heat of the summer and offering a cosy corner during the harsh winter. These caves are almost destitute of any furniture; sometimes we only find the kang or hot bedstead, a "sofa" made of Löss and heated from below with a steady fire, which cheers the whole family and the rare traveler during the long winter night.
Many a time during my expedition has it been necessary for my men, my animals and myself, to seek the shelter of an abandoned cave against the terrible dust-storms of North China; and once I slept in a cave with a corpse in a black coffin as neighbor, while my men and beasts occupied the neighboring cave with the garde funèbre.
THE GATES OF SIANFU.
Photograph by Holm.
Three miles before we enter the east gate of Sianfu, which towers like a huge castle over the high wall, we leave the last Löss wall for some time to come; it is about sixty feet high and has an abundance of caves—in fact the greater part of the population of the hamlet of Chilipu lives in caves.
We may take it for granted to-day that in times gone by, many a Nestorian convert was to be found as a permanent resident of these humble caves.
Once more to quote my manuscript (II. part):
