September 20.—After an early cup of tea we started at six o'clock. The Ma-Fu rode in front on a very good iron-grey pony, in shape and size something like my own. The Ma-Fu had nothing on his head but his plait; he wore a loose blue coat padded with cotton wool, and loose blue cotton trousers, and he rode on a Chinese-made English saddle. I rode next on a saddle that I had brought with me from England, with large flax-cloth saddle-bags and leather wallets. These saddle-bags proved excellent, and if my experience is worth anything, good flax-cloth saddle-bags will last quite as long as any traveller can need; they are much more convenient and far lighter than leather ones, which latter become very awkward in rainy weather, but the seams should be lined inside with a strip of leather half an inch wide.

At this season of the year in Northern China the sun has lost its power, and a helmet is not necessary. A white English felt hat, Norfolk jacket, breeches and gaiters, completed my costume.

My three baggage-carts came next, in one of which Chin-Tai reposed as comfortably as circumstances would permit.

It was a dull, grey morning as we started from the hotel, and marched through the Chinese city of Tien-Tsin. Here the roads are of clay without any paving, and about fifteen feet wide; the houses are also built of clay, and in the main street, through which we rode, nearly all of them were shops.