What straw was before him was Chinese chaff, cut into three-inch lengths, by a long knife worked on a pivot and board, like the tobacco knife of civilisation.

And he had to be content with that or nothing.
Next day we had an early start soon after sunrise.

It was a lovely day with a gentle breeze blowing and a cloudless sky.

The village of Kong-shan was a very pretty place.

It was built chiefly on two sides of a main road which was as rugged as the dry bed of a mountain creek.