We did a short march of sixty li, or roughly fifteen miles, and halted for the night at the inn in the village of Pai-shih-yi.
To any one who has travelled in the interior of China the word "inn" does not conjure up those visions of delight which excited the enthusiasm of Dr Samuel Johnson. "There is nothing," he declared, "which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn." It would probably be nearer the mark to say that "there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much unhappiness is produced as by a Chinese tavern or inn!" The assertion of Marco Polo that at every twenty or thirty miles there is "a large and handsome building" in which all the rooms are to be found "furnished with fine beds and all other necessary articles in rich silk," and where everything that can be wanted is provided, so that "if even a king were to arrive at one of these he would find himself well lodged," does not apply to the present day. For the next three months and a half I lodged almost nightly in a Chinese inn of some sort or
