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On the Dusty Trail

LONG before the Western Gates of the city open each morning, there gather about the massive battlements of the Guard Towers great trains of burden bearers from the desert. They wait patiently until the great gates swing open on their wooden hinges, and then with slow but steady gait they press onward to their goal. Head erect, with swinging stride, they press their cushioned feet on dusty road or chiseled stone of ancient bridge. The hauteur of their bearing—an hauteur ill-befitting their station in life—seems to bespeak a pride that they can walk where Emperors rode in ages past.

Whence come these strange, ungainly creatures of the desert, and why are they used in these modern days of Western engineering? That was the question we asked ourselves a hundred times before we learned the answer. Why should proud Peking, with its four railway lines converging from the four points of the compass, need camels to carry in its provisions of wood and coal and food? It is with added surprise that we learn that most of these camel trains are competing with modern railway service; that they traverse dusty paths by the side of which runs the "iron road" with its "fire wagons."

If it were not in China such competition could not be, but here anything strange seems possible. And so from the little mining town of Mên T'ou Kou, picturesquely situated on the banks of the Hun River, and nestled at the foot of the glorious Western Hills, we find the most modern methods of transportation and the most ancient, competing with each other, and both in turn doing a thriving business—the railway in times of peace and the camels in times of trouble. And what a blessing to the Capital that this is so! For when war comes, and rolling-stock is scarce, what would become of its inhabitants without coal to warm their homes in winter, or lime with which to build their houses, or the other supplies so necessary to human existence? And so the long lines of camels, with their hardy drivers, come to mean more than a passing curiosity; they stand as symbols of security and safety to the dwellers within the walls.

Our plate shows a small train of these awkward yet noble-looking creatures, which, having deposited its load within the city walls, is now returning with empty packs to the coal mines of the Western Hills, It has just passed through the Yu An Mên and is now on its dusty way outside the south wall of the city. For another description and illustration of these faithful burden bearers of mankind, see page 92.

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