The boy travellers in the Far East : adventures of two youths ... - Library

362
A PEKIN CAD.
THE BOY TKAVELLERS.
The driver walks at the side of liis team ; and when the pace of the horse
quickens to a run, he runs witli it. No matter how rapidly the horse may
go, the man does not
seem troubled to keep
alongside. Tlie carts
take the place of se-
dan - chair.s, of which
very few are to be
seen in Pekin.
Another kind of
cart which is nsed in
the North to carry
merchandise, and also
for passengers, is much
stronger than the cab,
bnt, like it, is mounted
on two wheels. The
franae is of wood, and there is generally a cover of netting to keep oft
the lieat of the snn. This cover is supported on posts that rise from
the sides of the cart ; bnt while useful against the sun, it is of no conse-
sequence in^ a storm, owing to its facility for letting the water run
through. The teams for 23ropelling these carts are more curious than
the vehicles themselves, as they are indifferently made up of what-
ever animals are at hand. Oxen, cows, horses, mules, donkeys, and
sometimes goats and dogs, are the beasts of burden that were seen by the
boys in their rambles in Pekin and its vicinity, and on one occasion Fred
saw a team which coi'itained a camel harnessed with a mule and a cow.
Camels come to Pekin from the Desert of Gobi, where great numbers of
them are used in the overland trade between China and Pussia. They are
quite similar to the Arabian camel, but are smaller, and their hair is
thicker, to enable them to endure the severe cold of the northern winter.
In the season when tea is ready for export, thousands of camels are em-
ploj'ed in transporting the fragrant herb to the Russian frontier, and the
roads to the northward from Pekin are blocked with them.
Walking was not altogether a pleasant amusement for our friends, as
the streets were a mass of dust, owing to the carelessness of the authorities
about allowing the refuse to accumulate in them. There is a tradition
that one of the emperors, in a period that is lost in the mazes of antiquity,
attempted to SM'cep the streets in order to make himself popular with the
peo|)le ; but he found the task too large, and, moreover, he had serious