Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/352

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ACROSS THE HEART OF CHINA.

to T'eng Yüeh; but I noted it as an interesting fact that on the road from Sui Fu on the Yang-tsze to Yün-nan Fu, vile as that track is, I observed considerably more traffic than I did on the Bhamo-T'eng Yüeh route, while the T'eng Yüeh-Tali Fu-Yün-nan Fu road, so far as I could judge, had the least amount of traffic of the three.

On March 7th I marched into the little town of Bhamo, and here, to all intents and purposes, my journey may be said to have had its termination. The long tramp across the heart of China was finished, and I was once more under the protection of the Union Jack and surrounded by the comforts and conveniences of civilisation. I travelled by steamer through the defiles of the Irrawadi, spent a few days in Mandalay and Rangoon, picking up at the former place news from the outside world which had been accumulating in the shape of letters and papers for the past five months, and reached Calcutta at the end of the month. But I am here concerned