| | | 23 May |
German Legation Peking May 23rd
No 9
Dear Amy, there is so much to write about that I hardly know how or where to begin, in Enlish it must be at any rate as I shall ask you to share this letter with Addie, to whom I have already written the beginning of our trip, asking her to let you see it. So I take it for granted that you have ??? now follow us to the Ming tombs & Great Wall. We left very early Friday morning (a week ago yesterday). Papa & Mamma in mule litters, Mr. Cheshire & myself on horseback, followed by my litter, his cart, & maybe 2 boys, mule drivers, etc. quite a little cavalcade. It was cool but disagreeably windy & we were much annoyed by the dust, which grew worse & worse as the wind rose, until finally it became frightful beyond description & we found ourselves in the midst of a dust storm. A meaningless term until you have experienced such a thing for it defies all description. Having had our experience, you never want another. I bore it for two or three hours, then nearly blind & almost unable to sit my pony I climbed into my litter & covering myself up with three blankets & a shawl, for it had grown bitterly cold, I coiled myself up & resigned myself to being slowly buried up alive for the dust poured in through every crack & crevice & the little mosquito curtained windows. However the day passed uneventfully, otherwise & we reached the temple safely about quarter to six, thankful to find everything comfortable & in readiness for us. Mr. Von Brandt had sent his servant the day before with beds, & every conceivable thing we could need from a bath tub to a champagne glass. We tried to get clean ...! then we fully realized in what condition we were in. To give you a slight idea how penetrating the dust is -- I found my watch which has a double case, as you know & which I wore in my belt & under my jacket, was stopped & has never ??? since. As for my hair I was over an hour trying to comb it out & only yesterday was I able to wash it & make it tolerable, tho' for the rest of our journey I kept it tied up in a hand. But I am glad to say that the following days were bright, cool & pleasant, with as little dust as it is possible to have in this part of the country. We left the temple at 8 in the morning for the tombs which we reached a little after 10. Guide book descriptions I cannot give. It seemed to me that the conception was perhaps finer than the execution tho' anything so old, majestic & in some parts exquisite workmanship cannot help impressing one.
We ??? under the trees after going over the principal tomb - the Emp. Gury-lo's then started for Nankow which we reached at about four o clock. We found everything as comfortable in a nice Chinese inn as we had the day before at the temple & after an early dinner slept the sleep of the tired till 5 the next morning, when we started for the Great Wall. A new & really beautiful road runs all the way through the Nan-kow pass to Pataling where we stopped, & from there as far as you can see on its way to Mongolia. The pass is narrow & rugged, & not very green but exceedingly picturesque & interesting for there is a never ending line of beasts of burden - both human & inhuman - tho' perhaps the latter name is more appropriate to the latter animal. Camels are shabby, shedding their winter fur, & trudging slowly oh so slowly - with their bags of coal or brick tea. Donkeys, mules, carts all coming & going, crossing & recrossing. Here & there a sillage to change the scene & now & then a beautiful old carved stone gateway. We spent two hours resting & eating our ??? as well as enjoying the splendid views from the top of the Wall - which as you know is all 35 ft high & 12 or 16 broad with here & there a bastion or tower 20 ft square. It runs up & down & in out, over hill & dale & you wonder how the stupendous work was ever accomplished. especially when you think that what you see is but a very small part of its length - over three thousand miles! The Chinese believe that the mortar taken internally in small doses cures small ailments like stomach ache: so I brought a scrap home, perfectly white ??? as hard as stone. We returned to Nan-kow that evening & left the next morning at five for Peking and were very glad to be again welcomed by our host at four o'clock. For in spite of everything it is tiring & the dust spoils much of the enjoyment of going about. As I said before it defies description & to tell you that you always come home after a walk of 0 m. with a filthy face, & see everything through a haze - & sometimes not at all, gives you no idea of it. Yet most people like Peking & get used to the peculiarities.
Thursday Mr. von B. gave us a large dinner, & tonight we dine with Mr. Cheshire & go to a moonlight garden party at Sir Robert Hart's 17 Monday is the celebration of the Queen's18 birthday at the Brit. Leg. to which of course we shall go & neeedless to say I am looking forward to the dance. Visits, occasional garden "at homes" fill the time, but we rarely go outside this compound which is so pleasant. But there ar things I had to & wanted to see so Mr Cheshire kindly took me yesterday - between 5.30 & 9.30 A.M. It was cooler & less dusty so it was pleasant. We first rode to the Lama monument outside the city & beautiful it is; then to the Confucian temple but we were not allowed to enter. At the examination pounds the gates were shut in our faces but at the observatory we were more fortunate. The most superb bronzes I ever saw & the workmanship wonderful such as cannot be made nowadays. They (the instruments) are exposed to wind & weather at a height of 40 odd feet, & have been for 500 yrs & are in perfect condition. One must come to China to get even a faint idea of the patience, ingenuity & cleverness of the race. Everywhere, in the commonest poorest little village you will come across somethig beautiful or wonderful & nothing under one or two hundred years old. Of our host I can say nothing more than in my last except that his kindness increases & he spoils me utterly. Were he ten years younger I should have lost my heart to him long ago & even now I am not sure that a good part of it has ??? gone. He overwhelms me with presents to the point that I am embarrassed & dont know what to do. I have not been able to impress the fact sufficiently on Mamma & Papa until today till I put everything together & we all stood aghast. I think Papa will in future help me in remonstrating. Not that I dont like it!! but that it is too much. We shall have been here two weeks tomorrow (excluding four days for one trip) & beginning with the evening of our arrival he has not missed one day. I think! A carved ivory scent box, 2 fans, silver gilt & enamel nail protectors, a blue silk robe with gold butterflies, another darker one, several pieces of embroidery about six lbs of delicious ??? root - because he noticed it on my hand one day.- & today a piece of pale pale yellow crape embroidered with bunches of blue flowers - loveley it is - & 19 yds in length! besides a piece of woven material. And besides all this I believe he is collecting an entire Chinese dress for me. He has eyes all round his head & sees everything I do & almost what I think sometimes. He takes me to task when he doesn't like a thing & calls himself my uncle from America! Do you wonder that I am spoiled? We were going on Wednesday but he was so ??? & talked of nothing else for two days that Papa finally gave in & we are to remain a fortnight longer whereupon he slaps Papa on the knee "Ah! I am so glad" & turning to me all smiles "& I shall continue to spoil my niece." This was two days ago & I must say he remains true to his word.
I am investing in a few things & remembering friends at home, in other words ??? my chance for I am not likely to have such another.
I have covered six pages already & with really but a few facts - details I dare not attempt for it would lead me on I dont know where. The luxury of everything around us, & new surroundings all together make an impression a little of which I should like to give you. But pen & paper are hardly sufficient, especially under the hand of so unsteady a writer as I. Imagine large high rooms full of lovely things, any amount of good things to eat & drink, three there to wait on four people, always a boy in the hall to open & shut any door you wish, pretty green trees & finest blinds or screens to keep the sun out & flowers everywhere (the only place in Peking where there are so many as it is very hard to make these grow) & you may vaguely imagine our surroundings.
Russell's letter of March 20th reached me here a few days ago, no one knows how for it is the only American letter we have had - & I am glad to see by it that I have not overdrawn my account as I had feared. Please thank him for me. What do you do this summer? Does Mrs Gray 19 take you as before? We have had no news for so long that tho' we think of you all we no longer know how to think of you. And now I must put off the rest to my next letter & wish you all the same luck I am having. Kisses to the babies - all the babies as well as to the parents.
Lovingly
H.M.H.
| | | 23 May |