And everywhere a peaceful people, who never spoke a word to the foreigner that was not friendly.
On the evening of the 24th, at a ruined town thirty li from Luho, we received our first check.

It was at a walled town, with gateways and a pagoda that gave some indication of its former prosperity, prettily situated among the trees on the confines of a plain of remarkable fertility.

Near sundown we passed down the one long street, all battered and dismantled, which is all that is left of the old town.

News of the foreigner quickly spread, and the people gathered into the street to see me--no reception could be more flattering.

We did not wait, but, pushing on, we passed out by the west gate and hastened on across the plain.