 tentatious; his unsullied and ex¬ 
 pansive mind was free from the 
 least inordinate desire; until 
 Satan introduced the seeds of 
 falsehood, to deteriorate his pur¬ 
 ity of principle; the opening thus 
 commenced in his virtue gradually 
 enlarged, and by this crevice in 
 his nature was obscured and 
 rendered vicious; hence three hun¬ 
 dred and sixty-five sects followed 
 each other in continuous track, 
 inventing every species of doc¬ 
 trinal complexity; while some 
 
 istence on all the Holy ones, is 
 the only unoriginated Lord of the 
 Universe,—is not this our Aloha 
 the Triune, mysterious Person, 
 the unbegotten and true Lord? 
 
 Dividing the Cross, He de¬ 
 termined the four cardinal points. 
 Setting in motion the primordial 
 spirit (wind), He produced the 
 two principles of Nature. The 
 dark void was changed, and 
 Heaven and Earth appeared. 
 The sun and moon revolved, and 
 day and night began. Having de¬ 
 signed and fashioned all things. 
 He then created the first man and 
 bestowed on him an excellent dis¬ 
 position, superior to all others, 
 and gave him to have dominion 
 over the Ocean of created things. 
 
 The original nature of Man was 
 pure, and void of all selfishness, 
 unstained and unostentatious, his 
 mind was free from inordinate 
 lust and passion. When, how¬ 
 ever, Satan employed his evil de¬ 
 vices on him, Man’s pure and 
 stainless (nature) was deterio¬ 
 rated; the perfect attainment of 
 goodness on the one hand, and the 
 entire exemption from wickedness 
 on the other became alike impos¬ 
 sible for him. 
 
 In consequence of this, three 
 
THE NESTORIAN INSCRIPTION 
 
 161 
 
 pointed to material objects as the 
 source of their faith, others re¬ 
 duced all to vacancy, even to the 
 annihilation of the two primeval 
 principles; some sought to call 
 down blessings by prayers and 
 supplications, while others by an 
 assumption of excellence held 
 themselves up as superior to their 
 fellows; their intellects and 
 thoughts continually wavering, 
 their minds and affections inces¬ 
 santly on the move, they never 
 obtained their vast desires, but 
 being exhausted and distressed 
 they revolved in their own heated 
 atmosphere; till by an accumula¬ 
 tion of obscurity they lost their 
 path, and after long groping in 
 darkness they were unable to re¬ 
 turn. Thereupon, our Trinity 
 being divided in nature, the illus¬ 
 trious and honourable Messiah, 
 veiling his true dignity, appeared 
 in the world as a man; angelic 
 powers promulgated the glad tid¬ 
 ings, a virgin gave birth to the 
 Holy One in Syria; a bright star 
 announced the felicitous event, 
 and Persians observing the splen¬ 
 dour came to present tribute; the 
 ancient dispensation, as declared 
 by the twenty-four holy men, was 
 then fulfilled, and he laid down 
 
 hundred and sixty-five different 
 forms (of error) arose in quick 
 succession and left deep furrows 
 behind. They strove to weave 
 nets of the laws wherewith to en¬ 
 snare the innocent. Some point¬ 
 ing to natural objects pretended 
 that they were the right objects to 
 worship; others denied the reality 
 of existence, and insisted on ig¬ 
 noring the duality; some sought to 
 call down blessings (happiness or 
 success) by means of prayers and 
 sacrifices; others again boasted of 
 their own goodness, and held their 
 fellows in contempt. (Thus) the 
 intellect and the thoughts of Men 
 fell into hopeless confusion; and 
 their mind and affections began to 
 toil incessantly; but all their trav¬ 
 ail was in vain. The heat of their 
 distress became a scorching flame; 
 and self-blinded, thev increased 
 the darkness still more; and losing 
 their path for a long while they 
 went astray and became unable to 
 return home again. 
 
 Whereupon one Person of our 
 Trinity, the Messiah, who is the 
 Luminous Lord of the Universe, 
 veiling His true Majesty, ap¬ 
 peared upon earth as a man. 
 Angels proclaimed the Glad Tid¬ 
 ings. A virgin gave birth to the 
 
162 
 
 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 great principles for the govern¬ 
 ment of families and kingdoms; 
 he established the new religion of 
 the silent operation of the pure 
 spirit of the Triune; he rendered 
 virtue subservient to direct faith; 
 he fixed the extent of the eight 
 boundaries, thus completing the 
 truth and freeing it from dross; 
 he opened the gate of the three 
 constant principles, introducing 
 life and destroying death; he sus¬ 
 pended the bright sun to invade 
 the chambers of darkness, and the 
 falsehoods of the devil were there¬ 
 upon defeated; he set in motion 
 the vessel of mercy by which to 
 ascend to the bright mansions, 
 whereupon rational beings were 
 then released, having thus com¬ 
 pleted the manifestation of his 
 power, in clear day he ascended 
 to his true station. Twenty-seven 
 sacred books have been left, which 
 disseminate intelligence by un¬ 
 folding the original transforming 
 principles. By the rule for ad¬ 
 mission, it is the custom to apply 
 the water of baptism, to wash 
 away all superficial show and to 
 cleanse and purify the neophytes. 
 As a seal, they hold the cross, 
 whose influence is reflected in 
 every direction, uniting all with- 
 
 Holy One in Ta-ch’in. A bright 
 Star announced the blessed event. 
 Persians saw the splendour and 
 came forth with their tribute. 
 
 Fulfilling the old Law as it 
 was declared by the twenty-four 
 Sages, He (the Messiah) taught 
 how to rule both families and 
 kingdoms according to His own 
 great Plan. Establishing His 
 New Teaching of Non-assertion 
 which operates silently through 
 the Holy Spirit, another Person 
 of the Trinity, He formed in 
 man the capacity for well-doing 
 through the Right Faith. Setting 
 up the standard of the eight car¬ 
 dinal virtues. He purged away the 
 dust from human nature and per¬ 
 fected a true character. Widely 
 opening the Three Constant 
 Gates, He brought Life to light 
 and abolished Death. Hanging 
 up the bright Sun, He swept away 
 the abodes of darkness. All the 
 evil devices of the devil were 
 thereupon defeated and destroyed. 
 He then took an oar in the Vessel 
 of Mercy and ascended to the 
 Palace of Light. Thereby all ra¬ 
 tional beings were conveyed across 
 the Gulf. His mighty work being 
 thus completed, He returned at 
 noon to His original position 
 
THE NESTORIAN INSCRIPTION 
 
 163 
 
 out distinction. As they strike 
 the wood, the fame of their 
 benevolence is diffused abroad; 
 worshiping toward the east, they 
 hasten on the way to life and 
 glory; they preserve the beard to 
 symbolize their outward actions, 
 they shave the crown to indicate 
 the absence of inward affections; 
 they do not keep slaves, but put 
 noble and mean all on an equality; 
 they do not amass wealth, but cast 
 all their property into the com¬ 
 mon stock; they fast, in order to 
 perfect themselves by self-inspec¬ 
 tion; they submit to restraints, in 
 order to strengthen themselves by 
 silent watchfulness; seven times a 
 day they have worship and praise 
 for the benefit of the living and 
 the dead; once in seven days they 
 sacrifice, to cleanse the heart and 
 return to purity. 
 
 It is difficult to find a name to 
 express the excellence of the true 
 and unchangeable doctrine; but as 
 its meritorious operations are 
 manifestly displayed, by accom¬ 
 modation it is named the Illus¬ 
 trious Religion. 
 
 (in Heaven) 1 . The twenty-seven 
 standard works of His Sutras 
 were preserved. The great means 
 of Conversion (or leavening, i. e. 
 transformation) were widely ex¬ 
 tended, and the sealed Gate of the 
 Blessed Life was unlocked. His 
 Law is to bathe with water and 
 with the Spirit, and thus to 
 cleanse from all vain delusions 
 and to purify men until they re¬ 
 gain the whiteness of their nature. 
 
 (His ministers) carry the Cross 
 with them as a Sign. They travel 
 about wherever the sun shines, 
 and try to re-unite those that are 
 beyond the pale (i. e. those that 
 are lost). Striking the wood, they 
 proclaim the Glad Tidings (lit. 
 joyful sounds) of Love and Char¬ 
 ity. They turn ceremoniously to 
 the East, and hasten in the Path 
 of Life and Glory. They preserve 
 the beard to show that they have 
 outward works to do, whilst they 
 shave the crown (tonsure) to re¬ 
 mind themselves that they have no 
 private selfish desires. They keep 
 neither male nor female slaves. 
 Putting all men on an equality, 
 they make no distinction between 
 the noble and the mean. They 
 neither accumulate property nor 
 wealth; but giving all they pos- 
 
164 
 
 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 Now without holy men, prin¬ 
 ciples cannot become expanded; 
 without principles, holy men can¬ 
 not become magnified; but with 
 holy men and right principles, 
 united as the two parts of a 
 signet, the world becomes civil¬ 
 ized and enlightened. 
 
 In the time of the accomplished 
 
 sess, they set a good example to 
 others. They observe fasting in 
 order that they may subdue “the 
 knowledge” (which defiles the 
 mind). They keep the vigil of 
 silence and watchfulness so that 
 they may observe “the Precepts.” 
 Seven times a day they meet for 
 worship and praise, and earnestly 
 they offer prayers for the living 
 as well as for the dead. Once in 
 seven days, they have “a sacrifice 
 without the animal” (i. e. a blood¬ 
 less sacrifice). Thus cleansing 
 their hearts, they regain their pur¬ 
 ity. This ever True and Un¬ 
 changing Way is mysterious, and 
 is almost impossible to name. But 
 its meritorious operations are so 
 brilliantly manifested that we 
 make an effort and call it by 
 the name of “The Luminous 
 Religion.” 
 
 But, at any rate, “The Way” 
 would not have spread so widely 
 had it not been for the Sage, and 
 the Sage would not have been so 
 great were it not for “The Way ” 
 Ever since the Sage and “The 
 Way” were united together as the 
 two halves of an indentured deed 
 would agree, then the world be¬ 
 came refined and enlightened. 
 
 When the accomplished Em- 
 
THE NESTORIAN INSCRIPTION 
 
 165 
 
 Emperor Taitsung, the illustrious 
 and magnificent founder of the 
 dynasty, among the enlightened 
 and holy men who arrived was 
 the Most-virtuous Olopun, from 
 the country of Syria. Observ¬ 
 ing the azure clouds, he bore the 
 true sacred books; beholding the 
 direction of the winds, he braved 
 difficulties and dangers. In the 
 year a. d. 635 he arrived at 
 Chang-an; the Emperor sent his 
 Prime Minister, Duke Fang 
 Hiuen-ling; who, carrying the of¬ 
 ficial staff to the west border, con¬ 
 ducted his guest into the interior; 
 the sacred books were translated 
 in the imperial library, the sover¬ 
 eign investigated the subject in 
 his private apartments; when be¬ 
 coming deeply impressed with the 
 rectitude and truth of the relig¬ 
 ion, he gave special orders for its 
 dissemination. In the seventh 
 month of the year a. d. 638 the 
 following imperial proclamation 
 was issued: 
 
 ‘‘Right principles have no in¬ 
 variable name, holy men have no 
 invariable station; instruction is 
 established in accordance with the 
 locality, with the object of bene¬ 
 fiting the people at large. The 
 Greatly-virtuous Olopun, of the 
 
 peror T’ai-Tsung (627-649 a. d.) 
 began his magnificent career in 
 glory and splendour over the (re¬ 
 cently) established dynasty and 
 ruled his people with intelligence, 
 he proved himself to be a brilliant 
 Sage. 
 
 And behold there was a highly 
 virtuous man named A-lo-pen in 
 the Kingdom of Ta-ch’in. Augur¬ 
 ing (of the Sage, i. e. Emperor) 
 from the azure sky, he decided to 
 carry the true Sutras (of the True 
 Way) with him, and observing the 
 course of the winds, he made his 
 way (to China) through difficul¬ 
 ties and perils. Thus in the Ninth 
 year of the period named Cheng- 
 kuan (635 a. d.) he arrived at 
 Ch’ang-an. The Emperor des¬ 
 patched his Minister, Duke Fang 
 Hsiian-ling, with a guard of hon¬ 
 our, to the western suburb to 
 meet the visitor and conduct him 
 to the Palace. The Sutras (Scrip¬ 
 tures) were translated in the Im¬ 
 perial Library. (His Majesty) 
 investigated “The Way” in his 
 own Forbidden apartments, and 
 being deeply convinced of its cor¬ 
 rectness and truth, he gave spe¬ 
 cial orders for its propagation. 
 
 In the Twelfth year of the 
 Cheng-kuan period (a. d. 638) in 
 
166 
 
 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 kingdom of Syria, has brought his 
 sacred books and images from 
 that distant part, and has pre¬ 
 sented them at our chief capital. 
 Having examined the principles 
 of this religion, we find them 
 to be purely excellent and nat¬ 
 ural; investigating its originating 
 source, we find it has taken its 
 rise from the establishment of 
 important truths; its ritual is free 
 from perplexing expressions, its 
 principles will survive when the 
 framework is forgot; it is benefi¬ 
 cial to all creatures; it is advan¬ 
 tageous to mankind. Let it be 
 published throughout the Empire, 
 and let the proper authority build 
 a Syrian church in the capital in 
 the I-ning May, which shall be 
 governed by twenty-one priests. 
 When the virtue of the Chau dy¬ 
 nasty declined, the rider on the 
 azure ox ascended to the west; 
 the principles of the great Tang 
 becoming resplendent the Illus¬ 
 trious breezes have come to fan 
 the East.** 
 
 the Seventh month of Autumn, 
 the following Imperial Rescript 
 was issued:— 
 
 “ ‘The Way* had not, at all 
 times and in all places, the self¬ 
 same name; the Sage had not, at 
 all times and in all places, the 
 selfsame human body. (Heaven) 
 caused a suitable religion to be 
 instituted for every region and 
 clime so that each one of the 
 races of mankind might be saved. 
 Bishop A-lo-pen of the Kingdom 
 of Ta-ch’in, bringing with him the 
 Sutras and Images, has come 
 from afar and presented them at 
 our Capital. Having carefully 
 examined the scope of his teach¬ 
 ing, we find it to be mysteriously 
 spiritual, and of silent operation. 
 Having observed its principal and 
 most essential points, we reached 
 the conclusion that they cover all 
 that is most important in life. 
 Their language is free from per¬ 
 plexing expressions; their prin¬ 
 ciples are so simple that they 
 ‘remain as the fish would remain 
 even after the net (of the lan¬ 
 guage) were forgotten.’ This 
 Teaching is helpful to all crea¬ 
 tures and beneficial to all men. 
 So let it have free course 
 throughout the Empire/* 
 
THE NESTORIAN INSCRIPTION 
 
 167 
 
 Orders were then issued to the 
 authorities to have a true portrait 
 of the Emperor taken; when it 
 was transferred to the wall of the 
 church, the dazzling splendour of 
 the celestial visage irradiated the 
 Illustrious portals. The sacred 
 traces emitted a felicitous influ¬ 
 ence, and shed a perpetual splen¬ 
 dour over the holy precincts. Ac¬ 
 cording to the Illustrated Memoir 
 of the Western Regions, and the 
 historical books of the Han and 
 Wei dynasties, the kingdom of 
 Syria reaches south to the Coral 
 Sea; on the north it joins the 
 Gem Mountains; on the west it 
 extends toward the borders of the 
 immortals and the flowery for- 
 
 Accordingly, the proper au¬ 
 thorities built a Ta-ch’in mon¬ 
 astery in the I-ning Ward in the 
 Capital and twenty-one priests 
 were ordained and attached to it. 
 The virtue of the honoured House 
 of Chou had died away; the 
 (rider on) the black chariot had 
 ascended to the west. But Virtue 
 revived and was manifested again 
 at the moment when the Great 
 T’ang (Dynasty) began its rule, 
 whilst the breezes of the Lumi¬ 
 nous (Religion) came eastward to 
 fan it. 
 
 Immediately afterwards, the 
 proper officials were again or¬ 
 dered to take a faithful portrait 
 of the Emperor, and to have it 
 copied on the walls of the mon¬ 
 astery. The celestial beauty ap¬ 
 peared in its variegated colours, 
 and the dazzling splendour il¬ 
 luminated the Luminous “portals” 
 (i. e. congregation). The sacred 
 features (thus preserved) con¬ 
 ferred great blessing (on the 
 monastery), and illuminated the 
 Church for evermore. 
 
 According to the descriptive 
 Records of the Western Lands 
 and the historical works of the 
 Han and Wei dynasties, the King¬ 
 dom of Ta-ch’in is bounded on the 
 
168 
 
 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 ests; on the east it lies open to 
 the violent winds and tideless 
 waters. The country produces 
 fire-proof cloth, life-restoring in¬ 
 cense, bright moon-pearls, and 
 night-lustre gems. Brigands and 
 robbers are unknown, but the peo¬ 
 ple enjoy happiness and peace. 
 None but the Illustrious laws pre¬ 
 vail; none but the virtuous are 
 raised to sovereign power. The 
 land is broad and ample, and its 
 literary productions are perspic¬ 
 uous and clear. 
 
 The Emperor Kautsung re¬ 
 spectfully succeeded his ancestor, 
 and was still more beneficent to¬ 
 ward the institution of truth. In 
 every province he caused Illus¬ 
 trious churches to be erected, and 
 ratified the honour conferred upon 
 Olopun, making him the great 
 conservator of doctrine for the 
 preservation of the State. While 
 this doctrine pervaded every 
 channel, the State became en- 
 
 south by the Coral Sea, and 
 reaches on the north to the Moun¬ 
 tain of all Precious Things; on 
 the west it looks toward the Gar¬ 
 dens of the Immortals and the 
 Flowery Forests. On the east it 
 lies open to the Long Winds and 
 the Weak Waters. The country 
 produces asbestos cloth, the soul¬ 
 restoring incense, the bright-moon 
 pearls, and night-shining gems. 
 Robberies and thefts are unknown 
 among the common people, whilst 
 every man enjoys happiness and 
 peace. None but the Luminous 
 teachings prevail; none but virtu¬ 
 ous rulers are raised to the SOV 7 
 ereign power. The territory is of 
 vast extent; and its refined laws 
 and institutions, as well as accom¬ 
 plished manners and customs, are 
 gloriously brilliant. 
 
 The great Emperor Kao-Tsung 
 (650-683 a. d.) succeeded most 
 respectfully to his ancestors; and 
 giving the True Religion the 
 proper elegance and finish, he 
 caused monasteries of the Lumi¬ 
 nous Religion to be founded in 
 every prefecture. Accordingly, 
 be honoured A-lo-pen by con¬ 
 ferring on him the office of the 
 Great Patron and Spiritual Lord 
 of the Empire. The Law (of 
 
THE NESTORIAN INSCRIPTION 
 
 169 
 
 riched and tranquility abounded. 
 Every city was full of churches, 
 and the royal family enjoyed 
 lustre and happiness. In the 
 year a. d. 699 the Buddhists, 
 gaining power, raised their voices 
 in the eastern metropolis; in the 
 year a. d. 713, some low fellows 
 excited ridicule and spread slan¬ 
 ders in the western capital. At 
 that time there was the chief 
 priest Lohan, the Greatly-virtuous 
 Kie-leih, and others of noble es¬ 
 tate from the golden regions, 
 lofty-minded priests, having aban¬ 
 doned all worldly interests; who 
 unitedly maintained the grand 
 principles and preserved them 
 entire to the end. 
 
 The high-principled Emperor 
 Hiuentsung caused the Prince of 
 Ning and others, five princes in 
 all, personally to visit the felici- 
 
 the Luminous Religion) spread 
 throughout the ten provinces, and 
 the Empire enjoyed great peace 
 and concord. Monasteries were 
 built in many cities, whilst every 
 family enjoyed the great bless¬ 
 ings (of Salvation). 
 
 During the period of Sheng-li 
 (698-699 a. d.), the Buddhists, 
 taking advantage of these circum¬ 
 stances, exercised a great influ¬ 
 ence (over the Empress Wu) and 
 raised their voices (against the 
 Luminous Religion) in the East¬ 
 ern Chou, and at the end of the 
 Hsien-t’ien period (712 a. d.) 
 some inferior (Taoist) scholars 
 ridiculed and derided it, slander¬ 
 ing and speaking against it in the 
 Western Hao. But there came 
 the Head-priest (or Archdeacon) 
 Lo-han, Bishop Chi-lieh and 
 others, as well as Noblemen from 
 the “Golden” region and the emi¬ 
 nent priests who had forsaken all 
 worldly interests. All these men 
 co-operated in restoring the great 
 fundamental principles and united 
 together to re-bind the broken 
 ties. 
 
 The Emperor Hsiian-Tsung 
 (712-755 a. d.), who was sur- 
 named “the Perfection of the 
 Way,” ordered the Royal prince, 
 
170 
 
 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 toils edifice; he established the 
 place of worship; he restored the 
 consecrated timbers which had 
 been temporarily thrown down; 
 and re-erected the sacred stones 
 which for a time had been 
 desecrated. 
 
 In 74<2 orders were given to the 
 great general Kau Lih-sz’, to send 
 the five sacred portraits and have 
 them placed in the church, and a 
 gift of a hundred pieces of silk 
 accompanied these pictures of in¬ 
 telligence. Although the dragon’s 
 beard was then remote, their bows 
 and swords were still within 
 reach; while the solar horns sent 
 forth their rays, and celestial vis¬ 
 ages seemed close at hand. 
 
 the King of Ning-Kuo, and four 
 other Royal princes to visit the 
 blessed edifices (i. e. monastery) 
 personally and to set up altars 
 therein. Thus the “consecrated 
 rafters” which had been tempo¬ 
 rarily bent, were once more 
 straightened and strengthened, 
 whilst the sacred foundation- 
 stones which for a time had lost 
 the right position were restored 
 and perfected. In the early part 
 of the period T’ien-pao (742 
 a. d.), he gave orders to his gen¬ 
 eral Kao Li-shih to carry the 
 faithful portraits of the Five Em¬ 
 perors and to have them placed 
 securely in the monastery, and 
 also to take the Imperial gift of 
 one hundred pieces of silk with 
 him, making the most courteous 
 and reverent obeisance to the Im¬ 
 perial portraits. We feel as 
 though “we were in a position to 
 hang on to the Imperial bow and 
 sword, in case the beard of the 
 Dragon should be out of reach.” 
 Although the solar horns (i. e. the 
 August and Majestic Visages) 
 shine forth with such dazzling 
 brilliance, yet the gracious Im¬ 
 perial faces are so gentle that 
 they may be gazed upon at a 
 distance less than a foot. 
 
THE NESTORIAN INSCRIPTION 
 
 171 
 
 In 744 the priest Kih-ho, in the 
 kingdom of Syria, looking toward 
 the star (of China), was attracted 
 by its transforming influence, and 
 observing the sun (i. e., Em¬ 
 peror), came to pay court to the 
 most honourable. The Emperor 
 commanded the priest Lo-han, the 
 priest Pu-lun, and others, seven in 
 all, together with the Greatly- 
 virtuous Kih-ho, to perform a 
 service of merit in the Hing-king 
 palace. Thereupon the Emperor 
 composed mottoes for the sides of 
 the church, and the tablets were 
 graced with the royal inscrip¬ 
 tions ; the accumulated gems 
 emitted their effulgence, while 
 their sparkling brightness vied 
 with the ruby clouds; the tran¬ 
 scripts of intelligence suspended 
 in the void shot forth their 
 rays as reflected by the sun; the 
 bountiful gifts exceeded the 
 height of the southern hills; the 
 bedewing favours were deep as 
 the eastern sea. Nothing is be¬ 
 yond the range of the right prin¬ 
 ciple, and what is permissible may 
 be identified; nothing is beyond 
 the power of the holy man, and 
 that which is practicable may be 
 related. 
 
 In the third year of the same 
 period (744 a. d.) there was a 
 priest named Chi-ho in the King¬ 
 dom of Ta-ch’in. Observing the 
 stars, he decided to engage in the 
 work of Conversion (lit. trans¬ 
 forming influence); and looking 
 toward the sun (i. e. eastward), 
 he came to pay court to the most 
 honourable (the Emperor). The 
 Imperial orders were given to the 
 Head-priest (Archdeacon) Lo- 
 han, priest P’u-lun and others, 
 seven in all, to perform services 
 to cultivate merit and virtue with 
 this Bishop Chi-ho in the Hsing- 
 ch’ing Palace. Thereupon the 
 monastery-names, composed and 
 written by the Emperor himself, 
 began to appear on the monastery 
 gates; and the front-tablets to 
 bear the Dragon-writing (i. e. 
 the Imperial hand-writing). The 
 monastery was resorted to by 
 (visitors) whose costumes re¬ 
 sembled the shining feathers of 
 the king-fisher bird whilst all (the 
 buildings) shone forth with the 
 splendour of the sun. The Im¬ 
 perial tablets hung high in the 
 air and their radiance flamed as 
 though vying with the sun. The 
 gifts of Imperial favour are im¬ 
 mense like the highest peak of the 
 
172 
 
 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 The accomplished and en¬ 
 lightened Emperor Suhtsung re¬ 
 built the Illustrious churches in 
 Ling-wu and four other places; 
 great benefits were conferred, 
 and felicity began to increase; 
 great munificence was displayed, 
 and the imperial State became 
 established. 
 
 The accomplished and military 
 Emperor Taitsung magnified the 
 sacred succession, and honoured 
 the latent principle of nature; al¬ 
 ways, on the incarnation-day, he 
 bestowed celestial incense, and 
 ordered the performance of a 
 service of merit; he distributed of 
 the imperial viands, in order to 
 
 highest mountains in the South, 
 and the flood of its rich benevo¬ 
 lence is as deep as the depths of 
 the Eastern sea. 
 
 There is nothing which “The 
 Way” cannot effect through the 
 Sage; and whatever it effects, 
 it is right for us to define it as 
 such an eulogy. There is nothing 
 which the Sage cannot accomplish 
 through “The Way”; and what¬ 
 ever He accomplishes, it is right 
 we should proclaim it in writing 
 (as the Sage’s work). 
 
 The Emperor Su-Tsung (756- 
 762 a. d.), the Accomplished and 
 Enlightened, rebuilt the monas¬ 
 teries of the Luminous (Religion) 
 in Ling-wu, and four other coun¬ 
 ties. The great Good Spirit con¬ 
 tinued to assist him and the happy 
 reign began anew. Great bless¬ 
 ings were given (to him and his 
 people) and the Imperial inher¬ 
 itance was made secure. 
 
 The Emperor Tai-Tsung (763- 
 779 a. d.), the Accomplished and 
 Martial, greatly magnified the 
 sacred Throne to which he suc¬ 
 ceeded. He observed the rule of 
 non-assertion and walked in The 
 Way of the Silent-operation. 
 Every year when the (Emperor’s) 
 birthday recurred, he bestowed 
 
THE NESTORIAN INSCRIPTION 
 
 173 
 
 shed a glory on the Illustrious 
 Congregation. Heaven is munifi¬ 
 cent in the dissemination of bless¬ 
 ings, whereby the benefits of life 
 are extended; the holy man em¬ 
 bodies the original principle of 
 virtue, whence he is able to coun¬ 
 teract noxious influences* 
 
 Our sacred and sage-like, ac¬ 
 complished and military Emperor 
 Kienchung appointed the eight 
 branches of government, accord¬ 
 ing to which he advanced or de¬ 
 graded the intelligent and dull; 
 he opened up the nine categories, 
 by means of which he renovated 
 the illustrious decrees; his trans¬ 
 forming influence pervaded the 
 most abstruse principles, while 
 openness of heart distinguished 
 his devotions. Thus, by correct 
 and enlarged purity of principle, 
 and undeviating consistency in 
 sympathy with others; by ex¬ 
 tended commiseration rescuing 
 multitudes from misery, while 
 disseminating blessings on all 
 around, the cultivation of our 
 
 celestial incense (on the priests) 
 wherewith to report (to Heaven) 
 the meritorious deeds accom¬ 
 plished by him. Pie distributed 
 provisions from his own table and 
 thereby gladdened the congrega¬ 
 tion of the Luminous Religion. 
 Moreever, Heaven blessed him 
 with great blessings, and what he 
 did cannot but reach far and 
 wide. As the Sage is the Embodi¬ 
 ment of the Original Way of 
 Heaven, he completes and nour¬ 
 ishes the objects of his favours. 
 
 Our present Emperor (who 
 named the present period “Chien- 
 chung” when he ascended the 
 throne in 780 a. d.) is most sacred 
 and august alike in the works of 
 Peace and War. He developed 
 the “Eight” (objects) of Govern¬ 
 ment, and degraded the unworthy 
 whilst he promoted the deserving. 
 He exhibited the “Nine divisions” 
 of the grand scheme of Imperial 
 government; and thus imparted 
 new life and vigour to his own Il¬ 
 lustrious Mission. Conversion (i. 
 e. the transforming influence) 
 leads (the people) to the under¬ 
 standing of the most mysterious 
 Principles. There is nothing to 
 hinder us from offering our 
 thanksgiving prayers for him. 
 
174 
 
 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 doctrine gained a grand basis, 
 and by gradual advances its in¬ 
 fluence was diffused. If the winds 
 and rains are seasonable, the 
 world will be at rest; men will be 
 guided by principle, inferior ob¬ 
 jects will be pure; the living will 
 be at ease, and the dead will re¬ 
 joice; the thoughts will produce 
 their appropriate response, the 
 affections will be free, and the 
 eyes will be sincere; such is the 
 laudable condition which we of 
 the Illustrious Religion are 
 labouring to attain. 
 
 Our great benefactor, the 
 Imperially-conferred-purple-gown 
 priest, I-sz’, titular Great States¬ 
 man of the Banqueting-house, 
 Associated Secondary Military 
 Commissioner for the Northern 
 
 That those who are noble and 
 exalted mav behave humble-mind- 
 edlv; that those who are devoted 
 to the Perfect Stillness may also 
 be sympathetic and lenient to 
 others; and that they may thus 
 seek, with boundless mercy, to re¬ 
 lieve the sufferings of all, and 
 with unselfish benevolence extend 
 their helping hand to all mankind, 
 these are our great plans for daily 
 discipline and training, and grad¬ 
 ual elevation of our life. Further¬ 
 more, in order that the winds and 
 rains may come in their due sea¬ 
 son; that peace and tranquillity 
 may prevail throughout the Em¬ 
 pire ; that all men may act reason¬ 
 ably; that all things may remain 
 undefiled; that the living may 
 flourish, and those who are dead 
 (or dying) may have joy; that 
 the words of the mouth may be in 
 tune with their inmost thought as 
 the echo follows the sound:—all 
 these are the meritorious fruits of 
 the power and operation of our 
 Luminous Religion. 
 
 Our great Donor, the priest 
 I-ssu who had the title of Kuang- 
 lu-ta-fu (i. e. one of the highest 
 titles conferred on an officer), 
 with the decoration-rank of the 
 Gold (signet) and the Purple 
 
THE NESTORIAN INSCRIPTION 
 
 175 
 
 Region, and Examination-palace 
 Overseer, was naturally mild and 
 graciously disposed; his mind sus¬ 
 ceptible of sound doctrine, he was 
 diligent in the performance; from 
 the distant city of Raj agriha, he 
 came to visit China; his principles 
 more lofty than those of the three 
 dynasties, his practice was per¬ 
 fect in every department; at first 
 he applied himself to duties per¬ 
 taining to the palace, eventually 
 his name was inscribed on the 
 military roll. When the Duke 
 Koh Tsz’-f, Secondary Minister of 
 State and Prince of Fan-yang, at 
 first conducted the military in the 
 northern region, the Emperor 
 Suhtsung made him (I-sz’) his at¬ 
 tendant on his travels; although 
 he was a private chamberlain, he 
 assumed no distinction on the 
 march; he was as claws and teeth 
 to the duke, and in rousing the 
 military he was as ears and eyes; 
 he distributed the wealth con¬ 
 ferred upon him, not accumulating 
 treasure for his private use; he 
 made offerings of the jewelry 
 which had been given by imperial 
 favour, he spread out a golden 
 carpet for devotion; now he re¬ 
 paired the old churches, anon he 
 increased the number of religious 
 
 Robe, and who was also the Lieu¬ 
 tenant-Governor-General of the 
 Northern Region, and the Assist¬ 
 ant Over-Seer of the Examination 
 Hall, was honoured with the pur¬ 
 ple clerical robe. He was mild in 
 his nature and was naturally dis¬ 
 posed to charity! Ever since he 
 heard of “The Way,” he endeav¬ 
 oured to practise it. From afar, 
 from the “City of the Royal 
 Palace/’ he finally came to the 
 Middle Kingdom, which in the ad¬ 
 vancement of learning now almost 
 surpasses the Three Dynasties, 
 and enjoys the full development 
 of knowledge and skill in all the 
 Arts. First performing certain 
 faithful services to (the one who 
 dwells in) the “Red Court,” he 
 finally inscribed his name in the 
 Imperial book (i. e. thus pledging 
 himself to be a loyal subject). 
 
 When the Duke Kuo Tzu-i, a 
 Secretary of State and Viceroy of 
 the Fen-yang Province, was first 
 appointed to the charge of the 
 military operations in the North¬ 
 ern Regions (750 a. d.) the Em¬ 
 peror Su-Tsung ordered him 
 (I-ssu) to accompany the Duke to 
 his command. Although so inti¬ 
 mate with the Duke as to be ad¬ 
 mitted into his sleeping-tent, yet 
 
176 
 
 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 establishments; he honoured and 
 decorated the various edifices, till 
 they resembled the plumage of the 
 pheasant in its flight; moreover, 
 practising the discipline of the Il¬ 
 lustrious Religion, he distributed 
 his riches in deeds of benevo¬ 
 lence ; every year he assembled 
 those in the sacred office from 
 four churches, and respectfully 
 engaged them for fifty days in 
 purification and preparation; the 
 naked came and were clothed; the 
 sick were attended to and re¬ 
 stored; the dead were buried in 
 repose; even among the most pure 
 and self-denying of the Budd¬ 
 hists, such excellence was never 
 heard of; the white-clad members 
 of the Illustrious Congregation, 
 now considering these men, have 
 desired to engrave a broad tablet, 
 in order to set forth a eulogy of 
 their magnanimous deeds. 
 
 so strictly and respectfully did he 
 (I-ssu) behave that he made no 
 difference between himself and 
 others on the march. He proved 
 himself to be ‘‘claw and tusk” to 
 the Duke; and “ear and eye” to 
 the Army. 
 
 He distributed all his salary as 
 well as the gifts conferred on him, 
 and did not accumulate wealth for 
 himself and for his own family. 
 He made offerings (to the monas¬ 
 tery) of the Sphatika (i. e. crys¬ 
 tal) which had been granted to 
 him by the Emperor himself, and 
 dedicated to the monastery the 
 gold-interwoven carpets which 
 (despite his humble refusal) had 
 been given to him by the Emper¬ 
 or’s own favour. He also restored 
 the old monasteries to their former 
 condition, whilst he enlarged the 
 worship-halls afresh. The corri¬ 
 dors and walls were nobly orna¬ 
 mented and elegantly decorated; 
 roofs and flying eaves with col¬ 
 oured tiles appeared like the five- 
 coloured pheasant on the wing. 
 
 Still further, ever since he took 
 refuge in the Luminous Portals, 
 he spent all his income in benevo¬ 
 lent deeds. Every year he as¬ 
 sembled the priests of the four 
 monasteries to have their reverent 
 
THE NESTORIAN INSCRIPTION 
 
 177 
 
 services and earnest offerings of 
 prayers for fifty days. The hun¬ 
 gry came to be fed; the naked 
 came to be clothed; the sick were 
 cured and restored to health; the 
 dead were buried and made to rest 
 in peace. Among the purest and 
 most self-denying Dasa (i. e. 
 man-servants) of the Lord such 
 excellent examples were never 
 heard of; but we see this very man 
 amongst the white-robed scholars 
 of the Luminous Religion! 
 
 To the glory of God for all 
 these eminent and meritorious 
 events (above described), we en¬ 
 grave the following Eulogy on 
 this great Monument. 
 
 The true Lord is without origin. 
 
 Profound, invisible, and un¬ 
 changeable ; 
 
 With power and capacity to per¬ 
 fect and transform. 
 
 He raised up the earth and estab¬ 
 lished the heavens. 
 
 Divided in nature, he entered the 
 world, 
 
 To save and to help without 
 bounds; 
 
 The sun arose, and darkness was 
 dispelled. 
 
 ODE. 
 
 It is the true Lord who was 
 Uncreated, 
 
 And was ever profoundly firm and 
 unchangeable. 
 
 He created the Universe after 
 His own plan. 
 
 And raised the Earth and framed 
 the Heaven. 
 
 Dividing His God-head, He took 
 human form 
 
 And through Him, Salvation was 
 made free to all. 
 
 The Sun arising, the darkness 
 was ended. 
 
178 
 
 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 All bearing witness to his true 
 original. 
 
 The glorious and resplendent, ac¬ 
 complished Emperor, 
 
 Whose principles embraced those 
 of preceding monarchs, 
 
 Taking advantage of the occasion, 
 suppressed turbulence; 
 
 Heaven was spread out and the 
 earth was enlarged. 
 
 When the pure, bright Illustrious 
 Religion 
 
 Was introduced to our Tang 
 dynasty. 
 
 The Scriptures were translated, 
 and churches built. 
 
 And the vessel set in motion for 
 the living and the dead; 
 
 Every kind of blessing was then 
 obtained. 
 
 And all the kingdoms enjoyed a 
 state of peace. 
 
 When Kautsung succeeded to his 
 ancestral estate. 
 
 He rebuilt the edifices of pur¬ 
 ity; 
 
 Palaces of concord, large and 
 light, 
 
 Covered the length and breadth of 
 the land. 
 
 All these facts prove that He is 
 the True Mystery. 
 
 The most Glorious and Accom¬ 
 plished Sovereign 
 
 Surpassed all His predecessors in 
 upholding “The Way ” 
 
 Taking Time at its flood. He so 
 settled all disorders 
 
 That Heaven was expanded and 
 Earth widened. 
 
 The brightest and most brilliant 
 of all teachings— 
 
 The teaching of the Luminous 
 Religion— 
 
 Took root deep and firm in our 
 Land of T’ang. 
 
 With the translation of the Scrip¬ 
 tures 
 
 And the building of convents. 
 
 We see the living and the dead all 
 sailing in one Ship of Mercy; 
 
 All manner of blessings arose, and 
 peace and plenty abounded. 
 
 Kao-Tsung succeeded to the 
 Throne of his Fathers; 
 
 He re-built the edifices for Holy 
 use. 
 
 Palaces of Peace and Concord 
 stood resplendent far and 
 near; 
 
 The rays shining from them filled 
 every part of the Empire. 
 
THE NESTORIAN INSCRIPTION 
 
 179 
 
 The true doctrine was clearly an¬ 
 nounced, 
 
 Overseers of the church were ap¬ 
 pointed in due form; 
 
 The people enjoyed happiness 
 and peace, 
 
 While all creatures were exempt 
 from calamity and distress. 
 
 When Hiuentsung commenced his 
 sacred career. 
 
 He applied himself to the cultiva¬ 
 tion of truth and rectitude; 
 
 His imperial tablets shot forth 
 their effulgence. 
 
 And the celestial writings mutu¬ 
 ally reflected their splendours. 
 
 The imperial domain was rich and 
 luxuriant, 
 
 While the whole land rendered 
 exalted homage; 
 
 Every business was flourishing 
 throughout, 
 
 And the people all enjoyed pros¬ 
 perity. 
 
 Then came Suhtsung, who com¬ 
 menced anew, 
 
 And celestial dignity marked the 
 imperial movements. 
 
 Sacred as the moon’s unsullied 
 expanse, 
 
 The truths of “The Way” were 
 made clear to all men. 
 
 Setting up a new institution, he 
 created “the Lord Spiritual”; 
 
 And every man enjoyed most 
 blessed peace and joy. 
 
 Whilst the land saw neither pain 
 nor grief. 
 
 When Hsiian-Tsung commenced 
 his glorious career. 
 
 With might and main, he pursued 
 the Way of Truth. 
 
 The temple-names written by the 
 Emperor shone forth; 
 
 The tablets of the celestial hand¬ 
 writing reflected gloriously. 
 
 The Imperial Domain was embel¬ 
 lished and studded with gems, 
 
 While the least and the remotest 
 places attained the highest 
 virtue. 
 
 All sorts of works undertaken by 
 the people flourished through¬ 
 out the land; 
 
 And each man enjoyed his own 
 prosperity. 
 
 When Su-Tsung finally was re¬ 
 stored to the throne, 
 
 The Celestial Dignity guided the 
 Imperial vehicle; 
 
 At length the sacred Sun sent 
 forth its crystal rays; 
 
180 
 
 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 While felicity was wafted like 
 nocturnal gales. 
 
 Happiness reverted to the im¬ 
 perial household. 
 
 The autumnal influences were 
 long removed; 
 
 Ebullitions were allayed, and ris¬ 
 ings suppressed, 
 
 And thus our dynasty was firmly 
 built up. 
 
 Taitsung the filial and just 
 
 Combined in virtue with heaven 
 and earth; 
 
 By his liberal bequests the living 
 were satisfied. 
 
 And property formed the channel 
 of imparting succour. 
 
 By fragrant mementoes he re¬ 
 warded the meritorious, 
 
 With benevolence he dispensed 
 his donations; 
 
 The solar concave appeared in 
 dignity. 
 
 And the lunar retreat was deco¬ 
 rated to extreme. 
 
 Felicitous winds blew, and the 
 Darkness fled; 
 
 Thus the precious Throne was 
 made secure 
 
 To the Imperial family of the 
 great T’ang. 
 
 The causes of calamity took flight 
 —never to return; 
 
 Tumults were settled and men’s 
 passions subdued; 
 
 The ideals of the Middle King¬ 
 dom were at last realized. 
 
 Tai-Tsung was filial to his par¬ 
 ents and just to all. 
 
 His virtues united with the great 
 Plans of the Universe. 
 
 By his unselfish benevolence, he 
 helped all mankind. 
 
 Whilst the greatest blessings were 
 realized in the abundance of 
 wealth and prosperity. 
 
 By burning fragrant incense, he 
 showed his gratitude; 
 
 With benevolence he distributed 
 his gifts to the people. 
 
 The Empire became so enlight¬ 
 ened as though the glory of 
 the Rising Sun in the East¬ 
 ern Valley 
 
 And the full Moon in her secret 
 cave were brought together as 
 
 one. 
 
THE NESTORIAN INSCRIPTION 
 
 181 
 
 When Kienchung succeeded to the 
 throne, 
 
 He began the cultivation of in¬ 
 telligent virtue; 
 
 His military vigilance extended 
 to the four seas. 
 
 And his accomplished purity in¬ 
 fluenced all lands. 
 
 His light penetrated the secrecies 
 of men. 
 
 And to him the diversities of ob¬ 
 jects were seen as in a mirror; 
 
 He shed a vivifying influence 
 through the whole realm of 
 nature. 
 
 And all outer nations took him 
 for example. 
 
 The true doctrine how expansive! 
 Its responses are minute; 
 
 How difficult to name it! 
 
 To elucidate the three in one. 
 
 When our present Emperor as¬ 
 cended the Throne, 
 
 He took the reins of government 
 and named the “Chien chung” 
 (period). 
 
 He devoted himself to the cultiva¬ 
 tion of the Luminous Virtue. 
 
 His military sway quelled the tu¬ 
 mults of the Dark Sea in the 
 Four Quarters, 
 
 Whilst his peaceful rule of En¬ 
 lightenment purified every 
 part of the world. 
 
 As the light from a candle shines 
 forth, so doth his glory pene¬ 
 trate the secrets of men. 
 
 As the mirror reflects all things, 
 so nothing is hid from his ob¬ 
 servant eye. 
 
 The whole Universe gets life and , 
 light because of him. 
 
 And even many of the rudest 
 tribes outside the Empire take 
 pattern by his government. 
 
 How vast and extensive is the 
 True Way! 
 
 Yet how minute and mysterious 
 it is. 
 
 Making a great effort to name it. 
 
 We declared it to be “Three-in- 
 One”! 
 
 O Lord nothing is impossible for 
 Thee! 
 
182 
 
 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 The sovereign has the power to 
 act! 
 
 While the ministers record; 
 
 We raise this noble monument! 
 To the praise of great felicity. 
 
 This was erected in the 2d year 
 of Kienchung, of the Tang dy¬ 
 nasty (a. d. 781), on the 7th day 
 of the 1st month, being Sunday. 
 
 Written by Lu Siu-yen, Secre¬ 
 tary to Council, formerly Mili¬ 
 tary Superintendent for Taichau; 
 while the Bishop Ning-shu had 
 the charge of the congregations 
 of the Illustrious in the East. 
 
 [ The two lines of Syriac are in 
 the Estrangelo character, and run 
 down the right and left sides of 
 the Chinese respectively. Kircher 
 translates this as follows:] 
 
 “Adam, Deacon, Vicar-episco¬ 
 pal and Pope of China. 
 
 In the time of the Father of 
 Fathers, the Lord John 
 Joshua, the Universal Patri¬ 
 arch.” 
 
 [The translation of the Syriac 
 at the foot of the stone is given 
 here on the authority of Kircher:] 
 
 Help Thy servants that they may 
 preach! 
 
 Hereby we raise this noble Monu¬ 
 ment, 
 
 And we praise Thee for Thy great 
 blessings upon us! 
 
 Erected in the Second vear of 
 
 «■ 
 
 the Chien-clmng period (781 
 a. d.) of the Great T’ang (Dy¬ 
 nasty), the year Star being in 
 Tso-o, on the seventh day of the 
 First month (the day being), the 
 great “Yao-sen-wen” day; when 
 the Spiritual Lord, the Priest 
 Ning-shu (i. e. “mercy and 
 peace”), was entrusted with the 
 care of the Luminous Communi¬ 
 ties of the East. 
 
 (In Syriac) In the day of our 
 Father of Fathers, my Lord 
 Hanan-isho, Catholicos, Patriarch. 
 
 (In Chinese) Written by Lii 
 Hsiu-yen, Assistant Secretary of 
 State, and Superintendent of the 
 Civil Engineering Bureau of T’ai 
 Chou (i. e. a department in 
 Che-kiang). 
 
 (Below the Inscription, partly 
 in Syriac and partly in Chinese, 
 are these notices)— 
 
THE NESTORIAN INSCRIPTION 
 
 183 
 
 “In the year of the Greeks one 
 thousand and ninety-two, the Lord 
 Jazedbuzid, Priest and Vicar- 
 episcopal of Cumdan the royal 
 city, son of the enlightened 
 Mailas, Priest of Balach a city 
 of Turkestan, set up this tablet, 
 whereon is inscribed the Dispen¬ 
 sation of our Redeemer, and the 
 preaching of the apostolic mis¬ 
 sionaries to the King of China.” 
 
 [After this, in Chinese char¬ 
 acters, is] 
 
 “The Priest Lingpau.” 
 
 [Then follows:] 
 
 “Adam the Deacon, son of Jazed- 
 buzid, Vicar-episcopal, 
 
 The Lord Sergius, Priest and 
 Vicar-episcopal. 
 
 Sabar Jesus, Priest. 
 
 Gabriel, Priest, Archdeacon, and 
 Ecclesiarch of Cumdan and 
 Sarag.” 
 
 [The following inscription is 
 appended in Chinese:] 
 
 “Assistant Examiner: the High 
 Statesman of the Sacred rites, 
 the Imperially-conferred-purple- 
 gown Chief Presbyter and Priest 
 Yf-li.” 
 
 (In Syriac) In the year one 
 thousand and ninety-two of the 
 Greeks (1092 -4- 311 = a. d. 781) 
 my Lord Yesbuzid, priest and 
 chorepiscopos of Kumdan, the 
 Royal city, son of the departed 
 Milis, priest from Balkh, a city of 
 Tehuristan, erected this Monu¬ 
 ment, wherein is written the Law 
 of Him, our Saviour, the Preach¬ 
 ing of our forefathers to the 
 Rulers of the Chinese. 
 
 (In Chinese) Priest Ling-pao. 
 
 (In Syriac) Adam, deacon, son 
 of Yezdbuzid, chor-episcopos; 
 Mar Sergius, priest and chor¬ 
 episcopos. 
 
 (In Chinese) The Examiner 
 and Collator at the erection of the 
 Stone Tablet, priest Hsing-t’ung. 
 
 (In Syriac) Sabr-isho, priest; 
 Gabriel, priest and archdeacon, 
 and the Head of the Church of 
 Kumdan and of Saragh. 
 
 (In Chinese) Assistant Ex¬ 
 aminer and Collator at the erec¬ 
 tion of the Stone Tablet, priest 
 Yeh-li the Head-priest of the 
 monastery, who is honoured with 
 the purple-coloured ecclesiastical 
 vestment, and who is the Director 
 of the Imperial Bureau of Cere¬ 
 monies, Music, and Sacrifices. 
 
184 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 So far the absorbingly interesting translations of Alex¬ 
 ander Wylie, the great British missionary, and of Pro¬ 
 fessor P. Y. Saeki, the learned Japanese sinologue! 
 
 There are still inscribed, on both slender sides of the 
 Stone, upwards of seventy names of Nestorian mission¬ 
 aries with their transliterations in Chinese. All of them 
 are enumerated in Saeki’s book. 
 
 The back of the Chingchiaopei, however, is innocent of 
 inscription. 
 
 And, I suppose, one must mention that on the right side 
 of the Monument, i. e. the left when facing the inscription, 
 is superscribed, in a most vainglorious and vandalic man¬ 
 ner, the omni-important fact that one Han Hwai Tah 
 came and visited the famous relic during a. d. 1859. 
 
 Only too vividly do I recall the righteous indignation 
 of the native stonecutters at having to add this preposter¬ 
 ous postscript of yesteryear in order that the Replica 
 might be rendered complete. 
 
IX 
 
 CROSSING THE CHINGLING RANGE 
 
 I DECIDED to make my way back to the 
 white man’s settlements by caravan and na¬ 
 tive houseboat, as I had come; that is to say, 
 I had chosen the route across the Chingling 
 Range and south along the Tan and Han rivers. 
 
 It would indeed have been quicker, cheaper 
 and more comfortable to retrace our steps to 
 Honan-fu and then proceed about one hundred 
 miles further eastward until the Kin-Han rail¬ 
 way was reached at Chengchow, whereupon both 
 Peking and Hankow would be within easy reach. 
 Yet, I thought but little of studying China from 
 a railway train and, consequently, in spite of heat 
 and health, I chose the more troublesome and 
 slower route, as I had done on the way south 
 from Tientsin. 
 
 Looking at a map of China proper, one would 
 point out the Yang-tse-kiang as the natural 
 boundary between North and South China but 
 so far as the local characteristics of the popula¬ 
 tion are concerned, this is hardly correct, and the 
 Chingling range forms a much more true barrier 
 between Manji and Cathay. 
 
 185 
 
186 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 This range, which reaches 11,000 feet in height 
 at some points, is also the southern boundary 
 line of the Loess formations, which are not found 
 in the Yang-tse valley. 
 
 Although both the northerner and the south¬ 
 erner are first and foremost essentially Chinese, 
 it is not erroneous to imply that a man from 
 Tientsin and one from Canton are pretty well as 
 different as an Icelander and a Sicilian, or as a 
 Canadian and a Mexican. Nevertheless, even 
 immediately on both sides of the Chingling 
 range, a marked difference in character and 
 mode of living may be noticed. 
 
 In the north, the people eat wheat, sleep on the 
 kang or heated bedstead, live in walled villages 
 and are slow of mind and temper. In the south 
 the population live chiefly on rice, sleep in a bed 
 or on the floor, live in houses often miles apart, 
 and are easily excited, as well as more intelligent 
 to grasp an idea than their northern brethren. 
 In the north all kinds of work are done by ani¬ 
 mals; in the south, which is in many places 
 fiercely overpopulated, most work is done by 
 human beings. 
 
 After having thanked Mr. Schaumloeffel for 
 his hospitality during our stay, Mr. Fong, Masi, 
 the caravan, and I departed on June 29th. 
 
 The trail across the mountain-passes being 
 naturally impassable for carts, our caravan con- 
 
CROSSING THE CHINGLING RANGE 187 
 
 sisted of four mules and a sedan chair of light 
 material, which I had allowed the anti-equestrian 
 Mr. Fong to use in spite of all etiquette, Mr. 
 Fong in his chair being considered a much 
 greater personage than I myself on an humble 
 mule. 
 
 I did not care, however, and the chair proved 
 more than handv afterwards, as we shall see. 
 
 The evening of the first day saw us at Lantien, 
 once noted for its jade industry, twenty-four 
 miles southeast of Sian-fu, and during sunrise 
 the next morning we entered the mountainous 
 regions of the Chingling. The initial ascent was 
 very slow and steep, and the path wound its way 
 up the mountain-side in a treacherous zig-zag, 
 with abysses yawning below our trail. 
 
 My servant Masi was on the first mule, then 
 came a couple of pack-mules, and eventually my 
 own self on an old paralytic riding-mule, while 
 Mr. Fong brought up the rear in his comfort¬ 
 able chair. 
 
 It was no real inspiration to watch one’s cases 
 and boxes, tied to loose wooden saddles, sway 
 over the chasms, while the mules that always with 
 unfailing obstinacy insisted on walking an inch 
 or less from the precipice, turned the sharp cor¬ 
 ners on the upward way. 
 
 I shuddered when I thought of the possibility 
 of beholding the box with my manuscripts, maps 
 
188 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 and instruments disappear over the mountain¬ 
 side and be done with forever. 
 
 In the evening we arrived, late and tired, at 
 a small, dirty inn at the mountain village of 
 Lanchiao, where we were hardly able to get any 
 room at all. 
 
 The inns along the mule-tracks are extremely 
 small and poor, and excessively dirty, and the 
 inn-keepers are not too obliging. 
 
 The Chingling range is undoubtedly the 
 world’s emporium for fleas, and the late Mr. 
 William Whiteley, of London, would have found 
 no difficulty in supplying the proverbial cus¬ 
 tomer, who desired to buy a pint of live fleas, had 
 he maintained an agency in these regions. Be¬ 
 sides fleas, the crowded inns swarm with the most 
 objectionable sorts of vermin, which no mosquito- 
 net can exclude, and it is next to impossible to 
 obtain even an hour’s uninterrupted rest. 
 
 The last few days in Sian-fu I had not been 
 feeling quite well and, after another sleepless 
 night, I felt worse the third morning out. 
 
 After less than an hour’s ride, I started spit¬ 
 ting blood and felt as if I were about to faint. 
 
 I could not account for these, under the cir¬ 
 cumstances, very disagreeable symptoms, but 
 decided to push on. I grew too weak to ride any 
 further, and consequently got into Mr. Fong’s 
 chair, which, although certainly not comfortable 
 
CROSSING THE CHINGLING RANGE 189 
 
 for a sick man, was naturally ten-fold better 
 than the mule. 
 
 During the next two days I was able to pro¬ 
 ceed only some twelve miles per day, both the 
 muleteers and the chairmen grumbling at the 
 delay. 
 
 As I was growing worse instead of better, suf¬ 
 fering badly from fever besides lack of sleep due 
 to the dreadful vermin, I feared that I had an 
 attack of typhoid or dysentery, or even both. 
 
 On the sixth day, near the city of Shangchow, 
 I found a solitary Catholic missionary, a student 
 of herbs, with whom I had a talk about my state 
 of health. The kind Father, who was an Italian, 
 was much concerned and wanted me to stay; but 
 I preferred to push on, and as the priest did not 
 think that my case presented any immediate 
 danger, he gave me some medicine and kindly 
 promised to come after me to Lungchiichai in 
 case I grew worse. 
 
 The Chingling mountains do not possess any 
 really grand scenery like the Rocky Mountains 
 or the Alps, although they are wild enough, so I 
 did not miss very much by being carried in the 
 semi-closed chair. Nor for that matter, did we 
 have very favourable weather, rain-showers be¬ 
 ing frequent, and the temperature low for the 
 season. 
 
 Yet I fear that even the grandest of scenery 
 
190 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 would not have found response within me in my 
 unfortunate state of health, that may have be¬ 
 come aggravated by my bathing in and drinking 
 of a mountain-stream that coursed through our 
 village the second evening from Sian-fu. 
 
 Rather vividly do I remember a night among 
 those wild deserfed passes in southern Shensi. 
 
 Feverish and exhausted, I had been unable to 
 eat any of the food that was offered by the dirty 
 inn, and our own meagre provisions had now 
 entirely given out. 
 
 For some reason or other, no bedding was 
 spread for me, and I lay down on some boards 
 with a few rags over me. 
 
 After a while, the men of mv own caravan 
 were fed and at rest; while other travellers were 
 making the usual noise before turning in. 
 
 I dozed for a while, and eventually awoke with 
 a burning thirst and a feeling of suffocation. I 
 struck a match. Only partly undressed, yet 
 hardly covered, I observed a procession of lice 
 pass in at the one side of the boards, take their 
 fill, and pass out the other way. 
 
 In disgust, I crawled down or rather fell from 
 the loose boards, making my wajr in the darkness 
 towards the courtyard, where I hoped to en¬ 
 counter a drop of water, however filthy. 
 
 The last I remember of that excursion on my 
 knees and hands is a fleeting thought of resent- 
 
CROSSING THE CHINGLING RANGE 191 
 
 merit against death, which was now irretrievably 
 overtaking me, and a slow sinking—into the 
 sticky mud of the wet yard. 
 
 When next I awoke, I was again lying upon 
 the boards that served as my bunk, with Mr. 
 Fong, and one or two others, talking rather 
 decently to me. 
 
 A dismal night for an otherwise lusty rover! 
 
 On the 5th of July we arrived at Lungchiichai, 
 and I was feeling a little stronger. I was much 
 disappointed at learning that the water was too 
 low for navigation on the Tan river as yet, and 
 that we would have to travel four days over the 
 mountains to Kingtzekuan, on the border of 
 Honan, before we should find the river navigable. 
 
 We had used seven days, thanks to my indis¬ 
 position, to get from Sian-fu to Lungchiichai, a 
 distance of only 130 miles. The journey may be 
 accomplished in five days, as Richthofen cor¬ 
 rectly remarks, but travellers usually take six. 
 
 From Lungchiichai to Kingtzekuan meant 
 another four days’ mountain journey, across 
 difficult passes and along stony river-valleys, 
 amounting to some 300 li , and I did not look for¬ 
 ward to the trip as one of pleasure in my en¬ 
 feebled state of health. 
 
 Meanwhile, there was no alternative, and we 
 accordingly started in a heavy rain the following 
 morning with our four re-employed mules, and 
 
192 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 myself in a new chair—the former carriers hay¬ 
 ing dropped me twice through gross neglect, the 
 consequence of which was dismissal, a fine of 500 
 cash, and no tip. 
 
 During our lengthy stay at Sian-fu, my serv¬ 
 ant Masi had had practically nothing to do, with 
 the sad result that the very little interest he for¬ 
 merly took in my personal comfort had entirely 
 vanished into thin air. In spite of my illness, as 
 well as several reprimands, he in no way re¬ 
 formed on the road to Lungchiichai, and en route 
 to Kingtzekuan he did not even execute my 
 orders. 
 
 Feeling a bit stronger day by day, and seeing 
 that he was playing some game of his own— 
 amongst other things wilfully sliding off his mule 
 every half hour—I got out of my chair, and, in 
 front of all the mule-men and chair-bearers, and 
 to the great consternation of several villagers, 
 gave him a sound thrashing with my excellent 
 Cossack whip, incidentally to the marked joy of 
 Mr. Fong, who had advocated such treatment 
 ages ago for his dishonesty and lies and laziness. 
 
 Although greatly against my desire, it was the 
 only course to take against open disobedience, 
 and it helped—for the day. 
 
 But that evening, when we arrived at the little 
 village of Wukwang, the rascal disappeared. I 
 sent Mr. Fong to the local yamen, and the minoi 
 
CROSSING THE CHINGLING RANGE 193 
 
 official in charge of the town at once called on 
 me, presenting himself with a deep bow, “dip¬ 
 ping” the right hand towards the ground in 
 Manchu fashion. 
 
 In half an hour the recalcitrant miscreant was 
 recaptured by some soldiers and brought before 
 me; he had been found outside the village, lectur¬ 
 ing on the cruelty of foreigners in general, and 
 myself in particular. Masi was forced by the 
 mandarin to apologize and promise better be¬ 
 haviour. He looked very cheap and was eventu¬ 
 ally reinstated in his post as boy-cook, which he 
 could use any time he chose for poisoning me. 
 
 The next day, Sunday, I felt still better after 
 a tolerably good night, and during the forenoon 
 we crossed not less than four passes of consider¬ 
 able altitude. 
 
 Masi’s lesson of the previous day had evidently 
 not been serious enough, for he feigned sun¬ 
 stroke, although the sun did not shine, and his 
 former inability to keep his balance on mule-back 
 manifested itself again, with the consequence that 
 I saw myself compelled to give him another good 
 thrashing. This action altered his behaviour for 
 the time being, but in the evening he escaped 
 again at the hsien-town of Shangnan. 
 
 This I thought, was too much of a good thing, 
 and I sent Mr. Fong to the magistrate with my 
 Chinese visiting-card and passport in order to 
 
194 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 get his immediate assistance and have the fellow 
 arrested. 
 
 The magistrate, who was a Ningpo-man, 
 would have cut off Masi’s ears and nose, had I 
 asked him to do so. He was only too eager 
 to assist me, cursing my servant’s behaviour, 
 especially when hearing that I was barely 
 convalescing. 
 
 Masi was eventually found, arrested by sol¬ 
 diers once more, and brought to the inn in a 
 somewhat pride-reduced state. He was rein¬ 
 stated again, but this time under the argus eye of 
 a soldier from the yamen, who followed us for 
 the next two days to Kingtzekuan in order to 
 embody the magistrate’s guarantee of decent be¬ 
 haviour on the culprit’s part. 
 
 I fined Masi heavily for his two unwarranted 
 escapades, and he seemed to reform—a little. 
 
 The reason we had been able from day to day 
 to avoid the usual escort of soldiers after leaving 
 Sian-fu was that, when sending the officials there 
 my p, p. c. cards, I had intentionally given a 
 wrong date for our departure. It was quite a 
 treat to travel without the superfluous military 
 guard, and we were certainly numerous enough 
 among ourselves, for with chair-bearers and 
 mule-drivers we numbered ten. 
 
 At Shangnan the population was complaining 
 of the same drought that had hindered us from 
 
CROSSING THE CHINGLING RANGE 195 
 
 getting a boat at Lungchiichai; and in the 
 evening the villagers formed a long procession, 
 firing crackers and beating gongs, in order to 
 induce the rain-joss to send some water. I do 
 not know whether the procession succeeded in 
 obtaining any results. 
 
 The population of these mountain regions 
 which, by the way, is rather scarce, suffers largely 
 from a peculiar, goitre-like, apparently incurable 
 throat-disease, which swells the neck to double 
 and even treble the normal size. I tried to gather 
 some information from various villages, and it 
 appears that the evil is attributed to the drinking 
 water, which one would think should be quite 
 pure here, and that the disease, which is not pain¬ 
 ful, exclusively attacks adults, men and women 
 alike, and never children. The many hundreds I 
 observed suffering from the disease, presented a 
 very unattractive appearance with their thick¬ 
 ened bull-necks, and certainly deserve great 
 sympathy. 
 
 Several patients called on me in the hope that 
 I might be a physician, but unfortunately I had 
 to disappoint the poor wretches. 
 
 Our last caravan-night in the Chingling we 
 passed at Sankwanmiao, a village consisting of 
 some five or six clumsy stone houses, situated in 
 the narrow gorge of a dry, stony river-bed. 
 
 In the early afternoon on July 9th we arrived 
 
196 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 at the military stronghold of Kingtzekuan on the 
 river Tan. 
 
 A Likin, or internal revenue station, was situ¬ 
 ated here. Altogether, the MacKay Treaty of 
 1902, providing for the abolition of Likin, has 
 shown itself regrettably ineffective, for since the 
 treaty was ratified, more stations are said to have 
 been created. The Kingtzekuan customs-bar, 
 however, is an old one, and was originally opened 
 to levy a tax for the preservation of the river- 
 banks. The officials, when the banks were once 
 more in good order, did not like to close down the 
 handy station, for obvious reasons, and it has 
 been kept open till this day. 
 
 Anything to squeeze the people! 
 
 During the day we dismissed our muleteers 
 and chair-coolies, and we succeeded in making a 
 contract with one of the long river-skiffs for 
 taking us south as far as Laohokow on the Han 
 Kiang, about 360 li, say 110 miles. 
 
 In the late afternoon we went on board with 
 all our belongings, and I hoisted, on a bamboo- 
 stick, the Danish flag, “Dannebrog,” of which I 
 had caused an approximate likeness to be made 
 at Sian-fu. 
 
 A Chinese tailor had copied it from a colour- 
 print in my possession of the emblem, flown by 
 the Royal Navy; but I hope that a gracious 
 government will accept my apologies for tern- 
 
CROSSING THE CHINGLING RANGE 197 
 
 porarily misappropriating the naval ensign 
 considering the peculiar circumstances. 
 
 Mayhap I should have done originally as did 
 that much-discussed explorer of the frozen 
 north, Civil Engineer R. E. Peary—styled 
 “Rear-Admiral” by himself and the unwary— 
 and as did many another traveller in many a 
 strange land: I should have brought with me my 
 national banner, sewn in silk by beauteous ladies 
 at home, so that I might appropriately “nail” 
 the emblem onto any result of my expedition, 
 whether real or imagined. 
 
 But, like so many other things—I shall men¬ 
 tion only pianos, libraries, champagne, and 
 phonographs—which some explorers consider es¬ 
 sential, the Danish flag had been overlooked in 
 the initial shuffle for making a start from Lon¬ 
 don and New York, and, truth to tell, the idea 
 of using my flag entered my head only after see¬ 
 ing the magic effect created by the use of Chinese 
 governmental banners, and even one or two for¬ 
 eign flags, in the interior of the Middle Kingdom. 
 
 I simply had to follow suit, and that is the 
 secret of the two Danish cotton-flags which the 
 native tailor made for me at Sian-fu, and of 
 which I used one on my boats and carts, while the 
 other was to fly over the Replica for protection— 
 but I am anticipating the sequence of events. 
 
 We made a start that afternoon from Kingtze- 
 
198 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 kuan, and managed to cover quite a few miles, 
 despite lively rapids and troublesome shallows, 
 before dark set in, whereupon we “dropped the 
 hook” on the rocky bank for the night. 
 
X 
 
 A FAST HOUSEBOAT TRIP 
 
 T HE boat I had chartered was a long, nar¬ 
 row skiff, the usual type on the upper 
 Tan, where the river is narrow and rapids 
 frequent. 
 
 The middle part of the boat was divided into 
 small, athwart ship compartments, destined for 
 cargo, and made the boat look like a miniature 
 horse or cattle ferry. This part of the vessel was 
 covered with matting, which was encouragingly 
 leaky so as to permit buckets of rain to pass 
 through, a very agreeable circumstance which 
 caused me and my bedding to get thoroughly 
 drenched the second night. 
 
 The first day we made our way through many 
 small rapids with beautiful clear water, and in¬ 
 numerable large and small shallows, where the 
 boatmen had to jump out and help the light 
 skiff over. 
 
 We passed numerous boats going up the river 
 with light cargoes, and all had to encounter and 
 conquer the difficulties laid in their way by the 
 shallows, with the consequence that all the boat¬ 
 men worked naked, ready to jump out, or rather 
 
 199 
 
200 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 in, at any given moment. Their brown and yel¬ 
 low bodies gleamed, with Malayan picturesque¬ 
 ness, against a background of white and grey 
 sails, in the golden sunshine overhead. 
 
 Sometimes, when some unfortunate boat had 
 become hopelessly entangled among sand-banks, 
 the men would get out and perform a most 
 peculiar-looking war-dance in order to create a 
 channel with their feet, through which they might 
 safely pull and push the stranded vessel. 
 
 During the three days we passed in this un¬ 
 comfortable boat, I almost succeeded in regain¬ 
 ing my health, thanks to rest and air and 
 occasional sun. 
 
 Towards evening on July 11th, we passed the 
 village of Likwanchiao, which enjoys the reputa¬ 
 tion of being a veritable nest of pirates and 
 brigands. 
 
 We anchored for the night south of the town, 
 and I told the boatmen that, in case I heard any 
 suspicious noise during the night, or if I heard 
 either of the two “doors” tampered with, I would 
 discharge my revolver instantly. Fortunately, I 
 was afforded no opportunity for doing any shoot¬ 
 ing, and the night passed very quietly until the 
 boat was started on her voyage at daybreak. 
 
 The next morning was a very rainy one, and it 
 was not possible to enjoy the pretty hill-scenery, 
 through which we were passing, from the deck. 
 
{Top, left ) Tang Pagoda south of the Shensi Capital. 
 (Top, right) Mohammedan Mosque in Sian-fn ; oldest in China. 
 ( Bottom, left) River craft on the Tan. 
 
 ( Bottom, right) My houseboat on the Han River, with Danish 
 
 flag at mast. 
 
A FAST HOUSEBOAT TRIP 
 
 201 
 
 I am afraid that if my friends could have seen me 
 that morning, they would hardly have recog¬ 
 nized me. 
 
 I was sitting, wet and disgusted, on a small 
 packing-case, under the leaky matting, in the 
 bottom of the skiff, trying to make something 
 like order out of the notes belonging to the sev¬ 
 eral scores of negatives I had exposed during 
 the past ten weeks. My face Avas unshaven, my 
 hair was as long as that of a Russian priest, not 
 having been cut since I left Tientsin, my khaki 
 was wet and not particularly clean, and my 
 surroundings looked like a minor warehouse, 
 full of boxes, cases, household utensils, and 
 what not. 
 
 The “floor” of the next section was strewn 
 with articles of wet clothing and thousands of 
 copper-cash on pieces of string—part of our 
 cash-in-hand—all surmounted by my mosquito- 
 net, looking moist and sad. Near my mattress- 
 bed was standing Masi’s box, containing his few 
 personal belongings, of which I had paternally 
 taken charge to prevent future disappearances. 
 
 I myself, and the surroundings, thus presented 
 anything but an inviting picture, and I repeat 
 my suspicion that many a fastidious friend would 
 have passed me unheeded. Still I did not grum¬ 
 ble much—only a little—and I nurtured the con¬ 
 solation that my friends do not as a rule take 
 
202 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 their afternoon-walk on the banks of the Tan in 
 Honan. 
 
 In the early afternoon of July 12th, we arrived 
 at Laohokow, a very considerable trade-port of 
 great age. A little above the city, almost w r here 
 we passed from Honan into Hupeh, the Tan 
 Xiang joins the larger Han Kiang, which is one 
 of the most important rivers, so far as navigation 
 is concerned, of the entire country. 
 
 During the afternoon I chartered a house-boat 
 of the “San Tsang Pai Tsz” type for 16,000 
 large cash, or about thirteen dollars gold, to take 
 me and my belongings safely to Hankow, a dis¬ 
 tance of some five hundred miles. When the 
 usual advance-money had been paid, we moved 
 from our little Kingtzekuan skiff to the larger 
 house-boat and straightaway settled down in the 
 cabin as comfortably as possible. 
 
 Laohokow was left behind when the sun ap¬ 
 peared, and we began a six days’ rather unevent¬ 
 ful voyage. The strong current of the Han 
 permitted us to do upwards of six, even seven 
 miles an hour—a considerable improvement com¬ 
 pared with our speed on the Grand Canal. 
 
 Masi, now that he had no chance to slide off 
 any mule-back, and presumably disliking the 
 idea of sliding off into the yellow stream, behaved 
 quite well. He even surprised me on the first 
 day by serving a well-roasted chicken with rice 
 
A FAST HOUSEBOAT TRIP 
 
 203 
 
 and Chinese gravy, a feat that he had, to my 
 knowledge, never performed before. On the 
 second day he came and told me, evidently on the 
 verge of crying, how grief-stricken he felt that 
 he had endeavoured to run away in the mountains 
 and that he would never attempt such a thing 
 again. I replied that I fully reciprocated and 
 appreciated his feelings, of which statement he 
 understood not a word. 
 
 The swift current of the Han is not beneficial 
 to its banks. The number of landslides is enor¬ 
 mous, and it is said to be an every-day event that 
 a house on the banks, sometimes with, sometimes 
 without its inhabitants, disappears in the mud of 
 the river-bottom. 
 
 Now and then, when sitting in the cabin, writ¬ 
 ing or reading, I would suddenly hear a noise 
 like that of distant thunder, or of an oncoming 
 avalanche, and, on looking out through the cabin- 
 window, would perceive tons of mud disappear¬ 
 ing with a tremendous splash in the foaming 
 water. 
 
 The “camel-men” who pull the junks up 
 against the current, are exposed, so the skipper 
 told me, to the constant danger of these land¬ 
 slides. They have to tread hard on the tow-path 
 as they pull along, and it is often that a piece of 
 land gives way, throwing the land-sailors into the 
 water, from which they are but seldom rescued. 
 
204 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 A good Chinaman would not think of robbing 
 the river-spirits of their chosen victim! 
 
 During the afternoon we reached the impor¬ 
 tant transit city of Siangyang, which is in lively 
 ferry communication with Fancheng on the left 
 side of the Han. The main-road from the 
 upper Yangtse regions to the northern part of 
 Honan, and beyond, crosses the river here. The 
 telegraph-wire is stretched across from Siang¬ 
 yang to Fancheng between two very high, well- 
 supported masts, presenting one of the widest 
 spans I remember to have seen. 
 
 At Tungkwan, in Shensi, there is a similar im¬ 
 posing stretch of wire across the Hwang-ho, 
 which usually, when wind or snow sets in, makes 
 itself inconspicuous to the eye by falling down. 
 Perhaps under-water cables would not be en¬ 
 tirely out of place at such points. The high-road 
 from Fancheng to Honan-fu, incidentally, is con¬ 
 sidered very dangerous, infested as it is with 
 organized bands of well-armed robbers. 
 
 There are not many cities and villages along 
 the Han. The houses are mostly lying apart; 
 everybody looking out for his own. 
 
 We were entering South China proper, where 
 rice and tea are grown, where the sun burns in 
 the summer with tropical strength, and where the 
 heavy, dark-grey, good-natured buffalo is in evi¬ 
 dence everywhere. When the day’s toil is over, 
 
A FAST HOUSEBOAT TRIP 
 
 205 
 
 the farm-boys ride their buffaloes down the steep 
 bank, and the tired animal enjoys half an hour’s 
 immersion in the cooling water, half buried in the 
 mud. Only the eyes, nose and horns are visible, 
 and it is good fun to watch the trouble which the 
 small boys must daily plan against and conquer, 
 in order to induce the water-buffalo to leave 
 his bath. 
 
 Whenever we passed a village, a rare occur¬ 
 rence, we stopped to buy fresh provisions, Masi 
 earning the inevitable “squeeze.” 
 
 Having nearly recovered from my recent ill¬ 
 ness it was only reasonable that another ailment 
 should take its place. I had not been careful 
 enough with my eyes and, consequently, con¬ 
 tracted an acute attack of conjunctivitis, which 
 caused me a good deal of annoyance, as I did not 
 dare read or write. 
 
 It was evident that we were nearing more 
 civilized regions, for we again met with 10-cash 
 coins, equalling one Mexican cent, and we were 
 even able to change one or two Mexican dollars 
 without much loss or trouble. 
 
 The night between the 17th and 18th we were 
 able to make progress throughout the night, 
 thanks to the moon; and in the evening of the 
 18th of July, at 8 p. m., we turned from the Han 
 into the enormous Yang-tse-kiang between the 
 cities of Hanyang and Hankow. 
 
206 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 A little later I was once more able to enjoy a 
 European dinner in a good, foreign hotel, the 
 Astor House. 
 
 It was quite a strange sensation to see so many 
 white people around. 
 
 I got all the luggage safely up to my room in 
 the Astor House Hotel, where I had not stayed 
 for more than five years, paid the boat-people 
 off, and enjoyed a long night’s rest in a com¬ 
 fortable bed. 
 
 My first act after getting up in the morning 
 was to despatch the worthy Masi to his Egyptian 
 flesh-pots in Tientsin. I sent him by the Kin- 
 Han’s newly opened railway line to Peking, 
 from where another train would take him to the 
 city of his heart. I was very glad to see the last 
 of him, yet still worse was to befall me as far as 
 servants were concerned. 
 
 This not being a book on China’s treaty-ports, 
 I shall say next to nothing about Hankow. 
 
 The five years and a half that had elapsed since 
 I last visited the city had not changed it very 
 much. There were the same old, and some new 
 foreign faces to be seen, there were the same fre¬ 
 quent dinners, the same club-life, the same alco¬ 
 holism, the same wearisome afternoon teas at the 
 race-course. 
 
 Some improvement and progress were to be 
 traced in the half-dozen foreign settlements; a 
 
A FAST HOUSEBOAT TRIP 
 
 205 
 
 the farm-boys ride their buffaloes down the steep 
 bank, and the tired animal enjoys half an hour’s 
 immersion in the cooling water, half buried in the 
 mud. Only the eyes, nose and horns are visible, 
 and it is good fun to watch the trouble which the 
 small boys must daily plan against and conquer, 
 in order to induce the water-buffalo to leave 
 his bath. 
 
 Whenever we passed a village, a rare occur¬ 
 rence, we stopped to buy fresh provisions, Masi 
 earning the inevitable “squeeze.” 
 
 Having nearly recovered from my recent ill¬ 
 ness it was only reasonable that another ailment 
 should take its place. I had not been careful 
 enough with my eyes and, consequently, con¬ 
 tracted an acute attack of conjunctivitis, which 
 caused me a good deal of annoyance, as I did not 
 dare read or write. 
 
 It was evident that we were nearing more 
 civilized regions, for we again met with 10-cash 
 coins, equalling one Mexican cent, and we were 
 even able to change one or two Mexican dollars 
 without much loss or trouble. 
 
 The night between the 17th and 18th we were 
 able to make progress throughout the night, 
 thanks to the moon; and in the evening of the 
 18th of July, at 8 p. m., we turned from the Han 
 into the enormous Yang-tse-kiang between the 
 cities of Hanyang and Hankow. 
 
210 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 was then proposed, and drunk, the band striking 
 up all the national hymns they had on record. 
 
 It was a great concert! 
 
 When the turn came for the brass-band to 
 render the Danish national anthem, “King Chris¬ 
 tian,” once so admirably translated by Longfel¬ 
 low, the Danish consul and I stepped up to His 
 Excellency, who patiently listened to the musical 
 crashes that symbolize the martial doings of our 
 Thirty Year War hero. The viceroy whispered 
 the same compliments to us which he had used 
 after the performance of the other anthems, and 
 the viceregal hospitality had run its charming 
 course for the nonce. 
 
 A few minutes later, the courteous viceroy, 
 according to Chinese custom, saw his guests to 
 the gate. 
 
 Then, guard of honour, soldier-lined streets, 
 dispatch-boat, iced drinks, and back to Hankow 
 once more. 
 
 I still, for various reasons, remained another 
 fortnight at Hankow, but after having received 
 certain information from the interior, I engaged 
 a new servant, recommended by the hotel, and 
 departed, on the eve of the 17th of August, by 
 the weekly, Peking-bound express-train. 
 
XI 
 
 THE VENERABLE CITY OF 
 KAIFENG-FU 
 
 T HE Peking-Hankow, or the Kin-Han, 
 railway line, is the first great railway en¬ 
 terprise in China, the stretch covering over 
 seven hundred miles. 
 
 The weekly “train de luxe ” for Peking leaves 
 Hankow at eleven in the evening. The fares are 
 very high and the compartments more than Puri¬ 
 tanic, so far as upholstering, light and sleepers 
 are concerned. 
 
 On August the 18 th in the afternoon we 
 Reached the city of Chengchow, situated but a 
 few miles south of the Yellow River. I and my 
 new boy alighted here with our luggage and our 
 outfit for a new expedition. 
 
 I found a store, run by two Corsicans, close to 
 the little station, and I was able to get a fairly 
 clean room in their house. It happened that it 
 was not the last time I stayed under the hospi¬ 
 table roof of Messieurs Leca and Luciani. 
 
 And now I must disclose the reason for this 
 new quest into the interior. 
 
 While still at Sian-fu in June, I had made a 
 
 211 
 
214 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 capital of Honan province—the original Middle 
 Kingdom. 
 
 The branch line from Chengchow to Kai- 
 feng-fu, part of the unfinished Pien-lo, or 
 Kaifeng-fu to Honan-fu railway, had been 
 opened a few months before, and the following 
 noon consequently saw me off on a most uninter¬ 
 esting railway-trip across a sandy plain, which 
 had more than frequently enough been entirely 
 under water, thanks to the dreaded inundations 
 of Hwang-ho, “China’s Sorrow.” 
 
 Four hours’ drive through heat and dust 
 brought us to Kaifeng station, from where a 
 cart took my belongings to the best Chinese 
 inn in town, where the only foreigner—as in 
 Sian-fu the Chinese postmaster—had kindly 
 engaged rooms for me in response to a wired 
 request. 
 
 After an excuse for an early dinner I had my 
 American camp-bed stretched out and soon fell 
 asleep, despite the uproarious noise that always 
 prevails throughout the entire night in all 
 Chinese urban caravanserais. 
 
 The next morning I paid a visit to the Chinese 
 postmaster, an Irish gentleman by the name of 
 Captain Perry Ayscough. I was received with 
 great friendliness and we arranged to meet again 
 in the afternoon. 
 
 From the post-office I proceeded in a four- 
 
THE VENERABLE CITY OF KAIFENG-FU 215 
 
 coolie sedan-chair to the Yang Wu Chii, or pro¬ 
 vincial bureau of foreign affairs, where I had the 
 pleasure of meeting the interpreter, Magistrate 
 Chang Shu Shen. I left cards with him for the 
 new governor of Honan and for various other 
 officials, and my passport was inspected. Mr. 
 Chang had been educated in the United States 
 and spoke English with amazing fluency. 
 
 When comparing Kaifeng, capital of Honan, 
 with Sian, capital of Shensi, no end of credit is 
 due to the former. 
 
 The principal streets in the whole of the 
 strongly-walled, extensive city are well-macad¬ 
 amized roads, lighted at night with oil-lamps on 
 stands, and smartly policed by foreign-drilled 
 men, who carry—to the astonishment of the vis¬ 
 itor—rifles with fixed bayonets all night. During 
 the daytime the policemen carry sticks with 
 which to direct the heavy traffic of wheelbarrows, 
 large and small carts, private vehicles, and even 
 ’rickshaws, which are said to have come with the 
 opening of the railroad. 
 
 The gates of the city, which, like those of all 
 other walled cities, are invariably locked and 
 bolted from sunset to sunrise, are well-guarded 
 by soldiers and police; and when I entered the 
 city the petty-officer in charge asked to see my 
 passport. 
 
 Considering his inferior rank, I reluctantly 
 
216 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 declined to go to that trouble, the passport lying 
 in one of my boxes, and told him that he could 
 send somebody to the inn if he wished to see it, as 
 I was not in the habit of making public demon¬ 
 strations in support of my peaceful intentions 
 amidst the curious mob surrounding us in the 
 traffic under the main-gate of any city. I event¬ 
 ually pacified the strenuous individual by hand¬ 
 ing him my red Chinese visiting-card, which 
 caused him to bow and scrape like the officious 
 fellow he was. 
 
 As arranged, I met Mr. Ayscough in the after¬ 
 noon, and we went for a long ride in order to give 
 me an opportunity to admire the sights of the 
 provincial capital. 
 
 It is generally a little known fact that, 
 amongst her four hundred millions, China counts 
 a couple of hundred Chinese Hebrews. 
 
 According to their own saying, the Israelites 
 arrived in the Flowery Kingdom during the 
 reign of one of the Han dynasties, or between the 
 years 200 b. c. and 200 a. d. The Jesuit writers 
 believe that the Jews came overland from India 
 or Persia about a. d. 65. 
 
 The greatest Jewish colony in China has al¬ 
 ways been located at Kaifeng-fu. Yet Hebrews 
 were found both in Ningpo and Hangchow, in 
 the coast province of Chekiang; and in Sian-fu a 
 Jewish community with a synagogue flourished 
 
THE VENERABLE CITY OF KAIFENG-FU 217 
 
 at the same time the Nestorian monks propa¬ 
 gated their Christianity. 
 
 It is quite a remarkable fact that, whenever 
 we study the earlier explorers’ notes, we almost 
 invariably find that, where Nestorian Christians 
 founded a community, the Jews followed, or 
 vice versa. 
 
 This, I believe, can hardly be due to any feel¬ 
 ing of fraternity, but rather to the fact that the 
 Chinese idolaters of these various places raised 
 no objection to the presence of alien elements 
 and religions, which fact spread among all 
 foreigners. 
 
 The first Chinese synagogue at Kaifeng-fu 
 was built in the year 1163, in other words only 
 thirty-four years after the city had ceased to be 
 the capital of the “Middle Flowery Kingdom,” 
 an honour it had held since a. d. 960. Unfortu¬ 
 nately, succeeding synagogues were destroyed 
 several times by the frightful inundations of the 
 Yellow River. 
 
 The Jewish colonies were generally respected 
 throughout the empire and the members lived in 
 obedience to the ancient Law of Moses. The 
 Jews, however, were not favoured by luck. 
 
 While the outlying communities simply faded 
 away into nothingness, even the strong Kaifeng 
 colony became less powerful, the synagogue and 
 its members receiving what may be called their 
 
218 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 death-blow during the great inundation in 1849, 
 although Marco Polo speaks about the influence 
 of the Hebrews during the reign of Kublai Khan, 
 mentioning that they were then at least numerous 
 enough to exercise considerable political control. 
 
 Not until the beginning of the seventeenth 
 century did the European and Chinese Jews 
 come to know of each others’ existence. 
 
 The celebrated Father Matteo Ricci wrote the 
 following interesting account to the pope: 
 
 Shortly after a. d. 1600 a Chinese called on 
 Father Ricci at Peking, having learned that 
 there were aliens in the capital who believed in 
 but one God, and that without being Saracens! 
 
 Father Ricci led his guest into a Catholic 
 chapel, where were hung one picture of Mary 
 with the infant Christ and John the Baptist, and 
 another representing four of the Apostles. 
 
 The Chinese visitor at once exclaimed: 
 
 This picture is Rebecca with her sons Jacob 
 and Esau, and that one shows four of the sons of 
 Jacob. But as he had twelve, why do you only 
 honour four?” 
 
 This remark led to lengthy discussions which 
 eventually showed that Father Ricci’s visitor was 
 a Chinese Israelite from Kaifeng-fu, who was in 
 Peking to pass his literary examination. 
 
 The incident related led to further communi¬ 
 cation with Kaifeng-fu, Julius Aleni being the 
 
THE VENERABLE CITY OF KAIFENG-FU 219 
 
 first foreigner to visit the Jewish community at 
 Kaifeng, in 1613, after the interesting experience 
 of Father Ricci, who had died in 1610. 
 
 Mr. Ayscough and I rode through the densely 
 populated business quarter of the city, our first 
 destination being a Mohammedan mosque, where 
 most of the remaining Jewish relics are now rev¬ 
 erently kept—Moses being considered a Moslem 
 prophet. 
 
 When Dr. Martin, in 1866, visited the Jewish 
 colony at Kaifeng-fu, the few living members of 
 that formerly so powerful body, amounting to 
 some three or four hundred souls, struggled for 
 bare life in great distress, having even been 
 forced, as they acknowledged with shame, to sell 
 the timber and other building-material of their 
 last synagogue, which had long been in a dilapi¬ 
 dated state. 
 
 Many of the Jews had become Mohammedans, 
 and a good many of the Hebraic scrolls and 
 signs, bearing ancient inscriptions, had been de¬ 
 posited in a mosque near by. 
 
 A few years ago a society was formed by the 
 Jews of various nations at Shanghai with a view 
 to reviving the brother community at Kaifeng-fu, 
 but its success, so far as I have been able to ascer¬ 
 tain, has only been theoretical. 
 
 The two hundred odd Jews that still remain in 
 Kaifeng-fu do not even observe the Sabbath, and 
 
220 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 are indeed, judging from their appearance and 
 lodgings, reduced to a state of abject poverty 
 and slovenliness of faith. 
 
 It is a strange fact that, while Jews and Nesto- 
 rians may practically be considered extinct in 
 China, and while the Christianity of today meets 
 with but limited success, Buddhism and Moham¬ 
 medanism flourish as the most popular of the 
 introduced religions. 
 
 This is even more strange when we consider 
 that the Buddhists and Moslems receive no moral 
 support whatever, while Christian converts are 
 protected by the whole corps diplomatique at 
 Peking, with their foreign “drill and drum” to 
 support them, looking entirely apart from the 
 material advantages a Chinese Christian occa¬ 
 sionally obtains through influential and obliging 
 missionaries. 
 
 Mr. Ayscough, a Chinese postal clerk, and I, 
 reached the mosque in due course of time and 
 were courteously received by the mullahs, who 
 invited us to take a cup of tea. 
 
 Yet, a great disappointment awaited us, for 
 when, through the native clerk, we manifested 
 our desire to inspect some of the Jewish relics, 
 the answer came in the form of a polite, but 
 firm, refusal. 
 
 Our visit of Hebrew intent to the Mussulmen 
 thus turned out a marked failure—a word I hate! 
 
THE VENERABLE CITY OF KAIFENG-FU 221 
 
 Later on, I succeeded in finding out that, 
 about a year earlier, two foreigners, whose names 
 and nationality shall not he disclosed here, had 
 visited the mosque and, under one pretext or 
 another, had obtained a couple of old Hebraic 
 manuscripts from the chief-mull ah, against the 
 promise of a considerable sum of money. The 
 foreigners left, and as the promised remittance 
 never arrived, the mullahs eye all strange visitors 
 with polite suspicion. 
 
 It also appears that an American travelling 
 photographer, named Bainbridge, nervous at 
 finding himself the centre of a great throng of 
 devoted natives, the day being Friday, or Mos¬ 
 lem Sunday, had quite recently committed the 
 grave mistake of producing a revolver. 
 
 The praying Mohammedans naturally re¬ 
 sented such a warlike display, and a foreigner is 
 for the time being anything but persona grata in 
 the Kaifeng mosque. 
 
 After another cup of tea, we departed, sadder 
 and wiser, and proceeded to the site where the 
 large, beautiful synagogue had once stood. 
 
 It was a dismal sight! 
 
 The grounds were rather extended, with a pool 
 of stagnant, green, slimy water in the middle, 
 but not a brick, not a remnant of a ruin was to 
 be seen. 
 
 The only visible mementos of dead glory were 
 
222 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 two memorial slabs of badly-preserved work¬ 
 manship. They tell us, or rather their inscrip¬ 
 tions do, that in the year 1163, when Long 
 Hing of the South Sung dynasty reigned, and 
 Lee-Wei (Levy) was rabbi, the first local 
 synagogue was built; they record the faith of 
 Israel and some of the history of the Jews in 
 China; and they inform us of the community’s 
 difficulties after the fall of the Ming dynasty 
 in 1644. 
 
 Postmaster Ayscough was mounted on a little 
 pony the size of a large St. Bernard dog, while 
 I rode a mule that would have matched harmoni¬ 
 ously the average baby-elephant. It must have 
 been quite a diverting spectacle to behold us 
 coming along. 
 
 We rode at the foot of the city-wall to the 
 northeast corner of the city, where we admired 
 the tall thirteen-storied “iron-pagoda,” which 
 must be at least 200 feet high. The natives call 
 it the iron-pagoda, presumably owing to the 
 yellow-rusty colour of the tiles that cover it from 
 the ground to the top. 
 
 Our way home led through the Manchu city, 
 which is supposed, as in other provincial capitals, 
 to be surrounded by a special wall. This was 
 also the case here and the gates were carefully 
 locked at night. The only perplexing circum¬ 
 stance was that the wall had tumbled down in 
 
THE VENERABLE CITY OF KAIFENG-FU 223 
 
 several places, giving free access to the privacy 
 of the “governing’ 5 race. It was, consequently, 
 somewhat difficult to understand why the gates 
 were there at all, especially as nobody seemed to 
 make use of them. 
 
 On our way back we passed the local Serpen¬ 
 tine, called the Dragon Lake, and upon my ar¬ 
 rival at the inn I found that Magistrate Chang 
 had returned my visit during my absence. 
 
 I dined with Captain Ayscough, who had seen 
 service in British West and South Africa, and 
 spent a very pleasant evening on the roof of the 
 post-office with him. 
 
 The next morning a soldier called almost be¬ 
 fore daylight with a letter in flowing English, 
 which read: 
 
 Foreign Office, 
 Kaifeng, Honan. 
 
 21st August, 1907. 
 
 Dear Mr, Holm: 
 
 The directors of this Office shall be glad 
 to meet you this afternoon at three o’clock 
 sharp. I think you better come here in 
 your uniform, as I shall be pleased to 
 present you to His Excellency the Gov¬ 
 ernor at his yamen after the interview. 
 
 With cordial regards, 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 Chang Shu Shen. 
 
224 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 This was quite an unexpected manifestation 
 of gracious courtesy, and I consequently set out 
 for the provincial Foreign Office, after tiffin, in 
 my sedan-chair. 
 
 Arriving at the Yang Wu Chii, I was received 
 by Mr. Chang, who conducted me to a very airy, 
 foreign-style-furnished reception-hall, where sev¬ 
 eral mandarins were waiting for my arrival. 
 
 I was in turn introduced to the old permanent 
 Director Wu, of the Foreign Office, two or three 
 taotais, a couple of prefects, and some other 
 polite and smiling gentlemen, all of whom spoke 
 only their native tongue. 
 
 Mr. Chang, of course, acted as an accomplished 
 interpreter, until the arrival of the Nieh-tai, or 
 provincial judge, the third ranking official of the 
 province, was announced. I was duly introduced 
 to the man who commands the fate, within the 
 law, of so many millions. He turned out to be 
 an amiable, jovial, old gentleman, who char¬ 
 acterized his own province as being “very 
 conservative” toward foreign ideas, and who 
 expressed the hospitable opinion, that it was 
 about time that the foreign missions gave up 
 their fruitless and peace-endangering propa¬ 
 ganda in China. 
 
 The judge asked me to sit down next to him 
 at the table, which was nicely arranged with 
 Chinese porcelain, sweets, flowers, fruits, native 
 
THE VENERABLE CITY OF KAIFENG-FU 225 
 
 cakes, Manila Cigars and cigarettes. The serv¬ 
 ants poured champagne and tea, and I spent 
 a very enjoyable time with the hospitable 
 mandarins. 
 
 Presently, Mr. Chang and I took our leave 
 and proceeded to His Excellency the Governor’s 
 yamen. 
 
 Governor Yuan Ta Hua had had a very busy 
 day, for he had taken over, the very same morn¬ 
 ing, his seals of office, and all through the day he 
 had received officials, clad in special full-dress 
 dragon-robes, who had come from near and far 
 to pay him homage. 
 
 Hundreds of sedan-chairs and private carts 
 belonging to the visiting mandarins, were waiting 
 in the outer yard of the yamen, while the inner 
 courts and the ante-chambers were full of gos¬ 
 siping, gesticulating mandarins, both civil and 
 military, of various ranks. 
 
 After waiting a few minutes, Mr. Chang con¬ 
 ducted me to a part of the yamen built in semi- 
 foreign style, being the wing occupied late in 
 1901 by the emperor and the empress-dowager 
 during their short stay on the return from 
 Sian-fu to Peking. 
 
 His Excellency greeted me on the doorsteps 
 with that politeness which distinguishes the well- 
 bred Chinese, and conducted me to a room almost 
 European in style, where he motioned me to take 
 
226 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 a seat next to his and on his left side, according 
 to Chinese custom. After much apparent re¬ 
 luctance, Mr. Chang, induced by the governor, 
 sat down on the latter’s right-hand side. 
 
 The governor opened the conversation with 
 various questions concerning Denmark, my na¬ 
 tive country, at the same time occupying himself 
 with the cutting off of the end of a cigar, which 
 he handed to me—the cigar, not the tip—together 
 with a box of Japanese matches. 
 
 I had thought that the interview would last 
 some ten minutes, but in spite of the fatigue of 
 the day, from which His Excellency must un¬ 
 doubtedly have suffered, he kept me, over two 
 cigars and several glasses of liqueur, for an hour 
 and a half. 
 
 The governor displayed considerable knowl¬ 
 edge of foreign politics, and was especially in¬ 
 terested in Russia, as he had for several years 
 resided as taotai in Manchuria. 
 
 Eventually he caused a large geographical 
 globe to be brought in so that we might better be 
 able to understand each other while recasting 
 the map of the world according to our likes and 
 dislikes. 
 
 The governor said that he cherished the hope 
 some day to visit Europe and America, but was 
 evidently afraid that unless he happened to be 
 appointed minister plenipotentiary to some for- 
 
THE VENERABLE CITY OF KAIFENG-FU 227 
 
 eign court, his official duties at home would 
 occupy all his time. 
 
 The former governor of Honan, whom Yuan 
 had succeeded that same day, had been promoted 
 to the viceroyalty of Kwangtung with residence 
 at Canton. 
 
 At 5.30 p. m. Mr. Chang, who was very tired 
 after acting such a long time as interpreter, and 
 I took leave of the hospitable governor and sub¬ 
 sequently parted company in the outer courtyard. 
 
 Returning to the inn, I found that my boy, 
 who was of course supposed to stay home and 
 watch over my belongings, had gone out without 
 leaving word with anybody; that is, according to 
 the version of the fat landlord. 
 
 He had locked the door with one of my 
 Chinese padlocks and taken the key with him. I 
 had the door to my room lifted off its hinges, 
 and found that my servant had taken his belong¬ 
 ings with him, besides some stray Sycee of 
 mine, which, together with the advance I had 
 granted him at Hankow, amounted to about half 
 a hundred dollars. 
 
 That was the last I heard or saw of the well- 
 recommended Hankow boy who was to have been 
 my sole consolation and factotum on the long 
 journey back to Sian-fu. 
 
 Yet I knew that it would be hopeless to en¬ 
 deavour to catch him even through the Chinese 
 
228 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 police. He was undoubtedly already on his way 
 to Hankow, Habana, Harlem, or Halicarnassus; 
 and I gave him up as a bad lot. 
 
 For the rest of my stay, due to the absconding 
 of my boy, Captain Ayscough generously invited 
 me to share my meals with him at the post-office. 
 
 The next four days I roamed about the city a 
 great deal, sightseeing and photographing. 
 
 I succeeded in climbing the iron-pagoda, and 
 twice visited the railway-station, a couple of 
 miles south of the city, where three Frenchmen, 
 amongst them the superintendent, the amiable 
 Monsieur Paris—a very acceptable and easily 
 remembered name for a Frenchman—resided. 
 
 The life to be observed at Chinese railway- 
 stations is indeed rich in colour and action, and 
 highly picturesque. 
 
 Long before the train is expected to arrive, 
 hordes of coolies, cartmen, porters, passers-by, 
 and beggars in rags and vermin, assemble on the 
 unprotected, open platform, where a few soldiers 
 prevent the crowd from actually camping on the 
 rails. When the train, generally full, has ar¬ 
 rived, the tumult and din and confusion are 
 indescribable, and can only be compared with 
 Biblical Babel. 
 
 The struggling, tired traveller invariably falls 
 prey to some of the local ragamuffins after much 
 useless shouting and resistance. The children 
 
THE VENERABLE CITY OF KAIFENG-FU 229 
 
 cry aloud and get lost in a kicking forest of legs. 
 The cartman yells out his fares to town. And 
 the three and a half policemen get lost in the 
 uproarious sea of heads with or without hats, and 
 amidst the thousands of pieces of luggage that 
 sway to and fro under a burning sun, visible a 
 little while ago, but now obscured behind the 
 dust-cloud raised by the crowd of local vampires 
 and their maddened victims. 
 
 After a week spent at Kaifeng-fu, once capital 
 of the Middle Kingdom, I bade adieu to Mr. 
 Ayscough and Mr. Chang, and returned to 
 Chengchow, where I again put up at the small 
 Corsican store. 
 
 At Chengchow I received a telegram from Mr. 
 Fong at Sian-fu which induced me to make ar¬ 
 rangements for a speedy departure for Shensi. 
 I engaged a large, strong cart, which could just 
 hold my boxes and cases, but I found it impos¬ 
 sible to get hold of any riding animal, not even 
 an old mule. 
 
 Accordingly, I addressed myself to the magis¬ 
 trate of Chengchow, the fat Mr. Yih, to whom I 
 had a letter of introduction from Kaifeng. Mr. 
 Yih, who was the first but not the last official 
 with whom I conducted my business in Chinese 
 without an interpreter—a performance which 
 must have been a treat to an educated native’s 
 ear—was very accommodating and offered to 
 
230 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 lend me one of the ponies belonging to his yamen. 
 
 He also promised me a letter that would en¬ 
 sure me the loan of a fresh government pony at 
 every stage, all the way to Sian-fu. 
 
 I could do nothing better than accept with 
 thanks, Mr. Yih telling me that should any of 
 the members of my military escort ask for money 
 to pay for fodder or the like, it was my solemn 
 duty to refuse, as the various yamens en route 
 would bear that small expense. 
 
 As I was now without interpreter or boy, it 
 goes without saying that I could not well manage 
 without a small military escort, numbering from 
 two to five soldiers, especially as these warriors 
 when returning to their cities had to bring back 
 my borrowed mounts. 
 
XII 
 
 TRYING RETURN-JOURNEY TO 
 
 SIAN-FU 
 
 T HE stages from Chengchow to Sian-fu 
 when travelling with ease number fifteen, 
 meaning an average of some twenty-four 
 miles per day. 
 
 As it was sometimes necessary to change the 
 soldiers and my pony twice a day, I had the un¬ 
 diluted joy of trying more than a score of differ¬ 
 ent steeds, and it is assuredly not my fault if this 
 experience did not turn me into a rough-rider. 
 
 There were all sizes, all manners, and all col¬ 
 ours of ponies; there were all kinds of speeds, 
 and all sorts of characters; there was wildness, 
 whimsicality and viciousness, and there was 
 blindness, and lameness, and sunstroke. There 
 was caprice and disobedience, and, invariably, an 
 enormous appetite! 
 
 It was, in short, an equestrian experience of 
 such a wide scope that I will sacrifice much not 
 to have it repeated. 
 
 In spite of the fact that I had nobody to assist 
 me, the first four days were easy sailing. The 
 reason was, that there are a good many Euro- 
 
 231 
 
232 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 peans—chiefly Frenchmen, Belgians, and Ital¬ 
 ians—living between Chengchow and Honan-fu, 
 occupied with the construction of the Pien-lo 
 Railway. The name Pien-lo is derived from the 
 classical names of Kaifeng-fu and Honan-fu, 
 which were, respectively, Pienfang and Loyang. 
 
 Early in the morning of August 28th I left 
 Chengchow on an innocent, little, brown pony, 
 together with a solitary baggage-cart, which 
 was guarded by three of Mr. Yih’s formidable 
 soldiers. 
 
 The heat during the whole return-journey to 
 Sian-fu was simply terrible, especially so in the 
 middle of the day. 
 
 The only really refreshing eatable to be ob¬ 
 tained along the road was watermelon. 
 
 In Shanghai I would never have dared touch a 
 bit of melon, as the vendours keep the opened 
 fruit fresh looking by pouring dirty river-water 
 over the pieces, thus causing innumerable cases 
 of cholera; but on the high-roads in the interior, 
 under a brazen sun, the matter changes aspect. 
 
 Long hours on horseback, in 100 degrees and 
 more, easily teach the rider what real thirst is, 
 and the heart, or perhaps rather the parched 
 tongue, jumps with joy when a watermelon- 
 stand under a solitary shady tree heaves into 
 sight. 
 
 I usually bought the whole fruit, which I cut 
 
TRYING RETURN-JOURNEY TO SIAN-FU 233 
 
 into pieces myself with the pedlar’s murderous 
 machete. I then buried the frontal half of my 
 scorched head in a large piece of the white, pink 
 or yellow fruit, giving away what I could not 
 eat, and surprising the pony by putting the 
 leathery peel into his burning mouth. 
 
 The first night out, I once again spent in a 
 Chinese wayside inn. 
 
 It was, to say the least, very troublesome, after 
 many hours in the saddle, personally to have to 
 prepare the simple evening meal of eggs, cocoa 
 and Chinese bread, to u lay the table,” to make 
 the camp-bed for the night—in short, to do all 
 those innumerable small things which form the 
 duty of a servant, who has been able to slumber 
 all day in the baggage-cart. 
 
 The next day I rode along the railway-line as 
 far as Szeshuiho, to which point the line was 
 practically completed. 
 
 While my cart and the new soldiers from 
 Yungyang took the main-road, I followed the 
 intended railroad; and at noon, when reaching 
 an almost finished tunnel under a small Loess- 
 covered mountain, I met some Italian contrac¬ 
 tors, who could speak no French, but who were 
 kind enough to invite me to tiffin. 
 
 They lived like camping soldiers, but seemed 
 to thrive all right in their strange and desolate 
 surroundings. 
 
234 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 From the encampment of the Italians I rode 
 down to the Yellow River, where they had told 
 me that I might follow a path to Kung-hsien, the 
 day’s destination. 
 
 If I had known that path from previous ex¬ 
 perience, I should not have ventured to follow it 
 for some fifteen miles, as I did, on a giddy 
 yamen pony. 
 
 It was a very risky experiment indeed. The 
 path, in most places, was only four or five feet 
 wide, thus making it impossible for two riders to 
 pass one another. The Chinese I met on mule or 
 donkey all had to dismount in response to orders 
 shouted by the single soldier who had come with 
 me, and retrace their steps to some recess in the 
 vertical Loess-wall, where I might be able to 
 pass them. 
 
 The pony walked very slowly, inspired by 
 sheer fright, suspiciously looking down the steep 
 incline of some twenty feet into the swift, yellow 
 current of the vehement Hwang-ho. 
 
 Arrived at Kung-hsien, I was hospitably 
 treated by Monsieur Jacquet, now engineer-in¬ 
 chief, then chef-de-section of the Pienlo. M. 
 Jacquet, a very witty Parisian, was living in a 
 large, deserted Confucian temple. 
 
 The next afternoon we crossed the river 
 Lo-Ho, where I saw the engineers busily en¬ 
 gaged in the construction of a railway bridge of 
 
TRYING RETURN-JOURNEY TO SIAN-FU 235 
 
 considerable length. In the evening, after a very- 
 hot and uneventful day, we arrived at the district 
 town of Yenshih, where I was invited to stay 
 with the chief of the third and last section of the 
 Pienlo, M. Squilbin, and his charming wife. 
 They had been able to secure a spacious Chinese 
 house, which had been very comfortably fixed up. 
 
 The magistrate of Yenshih was unfortunately 
 away and his deputy, reported to be an “old 
 fool,” seemed to have some scruples concerning 
 furnishing us with a pony. I told him that I was 
 quite prepared to walk to Honan-fu, wherefrom 
 I would do myself the pleasure to report the mat¬ 
 ter by telegraph to his superiors at Kaifeng-fu. 
 This seemed to alter the good man’s intentions, 
 and ten minutes later a very good pony was 
 brought by a soldier to the house of M. Squilbin. 
 
 Shortly after a hearty breakfast I departed, 
 together with a soldier on another pony—the cart 
 having started ahead—and, enjoying a pleasant 
 ride, the day being reasonably cool with an occa¬ 
 sional shower, I arrived in the late afternoon at 
 the temple Ta-tze, in the eastern suburb of 
 Honan-fu, after an absence of over three months’ 
 travel. 
 
 Two Italians, engaged by the Pienlo as west¬ 
 ern outposts, were living in the large temple, 
 which housed more than sixty bonzes. 
 
 I dined with the Italian pioneers, who then 
 
236 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 obtained permission from the prior for me to stay 
 in the temple for a couple of days. 
 
 I was allotted two large rooms facing the main 
 court-yard, and I feel confident that the larger 
 of the rooms formerly served the monks as a 
 refectory. 
 
 The next morning, Sunday, I hired a sedan- 
 chair and visited the prefect and the magistrate, 
 who both returned the visit later in the day. I 
 had tiffin with my friends, Dr. Beinhoff and 
 Pastor Anderson in the Swedish mission, and 
 later on returned to the temple. After having 
 killed a couple of crawling scorpions, I turned in 
 early for a long sleep. But the night proved too 
 hot for restful sleep, and the refectory was, alas, 
 not fitted up with electric fans. 
 
 On the 2nd of September, Dr. Beinhoff and 
 I made a very interesting trip to the Lungmen, 
 or Dragon Gate, about ten miles south of 
 Honan-fu. Five li south of the city we crossed 
 the river Lo Ho, thence proceeding among fields 
 innumerable, showing the year’s second crop of 
 millet and maize. 
 
 On the way to Lungmen the traveller passes a 
 most unique temple, dedicated to the war-god 
 Kwan-ti. This redoubtable deity was once a 
 great general, but he became a leader of sedition 
 against his emperor, who caused him to be de¬ 
 capitated when he had been caught. 
 
(Top) Old bridge near Honan-fti. 
 
 ( Bottom ) One of my caravan-carts, flying the “Dannebrog.” 
 

TRYING RETURN-JOURNEY TO SIAN-FU 237 
 
 Still, Kwan-ti had been a famous warrior and 
 had formerly rendered great service to the 
 throne. In due course he was, consequently, ele¬ 
 vated, through posthumous honours, to the rank 
 of a deity, and his body was reverently cut into 
 half a dozen pieces and buried in various parts 
 of the empire. 
 
 The part buried in the temple close to 
 Honan-fu is the head, and the priests of the 
 temple swear that since the burial of the sacred 
 cranium under a little artificial hillock in the 
 temple grounds, no human being has set foot in¬ 
 side the high wall that surrounds the burial- 
 place itself. 
 
 It happened that I found a small peep-hole in 
 the wall, but there was absolutely nothing of 
 interest to see—only the grass-covered grave 
 mound. 
 
 The temple itself was very beautiful and well- 
 kept. Images of Kwan-ti were to be seen every¬ 
 where. He was sculptured in the fury of a 
 Berserk, and he was seen quietly reading in 
 candle-light. A third statue of carved wood 
 showed us how the war-god looked when he slept. 
 
 The emperor visited the Kwan-ti burial-temple 
 on his way back to Peking from Sian; and the 
 empress-dowager, as is her wont, presented a 
 couple of signs with hand-painted characters. 
 
 Another short hour brought us to the Dragon 
 
238 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 Gate, which takes its name from a peculiar gate¬ 
 like opening in a low range of mountains, per¬ 
 mitting an affluent of the Lo Ho to flow through. 
 
 The mountains are called Sung Shan, and are, 
 at Lungmen, strikingly remarkable for the hun¬ 
 dreds of caves, with Buddhas and other idols of 
 all sizes, that have been carved there, most prob¬ 
 ably during one of the periods when Loyang 
 was the Tang or Wei capital of the Middle 
 Kingdom. 
 
 The workmanship of these magnificent sculp¬ 
 tures indicate Indian influence, and it is, of 
 course, by no means unlikely that the numerous 
 statues were executed by Indian sculptors or 
 their Chinese pupils. 
 
 The main-road, as already indicated, from 
 Fancheng on the Han river passes by here from 
 the robber districts towards the south. 
 
 Facing the river, and built above a natural hot 
 
 spring, we visited an old temple, where Dr. Bein- 
 
 hoff and I got a few eggs and some fruit and tea. 
 
 Behind the temple are situated the three largest 
 
 caves, which not only contain colossal Buddhas, 
 
 but the walls of which are literallv covered with 
 
 «/ 
 
 images and scenes sculptured out of the soft rock. 
 
 Walking southward along the road we passed 
 hundreds of smaller caves at all altitudes, each of 
 which contains at least one image. 
 
 Further down, but unprotected by any cave, 
 
TRYING RETURN-JOURNEY TO SIAN-FU 239 
 
 the roof having probably fallen in, is a colossal 
 Buddha hewn out of a vertical mountain wall, 
 and flanked by two minor deities or Bodhisatvas. 
 The superhumanly inspiring expression of wis¬ 
 dom and good-will of this fifty-foot statue even 
 outdoes that of the younger bronze Buddha, the 
 Daibutsu, at Kamakura in Japan, not far from 
 Yokohama. 
 
 While I had not been able to photograph in 
 any of the caves, the light permitted me to obtain 
 a picture of this splendid piece of ancient sculp¬ 
 ture—my photograph having been the first ever 
 published, I am told, of the great Lungmen 
 Buddha. 
 
 This photograph, I believe, is the one used by 
 the late sinologue, Professor Edouard Chavan- 
 nes, in his imposing volume anent his travels in 
 central and northern China during 1907, a work 
 that was generously subventioned by the gov¬ 
 ernment of France. 
 
 Alas—for the splendours of Lungmen! 
 
 They are, I fear, gone forever. 
 
 All the hundreds of statues, in the hoped-for 
 safety of their caves, were in a perfect state of 
 preservation when Chavannes and Alexieff and 
 I visited them. 
 
 But it was only a year or two later, that 
 chopped-off heads of Chinese statuary—almost 
 all loot from Lungmen—were being offered for 
 
240 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 sale in Europe and America to private collectors 
 and aid-museums. 
 
 It was generally rumoured that Japanese, and 
 a few French, vandals had visited the sacred 
 place, then and there indulging in wholesale 
 decapitation. 
 
 Heads of desecrated Chinese statuary may 
 thus be admired, with or without qualms, in the 
 Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, 
 thanks to the accommodating enterprise of Sir 
 Purdon Clarke’s successors, as well as in other 
 museums of great American cities. 
 
 It is as inconceivable, as it is discouraging, 
 that the officials of Honan-fu—but a few miles 
 north from Lungmen—could not have coped 
 with the alien marauders, arrested them, and 
 turned them over to their respective legations in 
 Peking for punishment. 
 
 A society for the conservation of Chinese na¬ 
 tional monuments was finally formed by natives 
 and foreigners in China about a decade ago— 
 after the Lungmen decapitations, however. 
 
 The Shanghai branch of the Royal Asiatic 
 Society, in its annual journal for 1912, published 
 a contribution on China’s monuments by an 
 American reporter, Mr. Frederick McCormick, 
 in which occurs the following choice passage: 
 
 “—at Hsian-fu ( Sian-fu) is the Peilin.—It 
 was to this place that the Governor of Shensi, 
 
The colossal, rock-hewn Lungmen Buddha in Honan is nearly 
 sixty feet in height. (This is believed to be the first success¬ 
 ful photograph ever taken of that superb piece of millenary 
 sculpture.) 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
TRYING RETURN-JOURNEY TO SIAN-FU 241 
 
 1908, carried the Nestorian Tablet to prevent 
 threatened depredation by a foreign adventurer, 
 and there it remains honoured— 
 
 Recalling that Mr. McCormick lunched with 
 me at Peking in the fall of 1907, and that he took 
 it upon himself to praise my efforts in connection 
 with the Nestorian Monument, which, I was able 
 to tell him, had then been put under roof—after 
 three centuries of exposure—thanks to my expe¬ 
 dition, the above quotation seems to betray bias 
 on the writer’s part. 
 
 Incidentally, the Monument, as we shall see, 
 was removed in 1907, and not in 1908, into the 
 Peilin of Sian-fu. 
 
 Sic transit — 
 
 Late in the afternoon, Dr. Beinhoff and I 
 were back in Honan-fu after a most interesting 
 outing. 
 
 Three days later I departed from the ancient 
 temple in the eastern suburb after presenting the 
 prior of the monastery with a sum of money for 
 repairing his principal altar. 
 
 Passing through the city, I stopped to say 
 good-bye to the Swedish missionaries before 
 starting my long journey on the high-road to 
 Sian-fu. 
 
 The road was the same I had traversed three 
 months earlier under considerably more favour¬ 
 able conditions. The temperature is ever so 
 
242 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 much more endurable in May than in the begin¬ 
 ning of September, and what made the matter 
 worse was the fact that I, being all alone, would 
 have to make my own “chow” and bed nightly 
 without help after a dozen hours in the saddle 
 under a burning sun. 
 
 Exploring is not all play! 
 
 The Chinese inns along the route seemed to be, 
 if that were possible, more dirty than ever, for 
 besides vermin and mosquitoes, one had now to 
 suffer from the nocturnal visits of large, black 
 beetles and malodorous bugs. No kind of insect- 
 powder, nor even a candle burning all night, 
 could keep away the “unwelcome guests.” Scor¬ 
 pions also were conspicuous members of the 
 fauna. 
 
 At the city of Wen-hsien, one day east of 
 Tungkwan, I once more encountered the impo¬ 
 lite inn-keeper of my former visit; and, as I was 
 too tired to quarrel with the fellow, I rode down 
 to a newly-erected, clean-looking Taoist temple, 
 where the kind chief-priest was only too willing 
 to accommodate me. 
 
 The old priest allotted me a nice, airy room 
 and assisted me in every way. 
 
 After supper I gave him a Manila cheroot, 
 and, the temple being situated on the very bank 
 of the Hwang-ho, we took a small evening 
 promenade together, keeping up the conversation 
 
TRYING RETURN-JOURNEY TO SIAN-FU 243 
 
 as best we could. It appeared that a Japanese 
 major of the General Staff had stayed in the 
 temple once—I was shown his card—the priest 
 carefully folding my own card which I gave 
 him into a piece of silk, together with that of the 
 Japanese intelligence seeker. 
 
 We drank several dozen cups of weak tea to¬ 
 gether in my room; but when I wanted to turn 
 in, I could not induce the old ecclesiastic to retire, 
 whereupon I took the liberty of beginning to 
 undress. 
 
 The interpreter of the religion of Lao-tse now 
 displayed the keenest interest in every garment 
 I laid aside, and was evidently quite taken aback 
 when he perceived that I wore long stockings 
 under the riding-puttees. My rubber sponge he 
 unquestionably considered one of the wonders of 
 the universe. Not until I had actually covered 
 my face with the blanket did the old man in blue 
 disappear in the direction of his own den. 
 
 The next day, the Loess ravines being very 
 deep and full of water in many places, we had to 
 haul the cart up onto the surface of the surround¬ 
 ing country. This was quite a job, the cart being 
 heavy and the incline steep, but it was essential, 
 as severe rain-showers had made the roads impas¬ 
 sable for miles. 
 
 We stayed overnight in Tungkwan, and the 
 next day departed early, after some friction in 
 
244 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 the yamen concerning my mount, the reason be¬ 
 ing that we were now back in the province of 
 Shensi, where the Honan officials, of course, had 
 no authority. 
 
 I later on found that the magistrate had tele¬ 
 graphed to the governor at Sian-fu for permis¬ 
 sion to lend me a pony, a permission that was 
 instantly granted. Hence the delay—as usual 
 excused with polite lies. 
 
 When about fifteen miles west of Tungkwan, 
 riding along a wide, short chaussee , edged with 
 beautiful willows, that leads from the famous 
 temple at Hwayinmiao to the district-town of 
 Hwayin-hsien. I observed a very picturesque 
 cavalcade of some two hundred horsemen with 
 lances and banners coming towards me in a 
 sharp trot. 
 
 The horsemen, so far as I was able to ascer¬ 
 tain, formed the bodyguard of a Tatar general 
 who, followed by his staff, rode after the troop, 
 clad in a crimson coat and wearing the second- 
 class, or coral button, with peacock-feather, in his 
 hat. He was said to come from Chinese Turke¬ 
 stan, which was very well borne out by the fact 
 that his women-folk followed in two rickety, 
 Russian troikas . 
 
 When passing the general, followed by my 
 single soldier, I walked my pony, and saluted, 
 the general waving his hand and bowing. 
 
{Top) The graceful Taoist Temple of Hwayinmiao in Shensi, 
 opposite one of China’s five Holy Mountains. 
 
 ( Bottom) Three prisoners, the central figures with shackled 
 ankles, being convoyed into exile by soldiers. 
 

 
TRYING RETURN-JOURNEY TO SIAN-FU 245 
 
 His cavalcade and the troikas formed one of 
 the most curious pictures I have seen in the in¬ 
 terior of China. 
 
 As formerly mentioned, the road from Tung- 
 kwan as far as Sian is fairly level—having left 
 the Loess-regions of western Honan. 
 
 The country is well cultivated and various 
 kinds of millet, maize, cotton with yellow and 
 pink flowers, and a variety of fruit, were in evi¬ 
 dence everywhere, representing the second har¬ 
 vest of the year. 
 
 Wild persimmon-trees were growing along 
 the roadside, and the golden fruits amongst the 
 dark green foliage added to the charm of the 
 surroundings. 
 
 After a quick ride from Weinan-hsien, on Sep¬ 
 tember 14th, I arrived at the imperial baths at 
 Lintung early in the afternoon, where my inter¬ 
 preter, Mr. Fong, was awaiting me in response 
 to instructions wired from Tungkwan. 
 
 I sent my card to the magistrate; and later the 
 minor official in charge of the baths once more 
 permitted me the use of the empress-dowager’s 
 pavilion. 
 
 The magistrate was kind enough to lend me a 
 cook who made an excellent dish of chicken-soup 
 and rice. This was indeed very elaborate—at any 
 rate it was my first proper meal after ten days of 
 continual hardships and renewed egg-diet. 
 
246 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 After a quiet siesta and a prolonged bath in 
 the big grotto, Mr. Fong, who conveyed the 
 kind regards of Mr. Schaumloeffel, related to 
 me his experiences since we parted company 
 about two months earlier at Kingtzekwan in the 
 mountains. 
 
 He reported that he had travelled straight to 
 the Fuping stone-quarries, where he and the 
 stone-cutter had obtained—fresh from the rock—- 
 a suitable slab of stone, which they had then 
 under great difficulties, due to the bad state of 
 the roads, caused to be transported to the temple 
 outside the suburban west-gate of Sian. They 
 had naturally, for more than one reason, avoided 
 transporting the slab through the city proper. 
 
 Owing to the enormous transport difficulties 
 the stone did not arrive at its destination until 
 the end of August. The contractor had then 
 engaged the services of three other stone-cutters, 
 and between the four of them they had finished 
 polishing the stone in two days’ time. 
 
 One of the men, who was an artist and an ex¬ 
 pert in “stone-dragons,” confined himself to 
 sculpturing the six entwined dragons, forming 
 the top of the Monument; another one, who had 
 a better education than his fellows, undertook the 
 chiselling of the Syriac characters and the re¬ 
 markable Christian cross at the top; while the 
 remaining two confined themselves to the princi- 
 
TRYING RETURN-JOURNEY TO SIAN-FU 247 
 
 pal inscription of Chinese characters in their 
 splendid Tang calligraphy. 
 
 Mr. Fong told me that he was very tired of 
 living in the old temple, which was full of scor¬ 
 pions and rats, and I consoled him by saying 
 that our stay in Sian-fu would not be of long 
 duration. 
 
 The next day, being Sunday, I remained 
 quietly at Lintung-hsien, enjoying what I ven¬ 
 tured to consider a well-deserved day’s rest. 
 
 The three weeks behind me, since I had left 
 Chengchow on my return-trip to Sian-fu, were 
 inescapably the hardest I had ever gone through 
 so far as privation, lack of sleep, nourishment, 
 and ordinary comfort, as well as exhausting heat, 
 were concerned. 
 
XIII 
 
 SECOND STAY AT SIAN-FU 
 
 T HE following morning, the 16th of Sep¬ 
 tember, I left the baggage with Mr. Fong, 
 to be taken to the capital, while I myself 
 borrowed an old, lame pony from the yamen. 
 This excellent animal took me the sixteen miles 
 to Sian-fu in four hours, and I arrived, splashed 
 with mud, at the post-office at luncheon-time, 
 where I was welcomed by Postmaster Schaum- 
 loeffel, who once more made his private residence 
 a nice home for me. 
 
 Mr. Schaumloeffel had suffered much from the 
 intense heat, and was not in his very best form. 
 
 During that evening, and the next day, I was 
 able to gather that everything concerning my in¬ 
 terpreter, Fong, and his doings was not as bril¬ 
 liantly successful as stated by himself. 
 
 It appeared that his behaviour at Fuping, 
 where he undoubtedly presented himself as a 
 great “boss,” had been of such a nature that the 
 inns there had refused him shelter during his 
 second stay. He had further, directly in viola¬ 
 tion of my instructions, been seen frequently in 
 gay company in Sian city; and at the temple, 
 
 248 
 
SECOND STAY AT SIAN-FU 
 
 249 
 
 where he was supposed to live, he had shown him¬ 
 self such a troublesome guest that the old chief- 
 priest Yii Show asked him to find new lodgings 
 as soon as he learned of my expected return. 
 
 I, consequently, decided, although reluctantly, 
 to part with his services, especially as he inti¬ 
 mated that he was not going to take any repri¬ 
 mand ! I did not like to dismiss him without due 
 notice, but, being far away from consuls and 
 treaty-ports, I had to decide quickly in order to 
 run no risks in connection with the ultimate 
 result of my two expeditions to Sian-fu. 
 
 Fortunately, Mr. Fong, in a suspiciously hasty 
 fashion, made up his mind to leave Sian-fu in¬ 
 stantly for Tientsin, where he ultimately endeav¬ 
 oured to hurt me indirectly by inciting the native 
 press, and even a couple of foreign newspapers, 
 to write several fantastic articles about some ne¬ 
 farious schemes of mine, and against other dark 
 intentions I nurtured in my faithless bosom. 
 
 I naturally never did anything to contradict 
 these silly reports, as I knew everything would 
 come out all right in the end, so far as the press 
 was concerned. I may here refer to the Far 
 Eastern articles, amongst many others, in the 
 “Hankow Daily News” of Jan. 7th, 1908, and in 
 the “Shanghai Times” of February 26, 1908, 
 contributions of a most friendly nature, widely 
 reprinted in Europe and America. 
 
250 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 Early the next morning I saddled Mr. 
 SchaumloeffeFs pony and rode out to the Nesto- 
 rian Buddha temple, where, in the barn, I found, 
 to my great joy, the exquisitely executed, huge 
 Replica of the old Christian Monument, the 
 result of so many months of labour and toil 
 and risk. 
 
 I complimented the proud stone-cutters on 
 their magnificent piece of work. They were 
 present, all four, seemingly occupying them¬ 
 selves with some final touches, but in reality 
 waiting for me. 
 
 The old priest was in good health and heartily 
 bade me welcome, expressing his delight when I 
 told him that Mr. Fong would leave the temple 
 the next day. 
 
 “He always wants hot water or food,” said 
 Yii Show. 
 
 Armed with a complete paper-rubbing ( de - 
 caique) of the original inscription, which I had 
 on me, I sat down to the exacting task of com¬ 
 paring the original text with the facsimile; and, 
 although I worked conscientiously with lens and 
 print for hours, I was unable to find a single 
 error. 
 
 I next applied my inch-scale and found that 
 the dimensions were accurate practically to a 
 millimeter. This was very encouraging indeed, 
 and I returned to town in high spirits. 
 
SECOND STAY AT SIAN-FU 
 
 251 
 
 In the afternoon I sent my passport to the 
 Yang Wu Chii, the local Foreign Office, together 
 with my crimson visiting-card, and the card of 
 the Foreign Office of Honan, which Mr. Chang 
 had given me at Kaifeng-fu. 
 
 From Mr. Schaumloeffel I learned that two 
 savants, the French archaeologist, Professor Ed¬ 
 ouard Chavannes, and a Russian philologist, 
 Professor Alexieff, whom I later on had the 
 pleasure of meeting in Peking, where he lived in 
 a Lama temple, had paid a short visit to Sian-fu. 
 It was an extremely rare occurrence that three 
 travellers, outside missionary circles, visited 
 far-off Sian-fu during the same year. 
 
 The next day Mr. Schaumloeffel found time 
 to come out and inspect the Replica, which he 
 greatly admired. 
 
 On our way home we decided to walk as far as 
 the outer city-gate; and, when passing the mili¬ 
 tary, mud-walled barracks outside the suburbs, 
 we were the victims of an obvious act of malice 
 on the part of some soldiers, who threw stones 
 after us. 
 
 I had a very good mind to respond with a bul¬ 
 let or two from my automatic, but preferred to 
 wait until I knew what the mandarins in town 
 would think of the clandestine creation of the 
 Replica. 
 
 Late that afternoon, two officials from the 
 
252 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 Shensi Foreign Office called on me. The one, 
 Mr. Wong, “Professor of English,” was able to 
 speak a few words of that tongue, while the other, 
 Mr. Ying, appeared to be half dead and wholly 
 blind, not to say imbecile, from opium-smoking. 
 
 A kind of echo of the hospitality at Wuchang 
 and Kaifeng must have found its way to Sian, 
 for, in broken sentences, Professor Wong con¬ 
 veyed the following message to me: 
 
 “I bring you the compliments of His Excel¬ 
 lency the Governor, who is very sorry that he 
 cannot receive vou, because he is ashamed of 
 showing himself to you, as he drinks plenty of 
 wine and smokes plenty of opium. But the 
 other directors of the Foreign Office will be very 
 glad if you will come and take a cup of tea 
 tomorrow!” 
 
 I could do nothing better than accept with 
 thanks, especially as this gave me an unlooked- 
 for opportunity to reveal the facts concerning 
 the Replica. 
 
 I may insert here that my original plan in 
 connection with the eventual acquisition of the 
 original Monument was never carried into 
 effect. 
 
 In June I had talked confidentially with the 
 Rev. W. Hagquist, a Swedish missionary, of my 
 plans, as well as of the eagerness of the British 
 Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art 
 
SECOND STAY AT SIAN-FU 
 
 253 
 
 in New York to set up the Chingchiaopei, if 
 secured. But he had, in a sympathetic manner, 
 advised against the execution of such a plan 
 which, moreover, he considered unfeasible. 
 
 Mr. Hagquist was absent, when I returned in 
 September, but certain inquiries which I made 
 before the departure of Mr. Fong, led me to the 
 conviction that the local Chinese government 
 finally intended to do something about the state 
 of unprotection of the great Monument. 
 
 My sources of information proved correct, al¬ 
 though the Chinese, at that stage of affairs, had 
 taken no steps in any way concerning the Stela, 
 their suspicions undoubtedly being still envel¬ 
 oped in mist. 
 
 The next morning I rode to the Yang Wu 
 Chii, where I found about a dozen mandarins 
 gathered. In contrast to their colleagues at 
 Kaifeng, the officials at Sian did not wear their 
 robes of office. They were all attired in ordinary 
 summer-dress, with fans sticking out from under 
 their collars. 
 
 The officials of the Foreign Office of Shensi are 
 not used to entertain strangers; in fact, I have 
 the honour of holding the record of being the 
 first white man who has been officially enter¬ 
 tained by the Yang Wu Chii of Shensi. 
 
 Mr. Wong introduced me to the prefect, who 
 presided on behalf of the Fantai, or provincial 
 
254 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 treasurer, this official having excused himself on 
 some pretext or other. 
 
 Prefect Chen was a very amiable gentleman, 
 who seemed at a loss to understand whether it 
 was my intention futurely to haunt tranquil, 
 hidden Sian-fu, the City of Western Peace, every 
 two or three months, this being my second visit 
 during one summer. 
 
 The refreshments of which we partook con¬ 
 sisted of fruit, cake and tea. 
 
 However, in order to add a little foreign tone 
 to the entertainment, one quart of Japanese beer 
 had been procured for us twelve thirsty souls, 
 besides another quart of sour claret. 
 
 The beer, being Kirin beer from Yokohama, 
 was served in sherry glasses, while the apologetic 
 claret was served in gratis advertising glasses, 
 plainly marked “Kirin Beer.” Such is the irony 
 of fate! 
 
 I thought it would have been much more ap¬ 
 propriate had the prefect offered a Chinese meal, 
 considering that we were so far away from 
 everything foreign. But then, I could hardly 
 expect that excellent gentleman to know how 
 highly I valued real, good, Chinese food. 
 
 After drinking the beer in sherry glasses and 
 the claret in beer glasses, we smoked cheroots 
 from Manila and cigarettes from England, and 
 suddenly I exploded my TNT shell by telling 
 
SECOND STAY AT SIAN-FU 
 
 255 
 
 our host, that I should be happy if some of the 
 gentlemen, whenever convenient, would come out 
 and inspect a Replica in stone of the Nestorian 
 Monument, the Chingchiaopei, which I had 
 secretly caused to be executed during my absence 
 in the south. 
 
 It did not appear that any member of the 
 assembly knew the Nestorian Tablet even by its 
 Chinese name—my pronunciation probably be¬ 
 ing guilty. But, when I produced a paper¬ 
 rubbing, their minds seemed to clear; and as they 
 accepted my invitation for viewing the Replica 
 that same afternoon, we arranged to meet in 
 Magistrate’s Chu’s yamen at two o’clock, after 
 which I took leave of my hosts, having been the 
 guest of honour at one of the most unique recep¬ 
 tions in my life. 
 
 When I arrived at the magistrate’s yamen, 
 Mr. Chu himself came out to greet me. 
 
 He wore official dress, and I was told that 
 while the mandarins from the Yang Wu Chii 
 went out as private individuals, desirous of wid¬ 
 ening their sphere of knowledge, Magistrate Chu 
 would come, it had been decided, as His Excel¬ 
 lency the Governor’s representative. I believe 
 this was at the suggestion of the Fantai, who was 
 reported to be a very able and conscientious old 
 gentleman. 
 
 The magistrate was a comparatively young 
 
256 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 man, who had formerly held office at Tientsin. 
 He treated me to a tea-cup full of some nameless 
 red wine, and a Pin-Head cigarette from the 
 United States, of which I used to sell millions 
 when I worked for the American Tobacco Com¬ 
 pany years before. 
 
 Our procession from the magistrate’s yamen 
 to the resting-place of the Chingchiaopei was 
 quite an imposing one. 
 
 First came the usual twenty or thirty coolies, 
 carrying red-painted signs with characters in 
 gold, wooden halberds, and all the other para¬ 
 phernalia of office and hocuspocus of authority— 
 similar the world over—their umbrellas of high 
 dignity not to be forgotten. 
 
 The coolies were shouting to the passers-by: 
 “Room for Chu Ta-lao-yeh!” meaning, “Room 
 for the Right Honourable Chu!” 
 
 Next came the magistrate in his chair. 
 
 He had now donned huge, tortoise-shell- 
 rimmed, blue spectacles, which gave him a very 
 learned and aged appearance. His chair was 
 carried with considerable speed, and was fol¬ 
 lowed by three of his assistants on shaggy Mon¬ 
 golian ponies. 
 
 I followed next, feeling myself as being “in 
 attendance on horseback” as the London court- 
 circulars express it. 
 
 Mr. Schaumloeffel’s pony, however, evidently 
 
SECOND STAY AT SIAN-FU 
 
 257 
 
 objected to anything like real speed on the im¬ 
 possible stone-pavement of Sian-fu. 
 
 The rear of the procession was brought up by 
 six springless carts, containing the brains of the 
 Shensi Foreign Office, some of these great minds 
 having an attendant on horseback, others a serv¬ 
 ant running beside the vehicle—a very enviable 
 task in a 100 degrees Fahrenheit. 
 
 We eventually arrived in semi-state at our 
 temple, where the magistrate at once proceeded 
 to view the Replica, which he found very beauti¬ 
 fully carved. He then walked to the back of the 
 temple, followed by the chief-priest, who had 
 dressed himself in his yellow robes and who 
 seemed on the verge of being seized with apo¬ 
 plexy out of sheer fright. 
 
 I myself followed as well, and although I 
 could not understand everything the magistrate 
 said to Yii Show, it was clear that he gave the 
 priest strict instructions to see that I, “Ho- 
 lo-mo,” was not to interfere or tamper with the 
 Chingchiaopei, which would, until further notice, 
 be guarded day and night by two yamen-runners. 
 
 Although I felt rather amused at the idea that 
 a monument, which had been almost wholly ne¬ 
 glected, sometimes even despised, by the Chinese 
 in general ever since its discovery nearly three 
 hundred years ago, was to be guarded as a na¬ 
 tional treasure owing to my humble presence, I 
 
258 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 considered myself a lucky man that the Replica 
 had been executed, almost up to the last moment, 
 in absolute secrecy. 
 
 I now felt positively convinced that if I, in 
 June, had asked the governor’s permission to 
 have an exact copy of the Tablet made, the ap¬ 
 plication would have been flatly refused, as the 
 Chinese mind would always associate such an 
 inexplicable undertaking with hidden undercur¬ 
 rents of dark schemes. 
 
 Now that the Replica was finished and paid 
 for, the mandarins could not very well seize it in 
 cold blood. Yet, their suspicions were clearly 
 manifested by their acts. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the other officials joined us, 
 and it was evident that not a single one among 
 the lot had ever set eye on the venerable Monu¬ 
 ment before, a Monument in which they now, so 
 very suddenly, displayed a surprisingly keen 
 interest. 
 
 When I had taken a couple of photographs of 
 the remarkable group of mandarins, with the 
 Stone as background, we all returned to town, 
 the magistrate leaving two uniformed runners as 
 a guard. The governor, or whoever had induced 
 the magistrate to act, must have thought me quite 
 a bad man indeed, in spite of all the surface 
 politeness that was shown me, and no chances 
 were taken. 
 
(Top) A playful, little Imp. 
 
 ( Bottom) The Empress-Dowager’s bedroom while in exile at 
 Sian-fu. The bed-cover was a beautiful red and harmonized 
 with the matchless sang-de-bceuf vase on the table. See 
 pages 139-142. 
 
SECOND STAY AT SIAN-FU 
 
 259 
 
 In the evening I learned that my ex-inter- 
 preter, Mr. Fong, had left town on his eastward 
 journey. 
 
 During the next few days I was busily en¬ 
 gaged finding means of transportation for the 
 Replica, which turned out to be rather a difficult 
 task. The larger cart-hongs demanded up to 
 three hundred dollars gold to take the new 
 Monument as far as Chengchow railway-station, 
 a distance of some 356 miles. 
 
 This was not far from being extortion, as the 
 good carters of Sian shrewdly utilized the fact 
 that I did not, of course, intend to remain there 
 with the stone until I grew white-haired. Mean¬ 
 while, it happened that there was still a balance 
 due to the contracting stone-cutter, and, as I felt 
 sure that he was going to have a good squeeze out 
 of the assured transportation money, I told him 
 that he would not get a cent of his dues until he 
 got me a strong cart at a reasonable price. 
 
 This may not have been noble, but it proved 
 effective, and as I did not intend to lose more 
 time than was necessary, I took the stone-cutter 
 and the carter to the Yang Wu Chii in order to 
 settle the price. It was eventually decided upon 
 and accepted, that I should pay the carter 210 
 Taels, then about one hundred and fifty dollars 
 gold, for the transport to Chengchow. 
 
 Thirty days were allowed, and a fine of seven 
 
260 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 Taels for each day overdue was guaranteed by 
 the cartman for over-time. Fifty per centum of 
 the cartage was to be paid in advance, as it was 
 essential to construct a new, special cart, partly 
 from drawings by me. 
 
 It would naturally have been easier to obtain 
 a proper stone-cart from the quarries at Fuping, 
 but the stone-cutter said that Mr. Fong’s con¬ 
 duct, when at Fuping, had been of such a nature 
 that he felt convinced that no Fuping man would 
 dream of undertaking the job. 
 
 The next morning, the carter turned up, to¬ 
 gether with the fortunately still unpaid stone¬ 
 cutter, and expressed his grief that it was 
 impossible to undertake the transport for 210 
 Taels! With whatever duplicity of mind I had 
 learned to command in the Far East and else¬ 
 where, I expressed my deeply-felt sorrow, al¬ 
 lowing no word of criticism or anger to pass 
 my lips. 
 
 The two men waited a little while. When they 
 saw that I quietly continued to enjoy my pipe, 
 they went away. 
 
 Ten minutes later I was on my way on a pony 
 to the Yang Wu Chii, where I found Professor 
 Wong, to whom I related the cart-story. 
 
 Mr. Wong was in very high spirits, as he 
 had just been appointed magistrate of a city 
 somewhere in northern Shensi; and, as he was 
 
SECOND STAY AT SIAN-FU 
 
 261 
 
 consequently anxious to anticipate his new 
 powers, he promised to investigate the matter 
 at once. 
 
 While I was out, Magistrate Chu called on me 
 and left cards. 
 
 In the evening I received information from 
 Mr. Wong that the carter and the stone-cutter 
 had been “tried and found guilty” in the magis¬ 
 trate’s yamen for “breach of promise,” and had 
 then and there received an unpleasant amount of 
 bamboo-blows each. 
 
 The next morning the contract for the trans¬ 
 port was duly signed, sealed, and delivered, and 
 the construction of the new cart began after I 
 had paid the cartman one hundred Taels in 
 advance—all due to the bamboo stick! 
 
 The bamboo is unquestionably one of the most 
 useful specimens of “flora sinica,” growing in the 
 Far East. 
 
 In response to my invitation, representatives 
 of the three mission stations at Sian came out to 
 the temple on the 24th of September to view the 
 Replica. 
 
 From the Roman Catholic mission, my friends. 
 Father, later Bishop, Gabriel Maurice, and 
 Father Hugh came out, expressing much admi¬ 
 ration at the work done by the stone-cutters. 
 
 Besides the Catholics, five Swedish-Americans 
 and three English Baptists turned up. They 
 
262 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 seemed to be at a loss to understand how the 
 transport was to be undertaken, but I was fortu¬ 
 nately able to pacify their anxiety, although I 
 offered no definite explanation. 
 
 I had farewell luncheon in the Catholic Mis¬ 
 sion, and a couple of days later I was graciously 
 invited to the Baptist Mission, which is situated 
 in the eastern suburb. 
 
 During the time occupied in constructing the 
 new cart, I daily took a walk out in the country, 
 usually with my kodak. I also paid repeated 
 visits to the deserted imperial palace, where, 
 after many experiments, due to the want of 
 light, I succeeded in taking a photograph of the 
 emperor’s throne and the empress-dowager’s 
 sleeping-room. These are, as far as I know, the 
 only interieurs in existence from the reigning 
 exiles’ residence at Sian-fu. 
 
 In order to insure the Stone an unmolested 
 passage to Chengchow, it was necessary to obtain 
 official protection. The many likin, or internal 
 revenue, stations, not to speak of the yamens on 
 the way, would otherwise undoubtedly obstruct 
 and delay the transport of such a large and re¬ 
 markable piece of work. 
 
 At first the Yang Wu Chii did not show great 
 willingness to furnish me with a letter of protec¬ 
 tion or passport. I accordingly wrote directly to 
 the governor, saying that I would have to tele- 
 
: 
 
 The makeshift Dragon-Throne of Sian-fn, used during the 
 Imperial Court’s exile, 1900 - 01 . Although upholstered in 
 costly yellow silk it compares disadvantageous^' with its 
 carved prototypes in Peking. The door-panes represent 
 practically all the glass in the entire residence, while the rug 
 on the floor was superior to anything else in the Throne- 
 Room. (In 1907 my photographs of the Empress-Dowager’s 
 bedroom, and of the Throne, were the first ever taken.) See 
 pages 139-142. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SECOND STAY AT SIAN-FU 
 
 263 
 
 graph to Peking if I could get no local help. 
 The following evening I received from His 
 Excellency a most elaborate letter of protec¬ 
 tion, which seemed to cover all conceivable 
 eventualities. 
 
 It had first been my idea personally to accom¬ 
 pany the Replica on its slow eastward march, but 
 having talked the matter over with Mr. Schaum- 
 loeffel, we agreed that nothing advantageous 
 could possibly come of my escorting the Tablet, 
 as the governor’s letter covered everything ex¬ 
 cept accidents and bad weather, which neither 
 His Excellency, nor I myself, could possibly 
 control. 
 
 The second day in October, 1907, saw the ful¬ 
 fillment of an act that ought to have taken place 
 nearly three hundred years ago. 
 
 As it was the day previous to the final depart¬ 
 ure of the Replica, I rode out on the postal pony, 
 “Boozey,” in order to be present at various ar¬ 
 rangements concerning the packing of the Stone, 
 and in order to pay my aged friend, Yii Show, a 
 sum of money, being the rent for the barn and 
 for the departed Mr. Fong’s room. 
 
 In order to prolong the ride, I left the city by 
 the north-gate, thus approaching the Nestorian 
 temple in a southwesterly direction. 
 
 Nearing the temple grounds, I saw with feel¬ 
 ings that can easier be imagined than described, 
 
264 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 that the original Nestorian Monument had 
 disappeared! 
 
 I galloped up to its former resting-place, and 
 all I saw was a hole in the ground where the 
 Monument’s “fair pedestal,” the sad-looking 
 stone-tortoise, had been left. The Stela itself 
 had certainly gone, and I wondered whether any 
 harm had befallen the Replica in the barn. Half 
 a minute brought me to the temple, where I 
 found my new Monument in prime condition. 
 
 Old Yu Show, however, was not in very good 
 humour. 
 
 The Stone he had watched over and seen daily 
 during the past half century was gone! 
 
 Nevertheless, his countenance lighted up, when 
 I produced a weighty chunk of Sycee silver 
 and a couple of small presents, among them a 
 powerful reading-glass, which he had expressed 
 a desire to possess as his eyesight was getting 
 weak. He had seen me use it, when I examined 
 the characters on the Replica. 
 
 I also brought him a couple of photographs of 
 himself, taken in June, which he seemed to ad¬ 
 mire very much. 
 
 The chief-priest said that he did not know the 
 destination of the Chingchiaopei; so, my business 
 over, I rode back through the western suburb, 
 promising to return the next day to see the 
 Replica off. 
 
SECOND STAY AT SIAN-FU 
 
 265 
 
 About half-way between the suburban gate 
 and the city-gate, I overtook the Nestorian 
 Monument, which was being slowly carried by 
 no less than forty-eight coolies towards the capi¬ 
 tal proper. 
 
 They carried it, hanging under a multitude of 
 bamboo-yokes, in the same way heavy coffins are 
 usually transported. 
 
 The two-ton Chingchiaopei, temporarily sus¬ 
 pended, as it were, above its usual level, was 
 an object of the keenest display of curiosity 
 on the part of the natives, residents as well as 
 passers-by. 
 
 I have already mentioned the “Peilin” or 
 “Forest of Tablets” in Sian-fu, where hundreds 
 of stone-slabs with inscriptions are kept. 
 
 The Peilin was the destination of the Monu¬ 
 ment. It took, so I was informed later by mail, 
 some weeks before the Stone was finally erected 
 in its new position on the back of its tortoise, 
 which was brought to town the following day. 
 
 The repeated, earnest representations of the 
 corps diplomatique and the missionary bodies in 
 Peking for the preservation of the ancient Chris¬ 
 tian relic had, through years, proved futile. And 
 the foreign missionaries on the spot had done 
 nothing to guard their venerable Tablet. 
 
 It was, therefore, a source of great satisfaction 
 to me to realize that my expedition had been the 
 
266 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 direct cause for removing the priceless Stone 
 to a place, where it will not be exposed to wind 
 and weather and theft, and where it will stand a 
 fair chance of being able adequately to fight its 
 long, long battle against age and time. 
 
 Before leaving Sian-fu, I went to the Peilin, 
 where I photographed the Chingchiaopei lying 
 on the ground. The tortoise had not yet been 
 placed, although it was on the point of arriving, 
 but the keeper showed me the place, where the 
 Tablet was destined to be re-erected. 
 
 I was happy, before leaving Sian, to know the 
 exact spot which would be the future resting- 
 place of the famous Monument. 
 
 The day following, I arrived early in the morn¬ 
 ing at the temple, where the stone-cutters and the 
 cartmen were busily engaged in sewing large 
 sheets of felt all around the huge Beplica. I had 
 desired to have a strong frame of planks made, 
 but for various reasons this was given up, 
 notably as lumber was scarce and costly. 
 
 The new cart, which looked very strong and 
 spruce, arrived, and eventually the difficult task 
 of lifting, or rather hauling and pushing, the 
 two-ton slab from the ground onto the cart 
 began. 
 
 With ropes and wooden levers, it took eleven 
 men of experience one hour and a half to perform 
 this piece of engineering. So far as manual 
 
{Top) Mandarins of the Shensi Provincial Foreign Office visit 
 the Nestorian Monument with me. 
 
 ( Bottom ) Activity in connection with removal of Monument 
 and its stone-tortoise base into the Peilin of Sian-fu after 
 upwards of 300 years’ exposure—one result of the expedi¬ 
 tion. 
 
SECOND STAY AT SIAN-FU 
 
 267 
 
 adroitness is concerned, the Chinaman, when 
 given his time, is distinctly wonderful. 
 
 When watching Chinese coolies handle the 
 Replica, I automatically thought of the building 
 of pyramids and the erection of obelisks. 
 
 Packing and charging took from eight in the 
 morning till one in the afternoon, at which hour 
 the Replica of the Chingchiaopei left the temple 
 for New York—and Rome! 
 
 I followed on “Boozey” as far as the 
 south-gate. 
 
 I gave the head-carter one of my Danish flags 
 which was then unfurled above the Replica; also 
 the governor’s passport and several of my own 
 Chinese visiting-cards. 
 
 I further gave him half a dozen envelopes ad¬ 
 dressed to myself at Chengchow. These he was 
 to post along the route, so that I might always 
 learn of his progress from the post-marks. He 
 never mailed one of them. 
 
 The large cart was pulled by six mules—three 
 ahead, then two, and finally one big animal be¬ 
 tween the heavy cart-poles. 
 
 There were three men in attendance, who all 
 looked very contented as they departed on their 
 long and troublesome, eastward journey. 
 
 The next day Mr. Schaumloeffel and I had 
 tiffin in the Catholic mission, the day being the 
 anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron 
 
268 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 of the Franciscans. The Bishop, Dr. A. Goette, 
 unfortunately had not returned from the coun¬ 
 try, so I lost the opportunity to bid him good-bye. 
 
 In the evening old Governor Chao sent a secre¬ 
 tary with his card, wishing me “bon voyage 
 
 The following day I made ready to start on 
 another trying trip without interpreter or boy. 
 Still, I was used to that sort of thing, and, as the 
 weather was much cooler and Mr. Schaumloeffel 
 had promised me the use of his pony “Boozey the 
 Capricious,” during my return-trip, I knew that 
 everything would run more smoothly than last 
 time. 
 
 In the afternoon, Father Gabriel and Father 
 Hugh came to bid me Godspeed. We mutually 
 hoped to see each other some day in Europe, al¬ 
 though it is well-known that the Roman Catholic 
 missionary does not go to China with the idea 
 that he will necessarily ever return. 
 
 Of the Protestant missionaries I saw nothing 
 further, although I later read several more or 
 less insinuating articles, which they had dis¬ 
 patched to the foreign papers on the coast. 
 
XIV 
 
 TRANSPORTING A TWO-TON 
 MONUMENT 
 
 I T was with something akin to sadness that I 
 bade good-bye to the historic Tang capital 
 of Sian-fu. But my mission was at an end, 
 and it was time for me to steer back to the coast 
 and to western civilization. 
 
 On October sixth, on a splendid Sunday morn¬ 
 ing, I left Sian on “Boozev” in company with my 
 baggage-cart. We travelled slowly in order to 
 enjoy the beautiful cool weather, and that first 
 day we only reached Lintung, where, for the last 
 time, I slept at the imperial baths. 
 
 The next day a drizzling rain made travelling 
 very disagreeable, and I was afraid that the rainy 
 season would set in in earnest. Yet, the day 
 after, the sun was shining brilliantly once more, 
 while we proceeded eastwards along the foot¬ 
 hills of the Hwa Shan. 
 
 The road was inundated in some places, being 
 always below the level of the surrounding coun¬ 
 try, and the baggage-cart now and then had to 
 make considerable detours in order to avoid get¬ 
 ting stuck in the mud. 
 
 269 
 
270 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 While sitting waiting for the cart near a stone- 
 bridge beyond Hwa-chow, I saw a Russian com¬ 
 ing along in his native dress. 
 
 He was in charge of a long caravan, and told 
 me in Chinese—I do not speak Russian—that he 
 was on his way to Muscovite Turkestan with fif¬ 
 teen loads of brick-tea, made in Hankow. The 
 carts having passed, each pulled by three mules, 
 and some by camels, the Russian, after an inter¬ 
 change of cigarettes, proceeded on his way to¬ 
 wards distant Central Asia. 
 
 On the 8th of October we arrived at Liutze, 
 where we overtook the Replica. 
 
 Everything was apparently all right, and the 
 stone-cart and I left town the next morning 
 about the same time. 
 
 On the 9th, in the afternoon, I arrived at 
 Tungkwan, where the Chinese clerk-in-charge of 
 the telegraph-office asked me to stay with him at 
 the station. Mr. Chii King Sing was a kind and 
 quiet young man, who attended to his duties; and 
 I was happy to stay at the telegraph-station, as 
 my recollections of the cleanliness of the inns in 
 the transit town of Tungkwan were very un¬ 
 pleasant indeed. 
 
 Mr. Chii had a young clerk to assist him in the 
 office, whom I practically never saw, as he spent 
 most of his time in seclusion with his best friend 
 —an opium pipe. 
 
TRANSPORTING A TWO-TON MONUMENT 271 
 
 It is discouraging to learn almost everywhere, 
 that the reputation enjoyed by the native staff of 
 the Imperial Telegraphs is not of a flattering 
 nature. Quite the opposite is the case with the 
 Postal Service, where a clerk is simply discharged 
 if he smokes opium or displays other disintegrat¬ 
 ing traits. It would perhaps not be at all bad, if 
 the Chinese Imperial Telegraphs were amalga¬ 
 mated with the Postal Service, thus coming under 
 the sway of able organizers like Sir Robert Hart 
 and Sir Robert Bredon. 
 
 During the next two days the windows of the 
 Heavens kept open, and the rain fell in distress¬ 
 ing quantities. I thus had to trespass on the 
 hospitality of Mr. Chii, who was indeed a very 
 pleasant host, although his English was not of 
 the easiest to understand. 
 
 I received a message from the head-carter in 
 charge of the Stone, postmarked Hwayin, in 
 which he informed “Ho-lo-mo Ta-jen” that he 
 would have to wait a few days until the roads 
 became better after the downpour. Mr. Chii 
 answered for me that I fully sympathized with 
 his view, and that he, the carter, and not I, was 
 now in charge of the transport. 
 
 In the afternoon of my first day in Tungkwan, 
 when the weather had abated a little, Mr. Chii 
 and I made a trip across the Yellow River to the 
 southwest corner of the province of Shansi. 
 
272 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 We went over on one of the big government 
 ferries, but unfortunately, the current of the 
 combined Hwang-ho and Wei-ho was so strong 
 that the boatmen were unable to land at the usual 
 place, the scow being swiftly carried some two 
 miles below the landing-stage. 
 
 One moment the situation looked unpleasant 
 enough, one of the oars having broken, but the 
 steersman eventually succeeded in kedging up to 
 the bank, where the boatmen stripped and carried 
 us ashore. Mr. Chii and I walked back to the 
 small village of Yiiwongmiao, where we visited 
 a couple of temples. 
 
 We then crossed back to the south bank, but 
 again rushed a couple of miles down the river, 
 so that, when eventually we returned to the 
 telegraph-station, where the opium-clerk to my 
 astonishment was sitting working, we were pos¬ 
 sessed of a good appetite and a strong desire 
 for rest. 
 
 The following afternoon, Mr. Chii and I, in 
 spite of rain and wind, visited the ancient Con- 
 fucian temple, where several old memorial slabs 
 stand. The carving on one of these, which is 
 said to be over two thousand years old, repre¬ 
 sented the holy mountain Hwa Shan, close by 
 Tungkwan, clearly depicting the steep path that 
 leads to the sacred top. 
 
 We explored the ruins of some other temples 
 
TRANSPORTING A TWO-TON MONUMENT 273 
 
 as well, and in one of them found three or four 
 suspicious-looking vagabonds, who were osten¬ 
 sibly seeking shelter under the dilapidated roof 
 of the main-temple. One of them was lying 
 down, smoking opium, while the others were 
 gathered around a dying fire of straw and 
 charcoal. 
 
 Timid Mr. Chii did not like the select com¬ 
 pany, and we turned to go, when suddenly I 
 became aware of the feet and legs of a prostrate 
 man in an open room next to the entrance- 
 pavilion. Out of sheer curiosity I went to have 
 a look at him, and perceiving that the wanderer 
 was covered from head to knees, I lifted the 
 cover from his face. 
 
 One of the most diabolically distorted counte¬ 
 nances I have ever seen stared me right in the 
 face—the poor devil had been killed with a 
 master-cut from ear to ear. 
 
 Mr. Chii fortunately did not see the ghastly 
 sight, but I asked him to find out whether the 
 vagabonds had sent word to the yamen of the 
 local magistrate, and the question was answered 
 in the affirmative. This, however, I certainly did 
 not believe for a moment, as a Chinaman is al¬ 
 ways exceedingly careful not to give information 
 about any mysterious death to the authorities, as 
 he runs a very good chance of being arrested and 
 executed as the perpetrator of the crime. 
 
274 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 I asked Mr. Chii to come with me to the yamen 
 in order to report the murder, but he asked me in 
 a tone, almost solemn, to leave the matter alone 
 for his sake, as he was sure to be dragged into it. 
 I acquiesced, although I felt sure that the vaga¬ 
 bonds in the temple were the culprits. 
 
 The weather being dry the next morning, I 
 started early, after having thanked Mr. Chii for 
 his generous hospitality. 
 
 The road proved very bad indeed, and the 
 cart-wheels sunk every moment to the nave. 
 “Boozey” strongly objected to his task of carry¬ 
 ing me, and gave me a good deal of trouble. Our 
 progress was further made very slow as all the 
 carts which had gathered, thanks to the weather, 
 during the past three days had set out eastward 
 on this very morning. They had started just 
 half an hour ahead of us and effectually blocked 
 the road everywhere, the highway being too nar¬ 
 row to pass them. 
 
 Our destination was Wen-hsien—a highway¬ 
 men’s nest—but the animals were so exhausted 
 that we had to stop at a very small village called 
 Pantau. There was only one inn, consisting of 
 caves in the Loess wall. I was fortunate in get¬ 
 ting a cave to myself; in the next cave—I delib¬ 
 erately peeped through a large opening in the 
 cracked door—was a large, black coffin with a 
 corpse awaiting further transportation. 
 
TRANSPORTING A TWO-TON MONUMENT 275 
 
 I made my cocoa and boiled some eggs, and 
 after having stretched out my camp-bed, I soon 
 fell asleep dreaming of coffins and corpses, and 
 about prehistoric animals roaming at large, when 
 all humanity still dwelt in caves, and architects 
 had not yet been invented. 
 
 On the 14th we arrived early in the afternoon 
 at Shenchou. As it was too early to eat supper, 
 I rode down among multitudes of beautiful per¬ 
 simmon-trees, to the right bank of the Hwang-ho, 
 where I desired to photograph an imposing 
 Loess-mountain, situated on the opposite bank. 
 
 A few big ferry-boats and a couple of salt- 
 barges were lying along the low bank. In order 
 to get an uninterrupted view of the Loess-hill, 
 and to get rid of the ever-increasing number of 
 curious spectators, I jumped onboard one of the 
 craft, busying myself with the kodak. 
 
 When I had finished, I noted to my dismay, 
 that the boat was rapidly gliding away from 
 shore, not having been anchored to the bank or to 
 the other craft; but a Chinese lad, who belonged 
 to a salt-barge, discovered my plight, stripped, 
 and jumped into the water, eventually succeed¬ 
 ing in pulling the big boat back. 
 
 I took a snapshot of the lifeguard youngster 
 and gave him whatever money I had in my 
 saddle-bags. As there were no oars or poles in 
 the blessed scow I might eventually, with luck, 
 
276 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 have succeeded in landing somewhere in the 
 Pe-Chili Gulf. 
 
 On the evening of October 16th, after a ride of 
 some thirty miles, I had supper with Mr. and 
 Mrs. Stalhammer, missionaries in the town of 
 Mienchi; and two nights later, I was hospitably 
 put up at the Swedish mission in Honan-fu by 
 my friend Pastor Anderson, Dr. Beinhoff being 
 away. 
 
 Heavy rains forced me to accept Mr. Ander¬ 
 son’s hospitality for another two days, but de¬ 
 spite the continuous downpour, I proceeded on 
 the 21st to Yenshih, where once again I was asked 
 to stay overnight with Monsieur Squilbin and 
 his wife. 
 
 The wheat that would form the first harvest in 
 1908 was already shooting forth everywhere, 
 probably owing to the heavy rain-fall. 
 
 The last night which I passed in a typical 
 Chinese inn was the night between the 23rd and 
 24th of October, 1907, at the city of Szeshui-ho, 
 to which point the Pien-Lo railway is practically 
 completed. 
 
 I was not unhappy at the thought that the next 
 evening I should have a proper bed, and a servant 
 to wait on me. I got up very early the following 
 morning, and, having saddled “Boozey,” I left 
 Szeshui-ho at 5.15 a. m., leaving the luggage to 
 take its own course. 
 
TRANSPORTING A TWO-TON MONUMENT 277 
 
 I was going to try to induce Master “Boozey” 
 to show himself equal to a final spurt. He 
 proved himself fairly willing, and, trotting along 
 the railroad-ties some of the way, he made the 
 twenty-six miles to Chengchow in four hours 
 and forty-five minutes, arriving at eleven o’clock 
 at the combination inn-grocery of Messrs. Leca 
 and Luciani, of Corsica, some extra time hav¬ 
 ing been utilized en route for eating a last egg 
 or two. 
 
 I had promised Mr. Schaumloeffel to endeav¬ 
 our to sell the pony for him, but unfortunately 
 this proved impossible. I accordingly had to 
 send him back to Sian-fu in the care of some 
 Chinese scoundrels, who delivered up the poor 
 beast, according to my friend’s statement, in “a 
 frightful condition.” 
 
 In order to say good-bye to Captain Perry 
 Ayscough at Kaifeng-fu, I took the train the 
 next day, arriving at the post-office at tea time. 
 As the train did not start until the following 
 morning, I stayed over night with Mr. Ayscough, 
 returning to Chengchow the next day. 
 
 My return to Chengchow, from where there 
 was direct railway communication with Peking, 
 as well as with Hankow, really signified the end 
 of my horseback and houseboat travels. 
 
 While naturally not including railway jour¬ 
 neys or river-steamer voyages, the distance trav- 
 
278 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 elled between May 2nd and October 24th on 
 horseback, by native houseboat and cart, and in 
 sedan-chair as an invalid, represented a little over 
 two thousand five hundred miles, approximately 
 equal to the distances from London to Cairo, 
 from Liverpool to Halifax, or from New York 
 to Panama. 
 
 The next two weeks I remained quietly at 
 Chengchow waiting for the Ileplica to arrive. I 
 naturally made allowance for the bad state of the 
 roads, due to the autumn rains, and did not ex¬ 
 pect that the huge cart would be able to arrive by 
 November 1st as per contract. 
 
 During my stay at Chengchow I met two or 
 three American missionary families, who seemed 
 to take a kind interest in my enterprise. They 
 had evidently found the native houses in the city 
 proper too dirty and unhealthy, and had conse¬ 
 quently followed the example of their Canadian 
 colleagues at Hwaiking-fu, building some big 
 commodious houses in foreign style outside the 
 city-wall. 
 
 I spent the time at Chengchow in long cross¬ 
 country rides and walks, accompanied by three 
 of the dogs belonging to my two Corsican hosts. 
 The dogs, as well as I myself, thoroughly en¬ 
 joyed the nice cool weather, which permitted us 
 to cover ten or twelve miles every day. 
 
 On the first day of November, the day on 
 
TRANSPORTING A TWO-TON MONUMENT 279 
 
 which the Replica was timed to arrive, Monsieur 
 Leca and I took the early freight-train north¬ 
 wards, and after a ride of seventeen miles we 
 arrived at the southern bank of the Yellow 
 River. Here the Kin Han Railway Company 
 completed in 1905 what may be justly termed 
 one of the wonders of the world, the Hwang-ho 
 bridge. 
 
 This enormous structure is nearly two miles 
 long, single-tracked, and by night lighted up by 
 some twenty-five large electric arc-lamps. The 
 trains pass over very slowly, in fact with a spread 
 barely equal to nine miles an hour, for the bridge 
 is constructed in the quicksand and mud of the 
 swift Yellow River, and, while the bridge may 
 last for ever so long, every care having been exer¬ 
 cised in its building, it is impossible to say when 
 a collapse, or a flood, or both, may occur. 
 
 The bridge is rather beautifully constructed 
 and forms quite an imposing spectacle, which the 
 visitor will have difficulty in forgetting. It has 
 been found necessary to have three or four Euro¬ 
 pean engineers constantly living on the spot; and 
 immediately after a train has passed over the 
 bridge, it is followed by a trolley, carrying an 
 engineer, who carefully inspects the track and 
 the structure itself. 
 
 The service of the Kin Han Railroad, which 
 connects Peking with Hankow by a mostly 
 
280 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 single-track line of over seven hundred miles, is, 
 to use a mild expression, still in its infancy. 
 
 As has already been mentioned, the line—like 
 other but shorter lines—is officially managed by 
 the Chinese Government. The Chinese officials 
 again are “advised” by a numerous foreign 
 staff, which, in the case of the Kin Han, chiefly 
 consists of Frenchmen and Belgians, the mil¬ 
 lions for its construction having come from those 
 countries. 
 
 The inferior staff, e. g. the engine-drivers, con¬ 
 ductors, and overseers on the line, is composed of 
 French, Italian and Greek elements. The char¬ 
 acter, habits, and way of dressing, peculiar to 
 these men, are hardly of a nature to induce the 
 Chinese to measure the average foreigner by a 
 very high standard—a deplorable fact which 
 eventually will result in the dismissal of most of 
 the foreigners on the line, their places being filled 
 with sons of the country. 
 
 The higher European officials seem to shiver 
 at the thought of their Chinese superiors, and I 
 happen to know an inspector-in-chief, of whom 
 there are only three, who was actually afraid to 
 reprimand his Chinese station-master who, in my 
 presence, had insulted a foreign traveller pretty 
 badly. The foreigner naturally complained at 
 headquarters in Peking to that excellent and 
 popular director-general, Monsieur Bouillard, 
 
TRANSPORTING A TWO-TON MONUMENT 281 
 
 which brought the chief-inspector a well-deserved 
 rebuke. 
 
 The fares on the Kin Han are abnormally high 
 and the freight-tariff practically prohibitive. 
 
 The transport of the Replica in a railway-car, 
 packed with other goods, and even crowds of 
 third-class passengers, from Chengchow to Han¬ 
 kow, a distance of some 325 miles, thus cost ap¬ 
 proximately ten pounds sterling, or fifty dollars 
 gold! 
 
 Although practically nobody uses the French 
 language in northern China, where English is 
 universally spoken among foreigners, the travel¬ 
 ler who can not converse in French is rather 
 badly off while travelling, for the Chinese em¬ 
 ployees on this important line, with the sole ex¬ 
 ception of the dining-car servants in the weekly 
 train-de-luoce, a somewhat misguiding designa¬ 
 tion, are taught only French of all foreign 
 languages. 
 
 If this be not altered in a near future, one may 
 safely predict the failure of the Kin Han as a 
 welcome travelling medium for foreigners, es¬ 
 pecially tourists, who have lately begun to direct 
 their attention toward the wonders of Peking. 
 
 Although it is upwards of forty years since the 
 first railway in China, the Shanghai-Woosung 
 line of nine miles, was opened, I am, however, 
 sure that it is only a question of experience, and 
 
282 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 consequently of time, when the Chinese Imperial 
 Railways will become as successful as those of 
 other countries. 
 
 On the 4th of November I had the unpleasant 
 experience of being attacked at Chengchow hy 
 some Chinese assassins, who gave me a blow in 
 the head from behind, which produced a deep 
 wound that showed quite an amazing capacity 
 for bleeding. 
 
 As I dropped unconscious, I had no chance to 
 pursue my assailants; but Mr. Luciani, who 
 fortunately arrived very early on the spot, 
 picked me up and sent for the railway surgeon, 
 an able Belgian, who stitched the wound and 
 gave me an injection against the dreaded te¬ 
 tanus, lockjaw being prevalent in those regions 
 owing to the presence of the deadly microbes in 
 the Loess-dust. 
 
 Four days later I was about again, but I knew 
 it would be of no avail to report the matter to the 
 Chinese authorities. I entertained a suspicion 
 that this attempt on my life, the fourth I have 
 experienced in the Celestial Empire since 1901, 
 was in some way directed by those who were 
 working against my labourious acquisition of the 
 Replica of the Nestorian Monument of Sian-fu. 
 
 Meantime, I received discouraging news con¬ 
 cerning the progress of the Replica. The roads 
 were reported to be in a frightful state, one of 
 
TRANSPORTING A TWO-TON MONUMENT 283 
 
 the six mules had died, two of the men were 
 wounded, and the caravan-leader in charge had 
 gone back to Sian-fu from Hwayin, where the 
 stone remained, in order to fetch more money 
 and buy another mule. 
 
 I believed only certain elements of the story, 
 which reached me partly through the narrative of 
 a native traveller, partly in a letter from the 
 carter addressed to me, although not in any 
 of the envelopes furnished him for just such 
 occasions. 
 
 I happened to know that one or two heavy 
 carts had successfully passed the bad roads, and 
 although the so-called highway was by no means 
 in an easy condition, I felt much more inclined to 
 believe that the provincial government of Shensi, 
 in spite of the governor’s official letter of protec¬ 
 tion, was working behind the scenes to prevent 
 the transport of the Replica. 
 
 My presence at Hwayin, or even my accom¬ 
 panying the Stone the whole distance, would have 
 been of no avail whatsoever. 
 
 Whether the petty officials, inspired by their 
 suspicions, or the really bad state of the roads, or 
 perhaps both, were at the bottom of the trouble, 
 I should never have been able to find out by re¬ 
 turning to Shensi. I consequently decided to 
 proceed to Peking, there to lay my suspicions 
 before the Russian Minister, then in charge of 
 
284 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 Danish interests. I therefore took the weekly 
 express for Peking, with which city I thought I 
 had already finished in April. 
 
 On the 12th of November, the Russian Min¬ 
 ister, a former banker, named Pokotilow, granted 
 me a lengthy interview, in consequence of which 
 he kindly took it upon himself to despatch a tele¬ 
 gram to Governor Chao of Shensi, asking what 
 was the matter. 
 
 Not until the 15th did the governor’s reply to 
 the minister arrive, in the form of a Chinese 
 ciphergram, a translation of which ran: 
 
 “Danish citizen, Ho-lo-mo, without ask¬ 
 ing me, secretly hired workmen to execute 
 Replica of the Chingchiaopei. When the 
 copy was ready Ho-lo-mo himself con¬ 
 cluded the contract for transportation. 
 The Yang-Wu-Chii only gave a Laissez- 
 Passer ensuring unhindered transport and 
 is otherwise not concerned in the matter. 
 
 In Shensi it has rained for more than a 
 month, which hinders the progress of the 
 heavy cart. According to yesterday’s in¬ 
 quiries one mule fell dead, so it is impos¬ 
 sible to proceed. But the local officials 
 made no obstacles to the carrying of the 
 stone. 
 
 Chao. 
 
TRANSPORTING A TWO-TON MONUMENT 285 
 
 It was gratifying to notice that the old, anti- 
 foreign opium-consumer first of all expeditiously 
 informed the Russian minister that the Replica 
 had been executed without his permission, as if 
 he would ever have consented to grant such a 
 concession had he been asked! 
 
 I may as well reiterate here that the Yang Wu 
 Chii, and not “Ho-lo-mo,” made all the arrange¬ 
 ments for the transport of the Replica, and that 
 the “pass-letter” was only obtained by addressing 
 the governor directly. 
 
 The provincial Foreign Office was thus, having 
 practically fixed all the conditions itself, directly 
 responsible for the safe and speedy transport of 
 the Replica, copies of all the documents being 
 even today kept on file in the magistrate’s yamen 
 at Sian-fu. 
 
 There can be little or no doubt about the fact, 
 however, that the Russian minister’s telegraphic 
 inquiry had a lasting moral effect, and it was par¬ 
 tially due to the legation’s influence that the 
 Replica ever reached Chengchow. 
 
 The diplomatic world is always a difficult one 
 for outsiders to fathom, but it is a generally 
 acknowledged fact that an outwardly insignifi¬ 
 cant matter may often help one party to obtain 
 an advantage over the adversary, which again in¬ 
 duces the latter to yield rather than to admit or 
 “feel” the pull. And I have not overlooked the 
 
286 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 fact that the negotiations for a new Russo- 
 Chinese treaty took place in Peking during the 
 winter 1907-08. 
 
 During my brief November stay at Peking I 
 paid my respects to the illustrious inspector- 
 general of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Cus¬ 
 toms, Sir Robert Hart, Bart,, G. C. M. G.. 
 
 Sir Robert received me very cordially at his 
 magnificent residence and was kind enough to 
 display a considerable amount of interest in my 
 two journeys to Sian-fu and my work in connec¬ 
 tion with the Chingchiaopei, which, of course, he 
 knew all about. 
 
 Although Sir Robert told me that “the news¬ 
 papers had been sending him home for ever so 
 long,” it did appear as if he really were to 
 commence a well-earned holiday at home. Sir 
 Robert holds the exalted Chinese title of 
 “Kung-pao” or “Junior Guardian to the Heir 
 Apparent.” 
 
 Since I was last in Peking, the two viceroys, 
 Yuan-Shi-Kai and Chang-Chi-Tung, have been 
 called from their seats, respectively at Tientsin 
 and Wuchang, to the central government as 
 Grand Councilors of State. It was the general 
 opinion that their views on most political ques¬ 
 tions of importance were diametrically opposed 
 to one another, and some unrest was undoubtedly 
 felt as to the eventual outcome of such powerful 
 
TRANSPORTING A TWO-TON MONUMENT 287 
 
 forces fighting in the shadow of the Dragon 
 Throne. 
 
 I had the pleasure of meeting many other men 
 of the moment in Peking, and may perhaps men¬ 
 tion among them, Sir John Jordan, British En¬ 
 voy, Dr. Morrison and Mr. J. O. P. Bland, 
 “Times” correspondent and the Chinese Corpo¬ 
 ration’s representative; Henry P. Fletcher and 
 Don Livio Borghese, the American and Italian 
 charges d’affaires; Lord Ffrench; M. N. de Sa- 
 vinsky, Imperial Russian Councillor of State; M. 
 Roshdestvensky, principal secretary of the Rus¬ 
 sian Legation, and many others. 
 
 When eventually I received information that 
 the Replica was once more under way, the muddy 
 roads being hard frozen, I returned to Cheng¬ 
 chow, where I arrived on November 29th. 
 
 During the month of December I paid another 
 short business visit to Peking, which proved a 
 very arctic place indeed; and between Christmas 
 and New Year I made an excursion to the capital 
 of Shansi, Taiyuan-fu, to which important city a 
 new railway line had just been opened. 
 
 The line branches off from the Kin Han at the 
 station of Chokiachwang. Leaving this station 
 early in the morning, Taiyuan is reached at about 
 six o’clock, the train running through the most 
 beautiful mountain and river scenery that can 
 possibly be imagined. 
 
288 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 At the boundary of the provinces of Chili and 
 Shansi the line passes under a branch of the 
 Great Wall of China. The wall, which is not in 
 very good repair here, nor very high, snakes 
 along the mountain ridge as far as the eye can 
 reach north and south. 
 
 Owing to the mountainous character of the 
 country, the Taiyuan railway has been a very 
 difficult one to construct, and bridges of a very 
 artistic design, as well as tunnels, are numerous. 
 The gauge between the rails is only one meter, 
 while the Kin Han’s rails are laid with a gauge 
 of 1.4 meter. The latter span has also been used 
 by the engineers of the Pien-lo line. 
 
 It is likely to cause a good deal of trouble and 
 annoyance, not to speak of expense, when some 
 time in the future the extensions of the Honan-fu 
 (of gauge 1.4) and the Taiyuan-fu (of gauge 
 1.0) lines meet at Tungkwan, or when the 1.4 
 via Tungkwan, and the 1.0 via Sanyuan, eventu¬ 
 ally join each other at Sian-fu! 
 
 Taiyuan-fu is a large and important city 
 within an imposing wall. 
 
 Shansi has the reputation of furnishing the 
 empire with its native bankers. In 1900 the Box¬ 
 ers were responsible for savage attacks upon the 
 residing missionaries of various Christian sects. 
 
 After passing Christmas of 1907 partly with 
 hospitable railway-engineers, partly in miserable, 
 
TRANSPORTING A TWO-TON MONUMENT 289 
 
 cold “Pullman” cars, I returned to Peking for a 
 final round of conferences with various officials 
 and others, whereupon I made up my mind that 
 the time was ripe to return south and meet the 
 Replica at Chengchow. 
 
XV 
 
 RETURN TO THE COAST 
 
 I SPENT New Year’s Day, 1908, in the train 
 ambling south towards Chengchow, where I 
 arrived on the second in the forenoon. 
 
 My joy can easily be imagined, when a runner 
 from Magistrate Yih’s yamen told me, shortly 
 after I had once again put up under the Corsi¬ 
 cans’ roof, that the Replica had arrived a couple 
 of days earlier, in good condition! 
 
 The head-carter, as is the custom of the land, 
 had not followed my instructions and reported 
 his arrival at the railway-station, in which case 
 the event would have been telegraphed to me; but 
 he had stored the cart, with the precious Replica, 
 in a Chinese inn in the western suburb, the 
 Sikwan. 
 
 The Stone was thus delivered into my hands, 
 in spite of contracts, fines, and official protection, 
 exactly two months later than contract time. 
 
 As I had the right to impose a fine of seven 
 Taels per day for time overdue, and as the Stone 
 arrived a bagatelle of sixty-three days late, I was 
 entitled to receive 231 taels as indemnity from 
 the carter, the full payment being 210 taels. 
 
 290 
 
RETURN TO THE COAST 
 
 291 
 
 However, I chose to impose no fine, even pay¬ 
 ing the remaining balance in full—a way of pro¬ 
 cedure which unquestionably had a strange effect 
 on the minds of the Sian-fu mandarins when re¬ 
 ported to them after the return of the carters. 
 
 Thanks to the moral influence of the telegram 
 from His Muscovite Majesty’s Minister in 
 Peking to Governor Chao at Sian-fu, the latter— 
 according to the tale of the carter—had ordered 
 the Replica to be transported without delay to 
 Tungkwan on the Yellow River, where “cart, 
 stone, carters, contractor, guarantor, mules, and 
 some yamen-runners” had embarked on a large 
 government-scow on December 1 , 1907, gliding 
 cautiously down the unnavigable Hwang-ho to 
 some place near Kung-hsien, from where the 
 transport had been completed by land. 
 
 This was a most extraordinary step to have 
 taken, for the navigation on the Hwang-ho, 
 above 113 degrees E. L., is next to nil, the river 
 being shallow in many places, with one or two 
 low rapids. 
 
 Altogether the river-venture looked highly sus¬ 
 picious, and it was a miracle that the Replica was 
 not lost forever. 
 
 I at once made arrangements for the transpor¬ 
 tation of the Stone to Hankow by railroad, and 
 the next morning had the cart removed to the 
 station, where it took us fully two hours to push 
 
292 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 and pull the formidable Replica into freight-car 
 number 9017. 
 
 The car was put on a reliable underground 
 weighing-machine with and without the uncrated 
 Stone, which gave the exact weight of the Replica 
 as two tons and twenty-five kilogrammes—or 
 4,464 pounds, English weight. 
 
 The Replica departed, well covered with mats, 
 at 4.45 p. m. on January 3rd, while I followed by 
 the daily train des voyageurs the next noon, 
 bidding Chengchow a cheerful farewell. 
 
 The freight-train with the Stone, and my 
 passenger-train, arrived simultaneously at Han¬ 
 kow, where new trouble awaited us, late in the 
 afternoon on January the 5th. 
 
 On the 8th a howling horde of forty-six coolies 
 carried the Replica from the railway-station to 
 the godown, or warehouse, of Messrs. Jardine, 
 Matheson & Company, one of the oldest foreign 
 firms in China. The procession through the 
 streets had quite a funereal aspect, the coolies 
 yelling the usual sing-song, in order to keep step, 
 at the top of their excited voices. 
 
 During the next few weeks many a Hankow 
 resident, merchant as well as missionary, came to 
 admire the beautiful work of the Sian-fu stone¬ 
 cutters, and numerous were the compliments be¬ 
 stowed upon my blushing self for conceiving and 
 carrying out such an enterprise. 
 
Arrival of the two-ton Replica at Hankow Railway-Station 
 
RETURN TO THE COAST 
 
 293 
 
 Various business arrangements kept me in 
 Hankow until January the 20th, on which day I 
 intended to take the steamer for Shanghai, ac¬ 
 companied by the Replica. 
 
 I accordingly proceeded to the Chinese Im¬ 
 perial Custom-House, where, in order to save a 
 good deal of time and trouble, I asked to see the 
 Deputy Commissioner personally in order to 
 hand him my export application. 
 
 This gentleman had evidently been anticipat¬ 
 ing such a visit, and escorted me to the commis¬ 
 sioner, a Mr. Aglen, “who,” he alleged, “was 
 very interested in the matter.” 
 
 I have till this moment not been able to unravel 
 the mystery that surrounded that officious offi¬ 
 cial’s “interest.” 
 
 After a lengthy conversation, or perhaps 
 rather cross-examination, the commissioner, his 
 deputy, and an examiner accompanied me to the 
 godown of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Com¬ 
 pany, where they commenced to display their 
 confessed interest in quite a singular manner. 
 
 The Stone underwent one of the most minute 
 customs examinations I have ever witnessed. 
 
 It was an edifying spectacle! 
 
 Mr. Aglen and the examiner started fingering, 
 feeling and tapping the astonished Monument, 
 ran their fingers along its edges, and seemed 
 deeply engrossed in meditation over the wedge- 
 
294 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 shaped prolongation at the bottom, which was, 
 of course, intended to fix the Replica securely 
 when permanently erected in a vertical position. 
 
 I was asked whether there was any inscription 
 on the back of the Stone, which I denied; but 
 nevertheless the Stela had to be raised on edge, 
 so as to verify my statement and give the re¬ 
 doubtable officials a chance to tap the back with 
 inquiring knuckles. 
 
 I should willingly have given a few hours of 
 my life, or a cash consideration of note to some 
 deserving charity, if I could have been informed 
 what the eager commissioner’s mysterious ex¬ 
 amination was intended for; but this was not to 
 be, and my friends and I laid our imaginations 
 hopelessly bare in interchanging various con¬ 
 jectures of more or less marked ingenuity. 
 
 Did the ardent commissioner think that the 
 Replica was a huge trap, containing precious ore, 
 or perchance the embalmed body of Empress Wu 
 Tse Tien of the Tang dynasty? 
 
 Or did he credit H. E. the Governor of Shensi 
 and his mandarins with permitting me to abscond 
 with the original monument ? 
 
 Or is it perhaps possible, as Hankow gossip 
 asserted, that the commissioner endeavoured to 
 feather his own nest by seeking the advice of the 
 Inspectorate-General at Peking concerning the 
 affaire? 
 
RETURN TO THE COAST 
 
 295 
 
 Who knows? 
 
 When the commissioner had finished demon¬ 
 strating his monumental interest, he endeavoured 
 to slip away unobserved, but I buttonholed him 
 on the street and asked him what hour I could 
 call for my shipping-permit. Mr. Aglen’s Solo¬ 
 monic, if somewhat evasive reply, which I took 
 care immediately to write down, was: 
 
 “I must offer you my hearty congratulations 
 on the Replica, you have obtained; it is surely a 
 beautiful piece of work. Unfortunately I do not 
 see my way to grant you a permit today, but I 
 shall wire to Peking for instructions and hope to 
 have an answer in a day or two!” 
 
 I asked for a reason, but the Hankow Commis¬ 
 sioner of the Chinese Imperial Customs was not 
 willing to furnish me with any; neither did he 
 consent to state his reason to the Danish Vice- 
 Consul, whom I repeatedly sent to remonstrate 
 with him on my behalf during the following 
 weeks of wasted time. 
 
 It is interesting to remember that Mr. Aglen’s 
 high superior, Sir Robert Hart, when I told him 
 about the Replica at Peking a few weeks earlier, 
 had uttered no objections whatever against its 
 being exported, but had, on the contrary, dis¬ 
 played the warmest sympathy with my work. 
 
 The Stone thus officially became “taboo” not 
 for “a day or two,” but for twenty-six solid days. 
 
296 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 Not until medio February did I receive per¬ 
 mission to export the Stone. The procrasti¬ 
 nators’ license came to me in the form of a 
 holograph letter from Mr. Aglen, which I repro¬ 
 duce in eootenso: 
 
 Custom House, 
 Hankow, 14th Feb. 1908. 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 I beg leave to inform you that I have 
 today received from the Inspector-Gen¬ 
 eral of Customs authority to allow ship¬ 
 ment of your Replica of the Hsian 
 Nestorian Tablet. 
 
 I am, Dear Sir, 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 F. A. Aglen, 
 Commissioner of Customs. 
 
 The following day I took out my shipping- 
 permit, which it had taken nearly a month to 
 obtain, and on February the 20th, after one 
 month’s delay, I left Hankow for Shanghai by 
 the S. S. “Loong Wo.” 
 
 Already the day before I had the Stone 
 brought on board the large British river-steamer. 
 
 The Yang-tse steamboats, owing to the 
 great difference between summer-high-water 
 and winter-low-water, are all moored alongside 
 hulks, usually old sailing-ships, which are con- 
 
RETURN TO THE COAST 
 
 297 
 
 nected with the shore by landings of no imposing 
 strength. 
 
 The native foreman at Messrs. Jardines’ go- 
 down thought that twenty-four coolies might be 
 able to carry the two-ton Replica the short way 
 to the “Loong Wo”; but as it would not be safe 
 to risk the planks of the landing-pier, the Stone 
 was “walked” on board a large pontoon, after a 
 perilous-looking descent from the Bund to the 
 water’s edge. 
 
 Commissioner Aglen, who happened to come 
 along the Bund on his way home, stopped and 
 evinced additional “interest” in our labours. 
 
 The pontoon was swung alongside the “Loong 
 Wo,” and the Replica was safely laid in a corner 
 ’tween decks. In less than three days after leav¬ 
 ing Hankow, and after an enjoyable trip down 
 the busy, broad Yang-tse, which I had not nego¬ 
 tiated for six years, and then in the same boat, 
 we arrived one fine Sunday morning at Shang¬ 
 hai, which I had left over four years previously 
 after a residence of some two years and a half. 
 
 I spent six busy days in Shanghai, which I did 
 not find very much altered. 
 
 I had the pleasure of meeting many old 
 friends of various nationalities, and my time was 
 fully occupied with business, as well as social 
 engagements. 
 
 The newspapers wrote about the Replica, and 
 
298 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 the secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society’s 
 North China Branch, expressed a desire that it 
 should be exhibited ashore for the benefit of the 
 members of the society, I myself delivering a 
 lecture on my adventures in connection with its 
 acquisition. 
 
 This, however, was unfortunately not possible, 
 as the Replica had to be transhipped without 
 delay. 
 
 My ultimate destination being New York, I 
 had decided to travel via the Suez Canal, in 
 order to avoid the risk of breaking or chip¬ 
 ping the Stone through too many unnecessary 
 transshipments. 
 
 The Suez route would, furthermore, be less 
 expensive, while giving me ample time to finish 
 this book. 
 
 I was also confident that three months of fresh 
 sea-air would prove a valuable antidote against 
 the inhaling, through many months, of the Loess 
 of North China. 
 
 The Standard Oil Company, or, to be correct, 
 the Anglo-American Oil Company’s transport, 
 the S. S. “Kennebec” was loading in the Wham¬ 
 poa River and, after having made the necessary 
 arrangements with the agents, I had the Replica 
 hoisted aboard the “Kennebec” on February the 
 25th, and securely fixed in the hold with a strong 
 skeleton of planks. 
 
RETURN TO THE COAST 
 
 299 
 
 Yet, I am not certain that the hoisting aboard 
 of the nine-foot, two-ton Replica was not one of 
 the most nerve-racking moments during the en¬ 
 tire Nestorian quest. 
 
 It was a principle of the chief-officer of the 
 good vessel “Kennebec” seldom to be quite sober, 
 and he had not abandoned his principle on the 
 occasion when the lighter I had chartered 
 brought my prize alongside the steamer. 
 
 I clambered on board, and found to my dismay 
 that the skipper, a stodgy New Jersey salt of 
 uncertain age, was ashore, wherefore I presented 
 myself to the chief-officer, who instantly invited 
 me to partake of a little hospitality in his cabin 
 by way of a “wee nip o’ Scotch.” 
 
 This festivity, however, I managed to post¬ 
 pone until we should have succeeded in getting 
 the Stone onboard, so our assistant mariner at 
 once got busy shouting orders to the lighter-crew 
 and his own Chinese sailors as to how they could 
 best hoist the Replica. 
 
 Ropes were laid more or less skillfully under 
 his expert command, and the steam was turned 
 on at the winch. 
 
 Slowly the ropes tightened, and the bulky 
 Tablet was lifted two or three feet from the 
 lighter’s deck, when —horribile dictu —it started 
 sliding through its slings with increasing speed. 
 
 I jumped towards the bo’sun, signalling fran- 
 
300 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 tically to lower the precious cargo, which was 
 done in the last instant, thus hindering the two- 
 ton bagatelle from crashing through the lighter 
 onto the river’s bottom. 
 
 It was then that a great and lasting hostility 
 between the chief-officer and myself arose, for I 
 found it essential that I should take the matter in 
 my own hands and display whatever maritime 
 knowledge might yet remain latent within me 
 since naval days. 
 
 All knowledge, apparently, had not vanished. 
 
 I slid down on the lighter, where I affixed a 
 new set of slings, passing one under the wedge- 
 shaped prolongation at the bottom of the Monu¬ 
 ment, so that a safe hoist was insured the Replica. 
 
 The chief-officer jeered at us. 
 
 Nevertheless, I got the “wee nip” before I re¬ 
 turned ashore to spend the last couple of days at 
 the old Astor House of many a lively memory. 
 
 The “Kennebec” left Shanghai on the 29th of 
 February, the intercalary day of 1908. And, 
 when our pilot, Captain Armistead, whom I had 
 known ever since the spring of 1901, left us in 
 the afternoon, the Replica and I had started on 
 our 16,000 mile homeward voyage after eleven 
 rather strenuous months on Chinese soil. 
 
 There is little to say about the trip. 
 
 Except for the ship’s officers, there was but one 
 white man on board besides myself—strangely 
 
(Top) Twenty-four coolies carry the Replica down the Hankow 
 embankment for river transportation to Shanghai. 
 
 (Bottom) An anxious moment: swinging the ten-foot Replica 
 on hoard the S.S. “Kennebec,” at Shanghai, in the Whampoa 
 River. 
 
RETURN TO THE COAST 
 
 301 
 
 enough, a compatriot, turned American, named 
 Carisen, who, at the age of seventy-two, was on 
 a well-earned venture around the world. 
 
 The crew was Chinese, the voyage was inter¬ 
 minably long, and there was but scant friendli¬ 
 ness on board. 
 
 Hongkong, Manila, Cebu, Straits Settlement, 
 Sumatra, and the Suez Canal were put behind 
 one by one, while I was busily engaged editing 
 the literary notes of my quest. 
 
 Without work, the voyage would have been 
 torture. Of comforts there were none. Imag¬ 
 ine the Red Sea, with kerosene lamps and no 
 refrigerator! 
 
 At Algiers old Carisen had had enough. He 
 somehow had it out with the skipper and quit for 
 pastures European. 
 
 Personally, I saw it through, but there came a 
 day, when I could bear up no longer under the 
 strain of the skipper’s peculiarities, nor under 
 the oft-exhibited bibulous quarrelsomeness of the 
 chief-officer. 
 
 So I translated my longchair from the lower 
 bridge—the only piece of wooden deck on the 
 whole tramp—to the iron quarter-deck aft, where 
 I sat, during leisure hours, with the engineers, 
 who on the whole proved infinitely more pleasant 
 than the officers of the watch. 
 
 One day Boston hove into sight! 
 
302 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 My reception there, whither clippings from the 
 Far Eastern papers, as well as the cables of 
 James Gordon Bennett, whom I met at Manila 
 where he entertained me on his yacht, the 
 “Lysistrata,” had preceded the slow “Kenne¬ 
 bec , 5 J was, to say the least, festive, for a score 
 of reporters and photographers, as well as a 
 post-graduate student or two from Harvard 
 University, met me at the Mystic Wharf. 
 
 It all somewhat embarrassed me, as I wanted 
 to be left alone until I had conferred with my as¬ 
 sociates. Yet, “Nestorian” publicity has known 
 no let-up, so far as the Replica and, conse¬ 
 quently, the present writer, are concerned, since 
 the day I descended upon Hankow with my 
 prize. And that is more than fifteen years ago. 
 
 Professor George F. Moore, who holds the 
 chair of Comparative Religion in Harvard Uni¬ 
 versity, received me, and I was given a luncheon 
 by some friends in the students’ refectory. 
 
 On the last day of May, 1908, the “Kennebec” 
 finally reached New York, ninety-two days after 
 leaving Shanghai. 
 
 The Replica was safe at what eventually 
 proved but its temporary destination, and I had 
 thus finished my field-task, as well as my second 
 circumnavigation of the globe, in sixteen months. 
 
XVI 
 
 FATE OF THE REPLICA 
 
 T O write in retrospect at this late date, on 
 the subject of the fate of the two-ton 
 Nestorian Replica is rather a pleasure. 
 Before the Stone landed in a safe harbour, 
 from where exit or return is unlikely, much had 
 to be experienced by way of hard work, personal 
 sacrifice, bitter fight, and many another phase of 
 life, which the average human is often spared. 
 Yet, it was all in the day’s work! 
 
 From the joy of discussing the Monument and 
 the expedition with cultured, interested uni¬ 
 versity professors, clergymen and others, to the 
 bringing of an easily-won libel-suit for curiously 
 fantastic allegations; from lecturing within fields 
 bordered on one side of the Atlantic by Quebec, 
 Mexico City, Boston, and Chicago, and on the 
 other side of the ocean by Copenhagen and 
 Rome, to denying oneself sometimes even necessi¬ 
 ties in order to be able to give away nine-foot 
 casts of the Replica to eager governments and 
 intent museums; from being loudly lauded in 
 public one day, to being delectably damned with 
 faint praise the next—all of it was experienced 
 
 303 
 
304 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 and enjoyed, for it all proved Life, true and un¬ 
 protected, and sometimes even primitive. 
 
 But to go back to the lot of the Replica after 
 its arrival in New York. 
 
 Needless to say, one of the first men I looked 
 up was Sir Purdon Clarke, the director of the 
 Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue, 
 whose fatherly interest and advice had encour¬ 
 aged me so much the year before, when I 
 started out. 
 
 Sir Purdon’s office was bathed in the sunshine 
 of a warm New York spring-day, when he re¬ 
 ceived me with outstretched hand. I almost 
 immediately gave him a photograph of the 
 Monument, as well as one or two others showing 
 various phases of transporting the Replica in 
 China. 
 
 “Well,” said Sir Purdon pensively, “if your 
 Replica looks anything like that, we certainly 
 want to have it here! But I must tell you that, 
 according to our rules for loaned objects, it will 
 have to remain on view for at least six months.” 
 
 I agreed. 
 
 I did not then anticipate that the new Nesto- 
 rian Monument was destined to remain in the 
 museum not six months, but eight solid years. 
 
 Had I read my accumulated mail at the time I 
 visited Sir Purdon, I might not so readily have 
 agreed to let the museum borrow the Replica. 
 
FATE OF THE REPLICA 
 
 305 
 
 For, among my innumerable letters from all 
 over the globe, practically all of them dealing 
 in some way with the expedition just finished, I 
 found one from H. E. Dr. Vilhelm Thomsen, a 
 most illustrious compatriot, who had been desig¬ 
 nated President of the International Congress of 
 Orientalists, to be convoked in Copenhagen dur¬ 
 ing August, 1908. 
 
 He now invited me, a youngster of twenty-six, 
 to become a member of the congress, to bring 
 “the very remarkable Replica” to Copenhagen, 
 and there to lecture on the Monument and my 
 expedition before the international gathering, in 
 a charming holograph communication, dated 
 Copenhagen, May 10th, 1908. 
 
 Unfortunately, after the heavy expense of the 
 quest, it was not possible for me unconditionally 
 to accept; and I have frequently enough re¬ 
 gretted that Professor Thomsen’s invitation did 
 not reach me a little earlier, so that I might have 
 gone north, in lieu of west, from the Pillars of 
 Hercules. 
 
 Mr. Asa Steele was commissioned by The New 
 York Times to write a full account of my efforts 
 in China, and the publication of his full-page 
 article in its Sunday magazine section inspired 
 new inundations of publicity, national and inter¬ 
 national, which was indeed highly useful in 
 spreading knowledge about the Nestorian Monu- 
 
306 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 ment—hitherto unknown except to a few stu¬ 
 dents—but which did not, I am sorry to say, 
 result in obtaining for the Replica any perma¬ 
 nent home. 
 
 My family and friends, as well as Messrs. 
 Whelpley and Lyman, who had contributed 
 towards the expenses of the expedition, and I, 
 myself, having sold everything I could go with¬ 
 out in order to see the materialization of my 
 hopes, were naturally all anxious to see the 
 Replica “settled” in an appropriate home. 
 
 We had expected facilely to bring this about 
 by inducing some man or woman of public- 
 spirited tendencies to donate the beautiful result 
 of the Chinese stone-cutters’ art to one of the 
 better museums. 
 
 Herein we were grossly mistaken. 
 
 Sir Purdon Clarke told me that the Metro¬ 
 politan Museum would gladly accept the Replica 
 as a gift; but no donor ever turned up, though I 
 searched high and low. 
 
 The late Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, whom I met 
 on two or three occasions, and who assured me of 
 his interest in my work, was at that time presi¬ 
 dent of the Metropolitan Museum, but although 
 he and his fellow-trustees were informed about 
 the opportunity of acquiring the Stela at cost, 
 nothing decisive ensued. 
 
 Mr. Charles Freer, Mr. Andrew Carnegie, 
 
FATE OF THE REPLICA 
 
 307 
 
 whom I several times visited in his home at his 
 invitation; Mrs. Russell Sage, who was said to be 
 especially interested, like Mr. Morgan, in the 
 Church; and a number of others, were ap¬ 
 proached. But they made no move. 
 
 It was intimated that, as long as the Stela was 
 publicly and gratis accessible in a municipal 
 museum, there was no reason why the wealthy or 
 the public-spirited, or both, should bother them¬ 
 selves with its acquisition. 
 
 The National Museum in Washington, which 
 forms part of the Smithsonian Institution, whose 
 chief was then, and is now, the able Dr. Charles 
 D. Walcott, was anxious to acquire the Replica, 
 but a congressional appropriation was not 
 thought easy of attainment. 
 
 Here is what the head of the National Mu¬ 
 seum, Dr. Rathbun, wrote to his chief, Dr. 
 Walcott, under date of February 4, 1909, while 
 I was myself temporarily employed in that 
 institution: 
 
 “—should this Stone be purchased by Mr. 
 Larz Anderson or anyone, as a contribution to 
 the National Museum, it would be a very gra¬ 
 cious act, and the object would constitute an 
 important, notable addition to the national 
 collections.” 
 
 Yet, neither Washington, nor New York, nor 
 Philadelphia, where Dr. S. Weir Mitchell dem- 
 
308 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 onstrated considerable interest, nor any of the 
 other large cities, where men and women with 
 national reputations busied themselves for a brief 
 while with the Stone so as to try and divert it to 
 their own centre and obtain the credit that would 
 thus fall due from a grateful community, seemed 
 to succeed in reaching any definite result, al¬ 
 though three-quarter promises were as frequent 
 as one dared reasonably to expect. 
 
 It was a more or less discouraging situation, 
 and my friends and I soon put the brakes on our 
 own energy, for it became increasingly obvious 
 that we could not hope to become reimbursed, so 
 long as the Replica was publicly accessible. 
 
 No one appreciated the need of securing it, 
 when it could be inspected and examined gratis 
 five days a week by anyone interested, and the 
 two remaining days for a quarter! 
 
 Meanwhile, the Monument remained at its ap¬ 
 pointed place in the art museum of New York, 
 close by the entrance to the Bishop jade collec¬ 
 tion, and many were the distinguished visitors 
 who, as time went by, came from near and far in 
 order to inspect and admire the faithful repro¬ 
 duction of one of history’s most interesting 
 inscriptions on stone. 
 
 The situation, indeed, was a peculiar one. 
 
 Here was the prize of an expedition that had 
 cost thousands of dollars, universally praised by 
 
FATE OF THE REPLICA 
 
 309 
 
 professors, priests, and press, while others, less 
 professional, sang the chorus. 
 
 Here the fruit of a widely lauded endeavour 
 was exhibited in one of the world’s richest and 
 most important art museums, receiving visits 
 from lay and learned alike, while theses and 
 treatises were being broadcasted about its history 
 and its rightful rank in archaeology, composed in 
 a dozen languages, and printed in a score of 
 countries. 
 
 Here the result of a quest into comparatively 
 speaking inaccessible and turbulent regions of 
 the earth, had caused many a learned body in 
 various countries to elect its commander to hon¬ 
 orary or corresponding fellowship, even to bestow 
 upon him their medals, presented supposedly for 
 deeds well done; while numerous governments 
 had followed suit by officially recognizing the 
 scientific value of his efforts through conferment 
 of their decorations. 
 
 Here was a situation, where an archgeologic ex¬ 
 pedition, conducted intentionally till its very 
 termination without fanfare or extravagance, 
 had won approval to the extent that I had been 
 permitted, and sometimes even re-invited, to 
 lecture in almost all the important universities in 
 the eastern states, and before archgeologic and 
 geographic bodies here and abroad. 
 
 And yet, the Stela remained in the Metropoli- 
 
310 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 tan Museum of Art in New York for eight 
 years —as a loan! 
 
 It seemed plain that, despite all the enthusi¬ 
 asm, all the favourable publicity, all the three- 
 quarter promises from influential American men 
 and women to acquire the Stone for their coun¬ 
 try, there was no real, sustained effort to carry 
 out any such intention at all. 
 
 It was, to speak inelegantly, all “hot air”—at 
 least, as soon as it came to a question of digging 
 down into one’s purse to cover the cost of the 
 quest in order to secure the prize. 
 
 The principal part of the capital for the expe¬ 
 dition had come out of the United States. It 
 would, consequently, have given me great pleas¬ 
 ure to see the Replica remain the property of the 
 nation, placed worthily in the Xational Museum 
 at the federal capital. 
 
 Failing this, I should have been glad if Sir 
 Purdon Clarke’s wish to retain the Stone in New 
 York could have been fulfilled, or if the Monu¬ 
 ment could have gone to any other good museum 
 in the country. 
 
 But this was not to be! 
 
 Unfortunately, Sir Purdon retired, and event¬ 
 ually died, not long after my return to New 
 York. 
 
 His successor, Mr. Edward Robinson, never 
 did manifest any interest in the Monument. He 
 
FATE OF THE REPLICA 
 
 311 
 
 simply kept quiet and let the Stone stand, re¬ 
 membering, probably, the admitted interest of 
 J. Pierpont Morgan, It. W. de Forest, and other 
 trustees, who were his direct superiors. 
 
 Meanwhile, I went on with my work. 
 
 The results attained through my expedition I 
 generally divide into chapters, as it were, al¬ 
 though I realize that the principal goal of all my 
 efforts was to make known to the world the phys¬ 
 ical remaining proof of one of the greatest ro¬ 
 mances of history, that is, the early introduction 
 of Christianity into the Chinese Empire of the 
 golden Tang era, in a. d. 635—more than six 
 centuries and a half ere the arrival of the second 
 mission, that of Pome, under John of Montecor- 
 vino in a. d. 1292. 
 
 Among the results I count the following: 
 
 Obtaining the Replica; presenting a dozen re¬ 
 productions in plaster of the Replica to so many 
 countries; causing the original Monument to be 
 put under roof; lecturing widely; writing person¬ 
 ally and vicariously of the inscription. 
 
 Commenting upon these five milestones I am 
 led to observe: 
 
 First: An exact Replica—the only one in ex¬ 
 istence—carved in the same material as the origi¬ 
 nal, of the Nestorian Monument of China was 
 obtained. It was exhibited as a loan in New 
 York from 1908-1916; and early in 1917 it was 
 
312 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 put permanently on view in the foremost Chris¬ 
 tian Museum extant, that of the Lateran in 
 Rome, as pontifical property. 
 
 Second: Twelve Casts of the Replica, sturdily 
 made of coloured plaster, have been distributed, 
 as gifts from me, mostly without any subven¬ 
 tion whatsoever. They may now be seen in the 
 following places: the National Archgeologic Mu¬ 
 seum of Athens; the Indian Museum of Cal¬ 
 cutta; the National Museum of Caracas; the 
 Great Royal Library of Copenhagen; the Na¬ 
 tional Archgeologic Museum of Madrid; the 
 National Museum of Mexico City; McGill Uni¬ 
 versity of Montreal; Yale University of New 
 Haven; the National Guimet Museum of Paris; 
 and the Biblical Institute of Rome. Two more 
 Casts are on their way to the State Museum for 
 Anthropology of Berlin, and to the Imperial 
 University of Kioto. A thirteenth Cast is ready 
 for Robert College in Constantinople, should 
 that hapless, patriarchal seat of Nestorius ever 
 quiet down again. 
 
 I hope yet to distribute one or two Casts to 
 centres that are really interested, although this 
 appreciable strain on my finances must very soon 
 cease forever. 
 
 Third ; One indirect result of my expedition, 
 that of causing the original Chingchiaopei to be 
 put permanently under roof, in which endeavour 
 
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 Full-size Cast of the Nestorian Replica in Yale University, the 
 only reproduction in the U.S.A. The author has presented a 
 dozen similar Casts to so many countries as mentioned in the 
 text; one or two more may yet be cast from the Replica in 
 Rome for museums or other centres of learning as gifts 
 from Dr. Holm. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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FATE OF THE REPLICA 
 
 313 
 
 missionaries and diplomats alike had dismally 
 failed for decades, has been related elsewhere; 
 but the removal into Sian-fu of the Monument is 
 so gratifying a fact that, as such, it readily bears 
 repetition. 
 
 Fourth: Fifty times, and more, I have deliv¬ 
 ered my illustrated lecture on the Monument and 
 my expedition, in Europe and America, some¬ 
 times speaking in universities, sometimes before 
 learned bodies, sometimes, though more seldom, 
 before private gatherings. 
 
 Fifth: Besides the present popular account of 
 my work, I have published technical reports and 
 archaeological observations anent the inscription 
 and allied questions, while great numbers of ar¬ 
 ticles in scientific periodicals, popular magazines, 
 and newspapers have appeared, and still do ap¬ 
 pear, in both capital and minor cities, as well as 
 in the remotest corners of the globe, as evidenced 
 by the necessarily limited contents of my scrap¬ 
 book, making more widely known the great me¬ 
 morial of what is today termed the East Assyrian 
 Church, the Nestorian Monument of China. 
 
 Not everybody, however, seems to have agreed 
 with the above indicated results as facts. 
 
 From time to time, a book or two have ap¬ 
 peared, the authors of which would prove travel¬ 
 lers who had gone as far as Sian-fu—sometimes 
 even farther. 
 
314 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 If the mention of the Nestorian Monument by 
 these writers can be taken as a criterion by which 
 to weigh the rest of the information offered in 
 their books, they might better have remained 
 unprinted. 
 
 Casually I select the following contributions, 
 intended for an eagerly waiting world of science: 
 
 Robert Sterling Clark, an American, wrote a 
 book concerning Shensi and Kansu provinces. 
 In it he mentions Sian-fu and the Monument, 
 and he volunteers the information, referring to 
 the Replica and me, that “after endless trouble 
 with Customs officials and others, he dumped it 
 down and left it somewhere along the Yang-tse.” 
 
 When Mr, Clark was apprized of his error, 
 he did not prove sportsmanlike enough even to 
 express regret. Probably his own reported 
 troubles with the authorities in China were of 
 such a nature that he was but too anxious 
 to banish everything Celestial from his mind 
 forever. 
 
 Then I recall the irrepressible traveller, Wil¬ 
 liam Edgar Geil, also an American, who pinned 
 a homemade flag onto what he considered the 
 terminus of the Great Wall, and who later went 
 visiting all eighteen provincial capitals of China 
 proper. Mr. Geil knocks a couple of feet off the 
 height of our Monument in describing it and then 
 goes on to tell about “some white men,” who 
 
FATE OF THE REPLICA 
 
 315 
 
 came upon the Stone, “and made very careful 
 arrangements to reproduce it exactly.” Mr. 
 Geil, who avers he outdid Stanley in Africa, con¬ 
 cludes: “In this they were so successful that local 
 rumour credited them with the intention of leav¬ 
 ing the Replica and marching off with the 
 original—.” 
 
 Then there was a British consular official, by 
 name Eric Teichman, who went to Shensi re¬ 
 cently. Even at this late date, travellers to 
 Sian-fu remain unfamiliar with the work which 
 has been done to make the Stone known. Mr. 
 Teichman proved that he was not well-posted, 
 but, at least, he was sportsman enough to 
 stand corrected when his error was courteously 
 pointed out. 
 
 Last, but not least, there was considerable 
 mention in one of Mr. Roy Chapman Andrews’s 
 recent articles, in a New York magazine called 
 “Asia,” of the city of Sian-fu. In a few lines—a 
 mere paragraph—this zoologist succeeded in pre¬ 
 senting more mistakes concerning the Stone than 
 tolerably permissible. A spectral photograph of 
 the Monument in the Peilin accompanied Mr. 
 Andrews’s venture into archaeology. 
 
 It would have been infinitely more thrilling to 
 read about the serious trouble, including arrest 
 according to Mr. Hagquist, that Mr. Andrews 
 and his hunter-companion experienced with the 
 
316 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 Christian General Feng in Shensi, who objected 
 to their old-fashioned conception of the white 
 man’s rights and burdens and what not. 
 
 To return to the question of the fate of the 
 Replica, I remember presenting in the autumn of 
 1909 a letter of introduction to Dr. N. M. Butler, 
 the head of Columbia University in New York, 
 from a mutual friend, Mr. J. Coleman Drayton, 
 in order to hear whether Professor Butler might 
 be able to offer any suggestion, whereby the 
 Replica could be secured for the United States. 
 
 I was referred to Professor Friedrich Hirth, 
 the chief of the Chinese department in the uni¬ 
 versity, who had come with me the year before to 
 the museum in order to inspect the fruit of my 
 labours from the sinological point of view. 
 
 Like other sinologues, Dr. Hirth, who had 
 spent several decades in China’s foreign custom’s 
 service, agreed that the inscription was a speak¬ 
 ing proof of the skill of eastern craftsmanship, 
 and even wrote me a cordial letter, dated October 
 28, 1908, from which I quote the following 
 passage: 
 
 44 —the scientific value of your expedition to 
 Sian-fu is beyond dispute. The similarity of all 
 the detail in the Chinese and Syriac portions of 
 the text, as compared with both a rubbing and a 
 photograph taken of the original, is quite re¬ 
 markable, and I think that, next to the original 
 
FATE OF THE REPLICA 
 
 317 
 
 itself, no reproduction could give us a better idea 
 of the Stone, which ever since its discovery has 
 been regarded as one of the most important sub¬ 
 jects of Chinese archaeological research. Your 
 idea of having plaster-casts made of your Replica 
 is a good one,—and I hope we shall soon see the 
 Monument represented in that shape in the 
 museums of Europe and America.-—” 
 
 Dr. Hirth’s hope has been fulfilled during his 
 well-earned otium cum dignitate in Munich, 
 where this delightful, aged scholar retired after 
 the pact of Versailles. 
 
 Professor Hirth, however, is not the only sino¬ 
 logue who has passed on the wonderful accuracy 
 and beauty of the Replica. 
 
 The Chinese minister in Rome, Mr. Wang 
 Kuang Ky, who is an acknowledged classical 
 scholar, examined the inscription with care in the 
 Lateran, while the Rev. W. Hagquist, a mission¬ 
 ary at Sian-fu, when on furlough in the States, 
 examined it in New York. Both found it highly 
 satisfactory. 
 
 Professor Yoshisaburo Okakura of Tokio vis¬ 
 ited and examined the Replica in New York 
 during 1909 and, according to his colleague, 
 Professor P. Y. Saeki, “found, to his satisfac¬ 
 tion, that it was a very good Replica indeed.” 
 
 Professor Kuwabara, of the Imperial Uni¬ 
 versity at Kioto, in company with Professor 
 
318 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 XJno, were in Sian-fu for a while in the fall of 
 1907, and they learned of my task there, al¬ 
 though I did not have the honour of making their 
 acquaintance. 
 
 Professor Okakura was undoubtedly inspired 
 to make his visit to the museum in New York by 
 the writings of his two compatriots about their 
 travels in northwest China and the Stone. 
 
 When the Replica had been in the Metropoli¬ 
 tan Museum for eight years, the new curator of 
 Par Eastern art, a Hollander by name of Mr. 
 S. C. Bosch Reitz, decided that he wanted the 
 space occupied by the Stone for something else, 
 and a ukase was consequently promulgated to 
 that effect. 
 
 Such an occurrence, of course, would have been 
 unthinkable in the days of Sir Purdon Clarke. 
 
 It is not for me to divulge in this book the 
 motives behind this move, but I hope to speak of 
 them elsewhere. Suffice it to say that, while 
 some unimportant exhibit was temporarily 
 placed in the space which the Replica had so long 
 occupied, that spot was for years utterly inno¬ 
 cent of being invested, except by air, although a 
 piece of ceramic was put there on a wooden ped¬ 
 estal about a year ago according to its Cerberus. 
 
 Thus the museum, after eight years loanship, 
 but without prospect of becoming its owner, 
 gratefully ejected the Replica. 
 
FATE OF THE REPLICA 
 
 319 
 
 The unexpected result of this surprising act 
 was that the Monument, within a few months, 
 came to occupy a place of honour, opposite the 
 principal entrance, amidst the greatest Christian 
 collections ever assembled, namely those in the 
 beautiful former palace of the popes, the Lateran 
 in Rome. 
 
 It was during the summer of 1916 that the 
 Stela was laboriously brought downstairs into 
 the basement of the New York Museum, where 
 it enjoyed a well-earned rest behind lock and key, 
 until I had it motor-trucked to the workshop of 
 a moulder, who could build a protecting skeleton 
 of planks around it. 
 
 From the workshop, my favourite companion, 
 to wit the Replica, and I set sail on the “Duca 
 d’Aosta” for Genoa on October 21, 1916. 
 
 Prolonged negotiations had taken place during 
 the past few months, and the nominal ownership 
 of the Stone had again been transferred. 
 
 The new legal owner, a Roman Catholic con¬ 
 vert, asked me what I thought best, and I replied 
 that decision depended upon whether one desired 
 to serve one’s country or one’s spiritual head in 
 such a case. 
 
 The donor had the choice of presenting the 
 Monument either to the National Museum in 
 Washington, where Dr. Walter Hough and I 
 had once tentatively selected a suitable spot for 
 
320 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 the Stela, or to the Pontiff in Rome, to whom I 
 had myself the year before presented a Cast of 
 the Stone, like those I had given to Denmark and 
 other countries, and which had been set up in the 
 Lateran. 
 
 It was finally decided that the Replica should 
 go to Rome, and, truth to tell, I was not against 
 it being lost to the United States, where, for up¬ 
 wards of a decade, men and women had given me 
 the one near-promise of reimbursement after 
 the other, but where no such promise had been 
 redeemed. 
 
 To the future pleasure of jotting down some 
 autobiographic notes belong the details of the 
 victorious entry and permanent erection of the 
 Replica in Rome and my own pleasant experi¬ 
 ences in the Eternal City. 
 
 Here I shall simply outline that—despite 
 Austrian submarines, and a new set of trou¬ 
 blesome customs officials—the Stone and I 
 arrived at our destination, and that, on No¬ 
 vember 26, 1916, at the first of my private 
 audiences of Pope Benedict XV, I formally 
 offered the prize of my Chinese quest to His 
 Holiness on behalf of the distant convert in New 
 York. 
 
 There was, financially, something exquisitely 
 humourous in this act of homage! 
 
 For the Replica, when it was re-erected in the 
 
FATE OF THE REPLICA 
 
 321 
 
 Lateran, early in 1917, stood my associates and 
 me in some 140,000 Lire at a moment when the 
 exchange was around 6.40 Lire to the dollar, and 
 of this sum the “donor” had furnished less than 
 one-third, while my family and friends, and I 
 myself, pocketed the remaining two-thirds as a 
 dead loss and let it go at that. 
 
 My ten weeks in Rome passed like so many 
 days. 
 
 I feel sorry that I am not to relate here all the 
 kindly hospitality that I was the object of, de¬ 
 spite the war, nor of the considerable interest 
 that the arrival and erection of the Stela created, 
 among “blacks and whites” alike. 
 
 However, besides the gracious benevolence of 
 Pope Benedict, I benefitted by the kind interest 
 and wise decisions of a number of men, among 
 whom I must mention Cardinal Gasparri, Cardi¬ 
 nal Gasquet, Cardinal Falconio, Signor Galli, 
 the director-general of the pontifical museums; 
 Commendatore Professor Orazio Marucchi, the 
 famous Vatican archaeologist and director of the 
 Christian Museum of the Lateran, and many 
 others, including the charming and accomplished 
 diplomat, Monsignor Sanz de Samper, now 
 pontifical Major Domo. 
 
 The Danish minister, an old acquaintance, Mr. 
 Andreas Oldenburg, as well as the Chinese min¬ 
 ister, mentioned above, entertained me; while the 
 
822 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 American ambassador, the novelist, Dr. Thomas 
 Nelson Page, received me and expressed his in¬ 
 terest in the Replica and his deep regret that it 
 had not been retained in America. 
 
 The above mentioned names are chosen at ran¬ 
 dom and not out of my diary, so I fear that I 
 may have passed by many a person to whom I am 
 under obligation. 
 
 The learned librarian of the Vatican, Mon¬ 
 signor Achille Ratti, with whom I had a long 
 conference about certain Nestorian rubbings in 
 the Vatican collections, and whom I later visited 
 anew, was keenly interested in the Replica. 
 
 I was told that the learned librarian, who had 
 long been the head of the Ambrosian Library of 
 Milan, would like to see the Nestorian Cast, 
 which I had presented the year before to the 
 Pope and which was then in the Lateran, 
 ordered to Milan. 
 
 Unfortunately, the Pope decided that the 
 Cast should be re-erected in the Biblical Insti¬ 
 tute in Rome, while the Stone-Replica was set 
 up in the Lateran—not where the Cast had 
 stood, but, as indicated, opposite the main- 
 entrance, which caused considerable expense, re¬ 
 arrangement, and trouble, as a huge sarcophagus 
 had to be moved upstairs in order to yield the 
 better space. 
 
 Now that Monsignor Ratti has been elevated 
 
FATE OF THE REPLICA 
 
 323 
 
 to the Chair of St. Peter, it is only natural that 
 His Holiness has but to command in order to 
 have a Cast placed at Milan. 
 
 I witnessed the creation of a number of cardi¬ 
 nals from the diplomatic loge, and I repeatedly 
 visited various catacombs with Professor Ma- 
 rucchi; I lectured under Cardinal Gasquet’s roof, 
 with three cardinals—among them Cardinal 
 Bourne from London—and three ministers pleni¬ 
 potentiary to the Vatican in the front fauteuils, 
 and I repeated my lecture for Qurinal circles, as 
 it were, in the American Academy on the Jani- 
 culum, while I spoke in French at the Cancelleria 
 before the members of the Papal Society of 
 Christian Archa?ology concerning the manner in 
 which accuracy had been attained in inscribing 
 the Replica. 
 
 But time flew, and the appointed day for my 
 farewell audience of His Holiness came only 
 too soon. 
 
 Never shall I forget the kindness of the little, 
 frail Father in White, who again hindered me 
 from kneeling, when I entered, and who seemed 
 to know all about my lectures and other doings 
 in Rome over the past weeks. 
 
 Pope Benedict’s last words—we spoke French 
 —as I backed out of his presence were: 
 
 “And, when you have once more been on long 
 
324 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 journeys, and you come to Rome, you must not 
 go by my door!” 
 
 The Pontiff honoured me with an autographed 
 photograph, bearing a holograph inscription 
 lauding my work in generous terms. 
 
 I returned to the United States without seeing 
 the Replica actually re-erected in the Later an— 
 any more than I ever saw the original Stela 
 finally set up in the Peilin of Sian-fu. But I 
 know from photographs, and from relatives 
 who have seen it, that Professor Marucchi saw 
 to it that everything was most satisfactorily 
 finished. 
 
 The Replica now rests on a marble-base, which 
 raises it to a total height of over eleven feet. 
 
 The pedestal bears an inscription, composed 
 by the Latin secretary to the popes, Monsignor 
 Galli, and indicating to the visitor within the 
 Lateran, what the Chingchiaopei, the Monu- 
 mentum Syro-Sinicum, stands for, and how it 
 was brought into the Eternal City to remain 
 under pontifical jurisdiction and ownership. 
 
 As to my own share in all of this—I am termed 
 Fridericus Holm ex Dania in the Latin in¬ 
 scription—it has magnanimously been distin¬ 
 guished as follows: 
 
 DILIGENTISSIME NEC SINE CAPITIS PERICULO. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES: 
 
 (Reprinted with minor changes from “ Who’s Who in 
 
 America/’ 1922-23.) 
 
 HOLM, Frits (Vilhelm) ; explorer, author, lecturer; born 
 Charlottenlund, Copenhagen, Denmark, July 23, 1881; 
 elder son of Consul-General Frederik Holm and Emma 
 (Bording) Holm; educated in private and government 
 Latin schools (1887-1895) and Danish Royal Navy (1895- 
 1900); D.C.L. Susquehanna University, LL.D. Lincoln 
 Memorial University, etc.; married at New York, October 
 9, 1919, Marguerite Macdonough Green, Lady of Grace of 
 the Constantinian Order of St. George, only child of War¬ 
 ren L. Green, President of the American Bank Note Com¬ 
 pany, and Jeanne (Thierry) Green. In newspaper work 
 China, Japan, U. S. A., England, and Scandinavia since 
 1901; royal sworn interpreter-translator, Danish govern¬ 
 ment license (1905-21); twice a circumnavigator; Associ¬ 
 ated Press correspondent at Interparliamentary Conference 
 in House of Lords, July, 1906; commanded the Holm- 
 Nestorian Expedition to Sian-fu (1907-8); government 
 guest in Mexico, 1911; a former editor of “ Records of the 
 Past ”; a literary critic on the New York Times (1909-12) ; 
 correspondent to Danish newspapers since 1903, and to 
 Petermann’s Mitteilungen; Boy Scout Commissioner (1913- 
 16); chief of naval staff of volunteer F. A. C. (1914-17); 
 mission to the Vatican (1916-17) ; American war-correspon¬ 
 dent for Leslie’s, etc., in northern Europe (1917-18); 
 commissioner abroad and delegate-general of Cuban Red 
 Cross (1918-19); although of neutral nationality served 25 
 months in world war; diplomatic envoy extraordinary of the 
 Republic of San Marino to President Harding’s inaugura¬ 
 tion (1921); hon. Professor in archaeology under Mexican 
 Ministry of Public Instruction (1923). 
 
 Decorations: Senator-Grand-Cross with Collar of the 
 Constantinian Order of St. George (the most ancient Order 
 
 325 
 
326 MY NESTORIAN ADVENTURE IN CHINA 
 
 of Chivalry extant, and of which Cardinal Gibbons received 
 the only other Grand Cross ever conferred in the U. S. A.) ; 
 Grand Cross (for services in the world war) of the Cuban 
 Order of Honour and Merit; Grand Cross with Swords of 
 St. Cyril and St. Methodius; Knight-Commander of the 
 Orders of the Redeemer (Greece), St. Sylvester (Holy 
 See), and the Liberator (U. S. of Venezuela) ; Coronation 
 Medal and Royal Red Cross (Spain) ; Cambodgian Medal 
 of Merit in gold (France); additional decorations from 
 Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cuba, France, Holy See, Japan, 
 Liechtenstein, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, and Spain—-deco¬ 
 rated in all 44 times (1902-22). 
 
 Gold-medallist, honorary, corresponding, and life member 
 of 29 scientific and humane societies and roval academies in 
 13 countries. Author: The Nestorian Monument (1909), 
 etc., and numerous magazine articles. Has lectured ex¬ 
 tensively in Denmark, U. S. A., Canada, Italy, and Mexico. 
 Clubs: Royal Yacht (Copenhagen), the Authors’ (London). 
 Office: 14 John Street, New York; telegraphic address: 
 Fritsholm Newyork. 
 
INDEX 
 
 (Certain entries like, for example, “Loess,” “ Sian-fu,” and a few others, have not been 
 mentioned each time they reappear due to too frequent occurrence in the text. The subject- 
 chapters, dealing e. g. with “ Sian-fu,” are mentioned by page in this Index, but otherwise 
 the extensive existence df certain names and appellations is indicated merely by an “ etc.”) 
 
 A 
 
 Abruzzi, H. R. H. the Duke of the, 23. 
 Academies, royal, 326. 
 
 Adam, Pope of China, 182. 
 
 Adler, Dr. Cyrus, 26. 
 
 Aglen, Comr. F. A., 293, 295, 296, 297. 
 Aleni, Father, 218. 
 
 Alexieff, Prof., 239, 251. 
 
 Algiers, 301. 
 
 Alkoran, 66. 
 
 Aloha, 160. 
 
 Alopen (Olopun), 165, 166, 168. 
 
 Alps, The, 189. 
 
 Altar of Heaven, 42. 
 
 Ambrosian Library, Milan, 322. 
 America, 114, 226, 240, 249. 
 
 American Academy, Rome, 323. 
 American Bank Note Co., 325. 
 American Civil War, 121. 
 
 American Tobacco Co., 19, 256. 
 Amoy, 38. 
 
 Anderson, Amb. Larz, 307. 
 
 Anderson, Pastor, 87, 236, 276. 
 Andrews, Roy C., 315. 
 
 Anling-hsien, 45, 46. 
 
 Aristotle, 39. 
 
 Armistead, Pilot, 300. 
 
 Asia, 18, 26, 158. 
 
 Asia, a magazine, 315. 
 
 Associated Press, 325. 
 
 Assyrian Church, 313. 
 
 -Astor House, Hankow, 206. 
 
 Astor House, Shanghai, 300. 
 
 Astor House, Tientsin, 28. 
 
 Athens, 312. 
 
 Atlantic Ocean, 303. 
 
 Austrian submarines, 320. 
 
 Authors’ Club, London, 326. 
 Ayscough, Perry, 214, 216, 219, 220, 
 222, 228, 229, 277, 
 
 Aztec Calendar Stone, 152. 
 
 B 
 
 Ba River, 109. 
 
 Babylon, 64. 
 
 Bainbridge, O., 221. 
 
 Balkh (Balach), Afghanistan, 183, 
 Ballon captif, 116. 
 
 Baltic, 115. 
 
 Baptist mission at Sian, 128, 261, 262. 
 Baths of Lintung, 106, etc. 
 
 Beggars at Sian, 137. 
 
 Beinhoff, Dr., 87, 236, 238, 241, 276. 
 Benedict XV, H. H. Pope, 12, 320, 
 321, 322, 323. 
 
 Bennett, James Gordon, 302. 
 
 Berlin, 312. 
 
 Berner, Gilbert, 17. 
 
 Berserk, 237. 
 
 Biblical Institute, Rome, 312, 322. 
 Biography, 325. 
 
 Bland, J. O. P., 19, 287. 
 
 Bodhisatvas, 239. 
 
 Bonzes, 150, 235. 
 
 Book Review, New York Times, 15, 
 325. 
 
 Borghese, Don Livio, 208, 287. 
 Bording, Emma, 325. 
 
 Bornholm, 115. 
 
 Bosch Reitz, S. C., 318. 
 
 Boston, 301, 303. 
 
 Bourke, J. B., 113. 
 
 327 
 
328 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Bourne, Cardinal, 323. 
 
 Boxers, 18, 63, 64, 91, 138, 288. 
 
 Boy Scouts of America, 325. 
 
 Brandt, Consul A., 209. 
 
 Bredon, Sir Robert, 271. 
 
 British Legation, Peking, 52. 
 
 British Museum, 23, 24, 252. 
 
 Buddha, The, 50, 60, 63, 238, 239. 
 Buddhistic (Nestorian) temple, 149, 
 250. 
 
 Bund, The, 17, 18, 67. 
 
 Butler, Prof. Nich. M., 316. 
 
 C 
 
 Cairo, 278. 
 
 Calcutta, 312. 
 
 “ Camel-men,” 40, 60, 76, 202. 
 Canada, 326. 
 
 Cancelleria, Rome, 323. 
 
 Canton, 227. 
 
 Caracas, 312. 
 
 “ Carmen,” 117. 
 
 Carnegie, Andrew, 306. 
 
 Carus, Dr. Paul, 159. 
 
 Casts of Replica, 311, 312. 
 Catacombs, Rome, 323. 
 
 Catharina, Empress, 133. 
 
 Cathay, 146, 185. 
 
 Catholic mission at Sian, 125, 261, 
 262, 267. 
 
 Caves in the cliff, 238. 
 
 Caves in the Loess, 109, 118, 119. 
 Cebu, 301. 
 
 Cerberus, 318. 
 
 Chaldaean Christians, 11. 
 
 Changan, 129, 165. 
 
 Chang Chih Tung, 207, 208, 209, 286. 
 Changsha-hsien, 37. 
 
 Chang Shu Shen, 215, 223, 229. 
 
 Chao, H. E. Governor, 102, 134, 268, 
 284, 291. 
 
 Charlottenlund, 325. 
 
 Chataukow, 71. 
 
 Chavannes, Prof. Ed., 148, 239, 251. 
 Chekiang, 115, 216. 
 
 Chengchow, 185, 211, 213, 229, 231, 
 232, 247, 259, 262, 277, 287, 290. 
 Chengkiakow, 54. 
 
 Chi Hwang Ti, Emperor, 106. 
 Chiatso, 80, 81. 
 
 Chicago, 303. 
 
 Chili, 23, 45, 46, 58, 59, 71, 288. 
 Chilipu, 109, 121, 
 
 China’s Foremost Monument, 23, 145, 
 149, 157. 
 
 China Inland Mission, 77, 128. 
 Chinese Jews, 216. 
 
 Chingchiaopei, The, 146, etc. 
 Chingkiang, 67, 104. 
 
 Chingling Range, 185, etc. 
 
 Ching Tsing, 150. 
 
 Chinkwan, 70. 
 
 Chokiachwang, 287. 
 
 Chou (Chau) Dynasty, 166, 167. 
 Christianity introduced into China, 
 20, 158, 311. 
 
 Christian Museum of the Lateran, 
 Rome, 312, 319, 320. 
 
 Chu, Magistrate, 255, 260. 
 
 Chii, Telgr. Mgr., 270. 
 
 Church, Nestorian, 11, 167. 
 
 Chusan, 30. 
 
 Clark, Robert Sterling, 314. 
 
 Clarke, Sir Caspar Purdon, 26, 240, 
 304, 306, 310, 318. 
 
 Classics, Thirteen, 136. 
 
 Columbia University, 11, 316. 
 Confucian temples, 64, 135, 136, 234. 
 Confucius, 60, 102, 136. 
 
 Constantinian Order of St. George, 
 
 325. 
 
 Constantinople, 65, 130, 312. 
 
 Conway, Sir Martin, 25. 
 
 Copenhagen, 19, 25, 303, 305, 312, 325, 
 
 326. 
 
 Cordier, Henri, 148. 
 
 Cormorants, 78. 
 
 Cost of expedition, 321. 
 
 Criminals, luncheon with, 103. 
 
 Cross on Monument, 150, 151, 246. 
 Cumdan, 183. 
 
 D 
 
 Daibutsu, 239. 
 
 Daily Chronicle, London, 113. 
 
 Dai Nippon, 128. 
 
 Daniel, Father. 126. 
 
 Danish anthem, 210. 
 
 Danish flag, 196, 197, 267. 
 
INDEX 
 
 329 
 
 Danish interests in Peking, 17, 283, 
 284, 285, 291. 
 
 Danish Royal Navy, 325. 
 
 “ Dannebrog,” 196. 
 
 Dano-Prussian War, 121. 
 
 Dante, 84. 
 
 Decalque, 250. 
 
 Decorations conferred, 12, 309, 325, 
 326. 
 
 de Forest, R. W. r 311. 
 
 Deluge of Yii, 111. 
 
 Denmark, 18, 226, 320, 325, 326. 
 Denominations in China, 20, 155. 
 de Savinsky, N., 287. 
 
 Diana, 49. 
 
 Doctorates conferred, 325. 
 
 Dragon Gate, 236, 237. 
 
 Drayton, J. Coleman, 316. 
 “Dreadnought,” H. M. S., 48. 
 
 “ Duca d’Aosta,” 319. 
 
 Dust storm, 115, 119, 120. 
 
 E 
 
 East Assyrian Church, 313. 
 
 Edward VII, H. M. King, 23. 
 
 Egg Diet, 97, 122, 245, 277. 
 
 Egypt, 36. 
 
 Elisabeth. Queen, 133. 
 
 Ellis, Mr. and Mrs., 62, 66, 67. 
 
 “ Empress of India,” 27. 
 
 England, 325. 
 
 English maps, 76. 
 
 Esau, 218. 
 
 Estrangelo, Syriac, 182. 
 
 Eternal City, 320, 324. 
 
 Europe, 18, 114, 226, 240, 249. 
 Expedition, cost of, 321. 
 
 Expedition, results of, 311, 312, 313. 
 
 F 
 
 Falconio, Cardinal, 321. 
 
 Fancheng, 204, 238. 
 
 Fang, Duke, 165. 
 
 Feng, General, 316. 
 
 Ffrench, Lord, 287. 
 
 Fifth Avenue, New York, 132. 
 Fletcher, Amb. Henry P., 287. 
 
 Fong, Interpreter, 28, etc. 
 
 “Foreign Devil,” 34, 105. 
 
 “ Forest of Tablets,” 135, 265. 
 
 Forest, R. W. de, 311. 
 
 France, 239. 
 
 Franciscans, 126, 268. 
 
 Frederik VIII, H. M. King, Dedica¬ 
 tion. 
 
 Freer, Charles, 306. 
 
 Friedenthal, Prof., 127. 
 
 Fukien, 38. 
 
 Fungkiakow, 39. 
 
 Fuping, 212, 213, 246, 260. 
 
 G 
 
 Gabriel, Father, 125, 261, 268. 
 
 Galli, Commendatore, 321. 
 
 Galli, Monsignor, 324. 
 
 Gasparri, Cardinal, 321. 
 
 Gasquet, Cardinal, 321, 323. 
 
 Gauge of railways, 288. 
 
 Geil, Wm. Edgar, 314, 315. 
 
 Genoa, 319. 
 
 German maps, 61, 62, 72, 76. 
 Gibbons, Cardinal, 325. 
 
 “ Ginger Stone,” 119. 
 
 Gobi Desert, 112, 115. 
 
 Goette, Bishop, 125, 155, 268. 
 
 Goitre, 195. 
 
 Gold Medallist. 326. 
 
 Gordon, General, 49. 
 
 Grand Canal, 23, 51, 52, 53, 202. 
 Great Northern Telegraphs, 17. 
 Great Royal Library, Copenhagen, 
 312. 
 
 Great Wall, 53, 106, 288, 314. 
 
 Great War, 325. 
 
 Greece, 39. 
 
 Green, Marguerite Macdonough, 325. 
 Green, Warren L., 325. 
 
 H 
 
 Habana, 228. 
 
 Hagquist, Pastor W., 128, 252, 253, 
 315, 317. 
 
 Halicarnassus, 228. 
 
 Halifax, 278. 
 
 Han Dynasty, 106, 136, 167, 216. 
 
 Han River, 145, 185, 196, 202, 203, 238. 
 Hanan-isho, Patriarch, 182. 
 
 Hangchow, 52, 67, 216. 
 
330 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Han Hwai Tah, 184. 
 
 Hankow, 38, 202, 205, 206, 207, 227, 
 228, 292. 
 
 Hankow Daily News , 249. 
 
 Hanyang, 205, 207. 
 
 Harding, President W. G., 325. 
 Harlem, 228. 
 
 Hart, Sir Robert, 123, 271, 286, 295. 
 Harvard University, 302. 
 
 Havret, Father Henri, 148. 
 
 Hebrews, Chinese, 216. 
 
 Hedin, Sven af, 89. 
 
 Heller, Father, 148. 
 
 “ Hellig Olav,” 26. 
 
 Himalaya, 119. 
 
 Hirth, Prof. Friedrich, 12, 316, 317. 
 Hiuentsung (Hsiian Tsung), Emperor, 
 169 179. 
 
 Holm, Frederik, 325. 
 
 Holm, Frits, 13, 159, 223, 284, 285, 324, 
 325, 326. 
 
 Holy Spirit, 162. 
 
 Honan, 30, 46, 71, 99, 100, 116, 191, 
 
 202 . 
 
 Honan-fu, 87, 94, 114, 139, 204, 235. 
 Hongkew and Shanghai Wharf, 68. 
 Hongkong, 301. 
 
 Honours, 12, 309, 325, 326. 
 
 Hough, Dr. Walter, 319. 
 
 House of Lords, 325. 
 
 Hsian-fu, 129, 240. 
 
 Hsiaotsichwang. 50. 
 
 Hsiautan-hsien, 71. 
 
 Hsienning, 129. 
 
 Hsun-hsien, 77. 
 
 Hugh, Father, 125, 261, 268. 
 Huguenots, 131. 
 
 Hupeh, 145, 202. 
 
 Hwa Shan, 101, 269, 272. 
 
 Hwa-chow, 27 r . 
 
 Hwaiking-fu, 82, 84, 278. 
 
 Hwang-ho, 85, 92, 100, 112, 118, 214, 
 234, 242, 272, 291, (see also Yellow 
 River). 
 
 Hwang-tu, 111. 
 
 Hwayin-hsien, 244, 271, 283. 
 Hwayinmiao, 101, 244. 
 
 I 
 
 Hi, 99. 
 
 Imperial Court, 18, 138, 139. 
 
 Imperial Refuge at Sian, 138, 139, 262. 
 Imperial University, Kioto, 312. 
 India, 76, 102, 216, 238. 
 
 Indian Museum, Calcutta, 312. 
 Infanticide, 38. 
 
 “ Inferno, 5 ” 84. 
 
 Inns, Chinese, 95, 96. 
 
 Inquisition, Holy, 84. 
 
 Inscription, Nestorian, 158, etc. 
 Interparliamentary Conference, 325. 
 Ireland, Archbishop, 12. 
 
 Irrigation, 36. 
 
 Islam, 131. 
 
 Israelites, Chinese, 216, 218. 
 
 Italy, 326. 
 
 J 
 
 Jacob, 218. 
 
 Jacquet, M., 234. 
 
 Janiculum, Rome, 323. 
 
 Japan, 27, 239, 325. 
 
 Jardine, Matheson & Co., 293, 297. 
 Jesuit Fathers, 216. 
 
 Jews, Chinese, 216. 
 
 John the Baptist, 218. 
 
 Jordan, Sir John, 287. 
 
 Joshua, Patriarch, 182. 
 
 Judea, 102. 
 
 K 
 
 Kaifeng-fu, 139, 211, etc., 252. 
 Kaifeng-fu, Jews at, 216, etc. 
 Kamakura, 239. 
 
 Kang bedstead, 96, 186. 
 
 Kansu, 15, 66, 112, 116, 121, 134, 314. 
 Kapilavastu, King of, 50. 
 
 Kashgar, 108. 
 
 Kashgaria, 103. 
 
 Kautsung, Emperor, 168, 178. 
 
 Kelly & Walsh, 18. 
 
 Kelfie, Dr. Scott, 25. 
 
 “ Kennebec,” 298, 300. 
 
 Khaki, 121, 201. 
 
 Kiangsu, 115. 
 
 Kienchung (Chien-chung), Emperor, 
 173, 181, 182. 
 
 Kih-ho (Chi-ho), Priest, 171. 
 Kingsmiil, 111. 
 
 King-Tsing, Priest, 159. 
 
 Kingtzekuan, 191, 192, 194, 196, 202, 
 213, 246. 
 
INDEX 
 
 331 
 
 Kin Han railway, 78, 81, 185, 206, 279, 
 280. 
 
 Kioto, 312. 
 
 Kircher, Father A., 148, 182. 
 
 Kirin beer, 254. 
 
 Kobe, 27. 
 
 Koh, Duke, 175. 
 
 Kong-fu-tsz, 60, 65, 136. 
 
 Koko Nor, 119. 
 
 Koran, 26. 
 
 Kowtow, 93. 
 
 Kreitner, Ltn., 148. 
 
 Kulan, 89, 90. 
 
 “ Kulanebra,” 90, 92. 
 
 Kumdan, 183. 
 
 Kung-hsien, 234, 291. 
 
 “ Kung-pao,” 286. 
 
 Kuwabara, Prof., 317. 
 
 Kwan-ti, 236, 237. 
 
 Kwan-yin, 47. 
 
 Kwang Hsu, Emperor, 141, 207. 
 Kwantung, 227. 
 
 L 
 
 Lama temple, 251. 
 
 Lanchiao, 187. 
 
 Lanchow, 114, 134, 139. 
 
 Land of Sinim, 153. 
 
 Lankester, Sir Ray, 90. 
 
 Lantien, 187. 
 
 Laohokow, 196, 202. 
 
 Lao-tse, 101, 102, 243. 
 
 Lateran Palace, 312, 319, 321, 322, 324. 
 Learned societies, 12, 309, 326. 
 
 Leca, M., 211, 277. 
 
 Lectures on Monument, 303, 309, 311, 
 313, 326. 
 
 Legation, Danish, at Peking, 27, 283, 
 284, 285, 291. 
 
 Legation, Russian, at Peking, 27, 283, 
 284, 285, 291. 
 
 Legge, Dr., 148. 
 
 Leslie’s Weekly, 325. 
 
 Li, (one-third mile), 51. 
 
 Li Shan, 106, 108. 
 
 Likin, 71, 196, 262. 
 
 Likwanchiao, 200. 
 
 Lincoln Memorial University, 325. 
 Lintung-hsien, 19, 106, 108, 142, 245, 
 269. 
 
 Lintsing-chow, 61, 62, 63, 67, 69, 101. 
 Liuliho, 35. 
 
 Liutze, 270. 
 
 Liverpool, 278. 
 
 Loess, 110, etc. 
 
 Loho River, 234, 236, 238. 
 
 London, 19, 25, 26, 113, 152, 256, 278, 
 
 323, 326. 
 
 Longfellow, 210. 
 
 “ Loong Wo,” 296, 297. 
 
 Lowe Chuan Hwa, 20. 
 
 Loyang, 232, 238. 
 
 Lil Siu-yen, 150, 182. 
 
 Luciani, M., 211, 277. 
 
 Ludgate Hill, London, 132. 
 
 Luminous Lord, 161. 
 
 Lungchiichai, 189, 191, 192. 
 
 Lungmen, 236, 238, 239, 240. 
 
 Lyman, H. D., 26, 306. 
 
 “ Lysistrata,” 302. 
 
 M 
 
 Mackay treaty, 196. 
 
 Madrid, 312. 
 
 Manchu city, 131, 132, 222. 
 
 Manchu soldiers, 121. 
 
 Manila, 301. 
 
 Manji, 146, 185. 
 
 Mar Shimun, H. B. Patriarch, 12. 
 Marco Polo, 51, 146, 218. 
 
 Markham, Sir Clements, 25. 
 Marucchi, Commendatore O., 321, 322, 
 
 324. 
 
 Mary, the Virgin, 218. 
 
 Masi, 28, etc. 
 
 Medallist, Gold, 309, 326. 
 
 Memorial slabs at Sian, 136. 
 
 Mencius, 60. 
 
 Meng-hsien, 84, 85. 
 
 Menzies, Dr. and Mrs., 83. 
 
 Messiah, 161, 162. 
 
 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New 
 York, 26, 240, 252, 304, 306, 308, 309, 
 318 
 
 Mexico City, 152, 303, 312, 325, 326. 
 Middle Flowery Kingdom, 20, 217. 
 Middle Kingdom, 114, 175, 197, 214, 
 229, 238. 
 
 Mienchi, 276. 
 
 Milan, 322, 323. 
 
332 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Ming Dynasty, 45, 222. 
 
 Mitchell, Dr. S. Weir, 307. 
 
 Moabite Stone, 152. 
 
 Mohammed, 131. 
 
 Mohammedans, 63, 66, 104, 130, 131, 
 134, 219. 
 
 Mongolia, 27, 103. 
 
 Mongolian deserts, 114. 
 
 Mongolian ponies, 121. 
 
 Montecorvino, Bishop John of, 158, 
 311. 
 
 Montreal, 27, 312. 
 
 Monument, Nestorian, 145, etc. 
 Monumentum Syro-Sinicum, 152, 324. 
 Moore, Prof. G. F., 302. 
 
 Morgan, J. Pierpont, 36. 
 
 Morrison, Dr., 287. 
 
 Moses, 217, 219. 
 
 Moslems, 65, 130, 219. 
 
 Moule, Rev., 148. 
 
 Mullahs, 131, 220. 
 
 Muller, Prof., 148. 
 
 Munich, 317. 
 
 Musee Guimet, Paris, 312. 
 
 Museum, Lateran, 312, 319, 320. 
 Mussulmen, 220. 
 
 Me 
 
 McCormick, Frederick, 240, 241. 
 McGill University, Montreal, 312. 
 
 N 
 
 Nagasaki, 27. 
 
 Nan-Chili, 71. 
 
 Nanking, 138. 
 
 Nansen, Dr. Frithjof, 25. 
 
 Nation, The, 20. 
 
 National Archaeologic Museum, Ath¬ 
 ens, 312. 
 
 National Archaeologic Museum, Mad¬ 
 rid, 312. 
 
 National Guimet Museum, Paris, 312. 
 National Museum, Caracas, 312. 
 National Museum, Mexico City, 312. 
 National Museum, Washington, D. 
 
 C., 307, 310, 319. 
 
 Nestorian Church, 11, 146. 
 
 Nestorian inscription, 158, etc. 
 Nestorian missionaries, 11, 212. 
 Nestorian Monument, The, 145, etc. 
 
 Nestorian Monument, Removal of, 
 264, 265. 
 
 Nestorian Patriarch, 12. 
 
 Nestorius, 312. 
 
 New Haven, 312. 
 
 New Year, Chinese, 40. 
 
 New York, 19, 25, 152, 278, 302, 307, 
 310, 315. 
 
 New York Times, 15, 305, 325. 
 
 Nile River, 23, 36. 
 
 Ning, Prince of, 169. 
 
 Ning-Kuo, King of, 170. 
 
 Ningpo, 30, 194 216. 
 
 Ning-shu, Bishop, 182. 
 
 Noah, 111. 
 
 Norway, 115. 
 
 O 
 
 Occident, 21. 
 
 Okakura, Prof. Y., 317, 318. 
 Oldenburg, A. de, 321. 
 
 Olopun, 146, 165, 168. 
 
 “ Open Court,” 159. 
 
 Opium, 102, 134, 152. 
 
 Orientalists, Intern, Congress of, 305. 
 
 P 
 
 Pacific Ocean, 27. 
 
 Page, Amb. T. N., 322. 
 
 Panama, 278. 
 
 Panpitien, 61. 
 
 Pantau, 274. 
 
 Pauthier, M., 148. 
 
 Papal Society of Christian Archae¬ 
 ology, 323. 
 
 Paper rubbings, 250. 
 
 Paris, 152, 312. 
 
 Peary, R. E., Civil Engineer, 197. 
 Pechili, Gulf of, 276. 
 
 Peilin, 135, 136, 241, 265, 315, 324. 
 Peking, 42, etc. 
 
 Peking-Hankow railway, 153. 
 
 Peking Syndicate, 78, 82. 
 
 Pelliot, Prof. Paul, 148. 
 
 Persia, 102, 216. 
 
 Persians, 161, 162. 
 
 Petermann’s Mitteilungen, 325. 
 Pe-Yuan, 139. 
 
 Philadelphia, 307. 
 
 Pienfang, 232. 
 
INDEX 
 
 333 
 
 Pienlo railway, 214, 232, 234, 276. 
 Pin-Head cigarette, 256. 
 
 Pius XI, H. H. Pope, 322, 323. 
 
 Plato, 39, 60. 
 
 Pokotilow, Minister, 284. 
 
 Pontiff, 320, 324. 
 
 Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome, 
 312. 
 
 Pontifical Lateran Museum, Rome, 
 312 319. 
 
 Pope Benedict XV, H. H., 12, 320, 
 321, 322, 323. 
 
 Pope of Zhinastan, 158. 
 
 Pope Pius XI, H. H., 322, 323. 
 
 Port Said, 65. 
 
 Potentia, 113. 
 
 Postal Union, 123. 
 
 Prejevalsky, Col., 89. 
 
 Prosefytism, 20. 
 
 Protestant Episcopal Church, 11. 
 Pumpelly, Prof. Raphael, 111. 
 
 Q 
 
 Quebec, 303. 
 
 Queen’s Hall, London, 23. 
 
 Quincey, J. W., 48. 
 
 Quirinal, circles, 323. 
 
 R 
 
 Railway gauges, 288. 
 
 Raj agriha, 175. 
 
 Ramsay, Sir William, 113. 
 
 Rathbun, Dr. Richard, 307. 
 
 Ratti, Monsignor A., 322. 
 
 Rebecca, 218. 
 
 “ Records of the Past 325. 
 
 Red Cross, Cuban, 325. 
 
 Red Sea, 301. 
 
 Reid, Alex., 81. 
 
 Reitz, S. C. Bosch, 318. 
 
 Replica, casts of, 312. 
 
 Replica, Nestorian, 153, 157, 212, 250, 
 266, 290, 299, 303, etc. 
 
 Results of expedition, 311, 312, 313. 
 Ricci, Father M., 218. 
 
 Robbers, 88, 117, 168, 200, 274. 
 Robert College, Constantinople, 312. 
 Robinson, Ed., 310. 
 
 Rockhill, Amb. W. W., 27, 147. 
 
 Rocky Mountains, 189. 
 
 Rome, 113, 303, 311, 312, 320, 321, 324. 
 Roman Catholic missions, 125, 158, 
 261, 262, 267. 
 
 Roman Empire, 39. 
 
 Roosevelt, President Theodore, 12. 
 Rosetta Stone, 24, 152. 
 Roshdestvensky, M., 287. 
 
 “ Rosinante,” 90. 
 
 Royal academies, 326. 
 
 Royal Asiatic Society, China Branch, 
 240, 298. 
 
 Royal Geographical Society, 23. 
 
 Royal Library, Copenhagen, 312. 
 Royal Yacht Club, Copenhagen, 326. 
 
 S 
 
 Saeki, Prof. P. Y., 12, 148, 159, 184, 
 317. 
 
 Sahara, 113. 
 
 St. Francis of Assisi, 267. 
 
 St. George, Constantinian Order of, 
 
 325. 
 
 St. Patrick’s, New York, 132. 
 
 St. Paul’s, London, 132. 
 
 St. Peter, Chair of, 323. 
 
 St. Peter’s, Rome, 112, 119. 
 
 St. Sylvester, Order of, 12. 
 
 Salzmann, Ltn. E. von, 108. 
 
 San Marino, 325. 
 
 Sand storm, 56, 112. 
 
 Sage, Mrs. Russell, 307. 
 
 Sangkiayuen, 46. 
 
 Sankuinmiao, 75. 
 
 Sankwanmiao, 185. 
 
 Sanyuan, 127. 
 
 Sanz de Samper, Monsignor R., 321. 
 Saracens, 218. 
 
 Saragh, 183. 
 
 Satan, 160. 
 
 Savinsky, N. de, 287. 
 
 Scandinavia, 325. 
 
 Scandinavian Alliance Mission, 128, 
 261. 
 
 Schaumloeffel, E., 122, etc. 
 
 Scientific societies, Fellow of, 12, 309, 
 
 326. 
 
 Scott, Dr., 83. 
 
 Scott Keltie, Dr., 25. 
 
 Semedo, Father, 147, 148. 
 
 Serpentine, London, 223. 
 
 Shamo Desert, 112. 
 
334- 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Shangchow, 189. 
 
 Shanghai, 17, 19, 49, 67, 139, 297, 300, 
 302. 
 
 Shanghai Times, 249. 
 
 Shanghai Volunteers, 34. 
 
 Shangnan, 193, 194. 
 
 Shansi, 67, 72, 78, 100, 115, 271, 287, 
 288 
 
 Shantung, 46, 58, 59, 60, 71, 101, 116. 
 Shenchou, 275. 
 
 Shen-Kan provinces, 134, 314. 
 
 Shensi, 15, 18, 66, 89, 92, 100, 112, 116, 
 121 131 
 
 Sian-fu, 129, etc., 231, etc., 248, etc. 
 Sian-fu, imperial refuge at, 138, 139, 
 262. 
 
 Sian-fu, Jews at, 216. 
 
 Siangyang, 204. 
 
 Sienyang, 100. 
 
 Sigan-fu, 129. 
 
 Sinan-hsien, 98. 
 
 Singan-fu, 129. 
 
 Sinho-hsien, 36. 
 
 Sinim, Land of, 153. 
 
 Siroco, 113. 
 
 Smithsonian Institution, 213, 307. 
 Society for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge, London, 159. 
 
 Solon, 39. 
 
 Sons of Han, 30, 158. 
 
 Soochow Creek, 17. 
 
 “ Squeeze,” 55, 56, 107, 139, 196, 205, 
 259. 
 
 Squilbin, M. and Mme., 235, 276. 
 
 St. (Saint), see above. 
 
 Stanley, Sir Henry M., 315. 
 
 State Museum of Anthropology, Ber¬ 
 lin, 312. 
 
 Steele, Asa, 305. 
 
 Stone Coppice, 135, 137. 
 
 Straits Settlements, 301. 
 
 Submarines, 320. 
 
 Suchow, 104. 
 
 Suez Canal, 298, 301. 
 
 Suhtsung (Su-Tsung), Emperor, 172, 
 175, 179. 
 
 Sumatra, 301. 
 
 Sung Dynasty, 220. 
 
 Sung Shan, 238. 
 
 Susquehanna University, 325. 
 
 Sutras, 163, 165, 166. 
 
 Swift Horse Mts., 106. 
 
 Swiss Guard, Popes’, 130. 
 
 Sycee money, 54, 55, 73, 227, 264. 
 Syria, 20, 146, 161, 165, 166. 
 Syriac-Estrangelo, 148, 151, 246, 316. 
 Syrian Church, 159, 166. 
 
 Syro-Chinese inscription, 150. 
 Szechuan, 130. 
 
 Szeshuiho, 233, 276. 
 
 T 
 
 Ta Tsin, 20, 146. 
 
 Ta Wan Pagoda, 61. 
 
 Ta’ch’in, 159, 162, 165, 166, 167, 171. 
 Tai Shan, 101. 
 
 Taichau, 182. 
 
 Taipings, 63, 64, 92. 
 
 Taitsung, Emperor, 165, 172, 180. 
 Taiyuan-fu, 114, 287, 288. 
 
 Taku 27 
 
 Tan River, 45, 185, 196, 199, 202. 
 Tang Dynasty, 127, 132, 142, 146, 158, 
 165, 167, 178, 182, 238, 247, 268, 294, 
 311. 
 
 Tao Teh King, 102. 
 
 Taoism, 101, 242. 
 
 Taokow, 30, 34, 72, 76, 82. 
 
 Tatar city, 131. 
 
 Ta-tze, 235. 
 
 Teh-chow, 48, 49. 
 
 Tehuristan, 183. 
 
 Teichman, Eric, 315. 
 
 Thibet, 27. 
 
 Thierry, J. M., 325. 
 
 Thirty Year War, 210. 
 
 Thompson, Yates, 25. 
 
 Thomsen, H. E. Prof. Vilhelm, 12,305. 
 Tientsin, 27, 28, etc. 
 
 Times, London, 19. 
 
 Times, New York, 15, 305, 325. 
 Transbaikalia, 114. 
 
 Trigault, Father, 148. 
 
 TNT (Trinitrotoluene), 254. 
 
 Trinity, 161. 
 
 Troglodytes, 119. 
 
 Troika, 244, 245. 
 
 Tsin Dynasty, 106. 
 
 Tsinan-fu, 49. 
 
 Tsing Dynasty, 142. 
 
INDEX 
 
 335 
 
 Tsining, 67. 
 
 Tsinghai-hsien, 33. 
 
 Tsinghwa (Ching Hua), 82, 90. 
 Tsz-Hsi, Empress-Dowager, 133. 
 Tsungli Yamen, 147. 
 
 Tuan Fang, H. E. Viceroy, 138. 
 
 Tung Shan, 74. 
 
 Tung Yuan Fang, 125, 126, 143. 
 Tungchang, 67. 
 
 Tungchowchi, 52. 
 
 Tungkiutien, 33. 
 
 Tungkwan, 91, 100, 101, 204, 242, 243, 
 244, 270, 291. 
 
 Tungkwan-hsien, 34. 
 Tungpaotu-hsien, 40, 42. 
 
 Turkestan, 103, 108, 244, 270. 
 Tutankhamen, King, 36. 
 
 U 
 
 United States, 19, 310, 324, 325, 326. 
 U. S. National Museum, 307, 310, 319. 
 Uno, Prof. T., 318. 
 
 Urga, 114. 
 
 V 
 
 Vancouver, 27. 
 
 Vatican Library, 322. 
 
 Vermin, 96. 
 
 Versailles, Pact of, 317. 
 
 Veterinary surgery, 94, 95. 
 
 Voltaire, 148. 
 
 von Salzmann, Ltn. E., 108. 
 
 von Waldersee, F. M. Count, 18, 138. 
 
 W 
 
 Wai-Wu-Pu, 21. 
 
 Walcott, Dr. C. D., 307. 
 
 Waldersee, F. M. Count von, 18, 138. 
 Wales, H. R. H. the Prince of, 23. 
 Wang Kuang Ky, Minister, 317, 321. 
 Warings, 130. 
 
 Waseda University, Tokio, 159. 
 Washington, D. C., 26, 307. 
 
 Wei Dynasty, 167, 238. 
 
 Weihui, 80. 
 
 Wei River, 67, 72. 
 
 Wei River, western, 67, 100, 118, 126, 
 127, 143, 272. 
 
 Weinan-hsien, 104, 245. 
 
 Wells Williams, Rev. Dr. S., 148. 
 
 Wen-hsien, 242, 274. 
 
 West Asia, 11, 20, 130, 167. 
 Whampoa River, 17, 68, 298. 
 Whelpley, J. D., 26, 306. 
 
 Whiteley, Wm., 70, 188. 
 
 “ Who’s Who in America,” 325. 
 Williams, Rev. Dr. S. Wells, 148. 
 Williamson, Dr., 148. 
 
 Wong, Prof., 252, 253, 260. 
 
 World War, 325. 
 
 Wu, Empress, 132, 133, 294. 
 
 Wu, Director, 224. 
 
 Wuchang, 207, 208, 252, 286. 
 Wucheng, 58. 
 
 Wukwang, 192. 
 
 Wulung, 73. 
 
 Wylie, Rev. Dr. Alexander, 148, 159, 
 184. 
 
 Y 
 
 Yale University, 312. 
 
 Yangkadoo Wharf, 68. 
 
 Yang-tse, 17, 19, 38, 67, 78, 185, 204, 
 296, 314. 
 
 Yang Wu Chii, 215, 224, 251, 253, 259, 
 262, 285. 
 
 Yellow Earth, 111. 
 
 Yellow River, 85, 100, 234, 271, 279, 
 (see also Hwang-ho). 
 
 Yenshih, 235, 276. 
 
 Yih, Magistrate, 229, 230, 232, 290. 
 Ying, Mr., 252. 
 
 Yohannan, Prof. Abraham, 13, 148. 
 Yokohama, 27, 239. 
 
 Yuan Shi Kai, 28, 39, 45, 48, 79, 85, 
 91, 286. 
 
 Yuan Ta Hua, H. E. Governor, 225, 
 226. 
 
 Yii, Deluge of, 111. 
 
 Yuen Dynasty, 51. 
 
 Yufangcheng, 60. 
 
 Yungyang, 233. 
 
 Yii River, 100, 126. 
 
 Yii Show, Priest, 150, 153, 213, 249, 
 257, 263. 
 
 Yiiwongmiao, 272. 
 
 Z 
 
 Zend-Avesta, 102. 
 
 Zhinastan, Pope of, 159. 
 
 Printed in the United States of America. 
 


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