At 11:00 p.m., stiff and hungry, and mad with
rage, I was groping my way on all fours up the slippery steps through
unspeakable slime and filth at the quayhead, only to be led to a
disgusting inn as dirty as anything I had yet encountered. It was hard
lines, for I could get no food.
An invitation, however, was given me by the Rev. R. McIntyre, who with
his charming wife conducts the China Inland Mission in this city, to
come and stay with them. The next morning, after a sleepless night of
twisting and turning on a bug-infested bed, I was glad to take advantage
of the missionary's kindness. I could not have been given a kindlier
welcome.
Sui-fu has a population of roughly 150,000, and the overcrowding
question is not the least important. It is situated to advantage on the
right bank of the Yangtze, and does an immense trade in medicines,
opium, silk, furs, silverwork, and white wax, which are the chief
exports. Gunboats regularly come to Sui-fu during the heavy rains.
Just outside the city, a large area is taken up with grave
mounds--common with nearly every Chinese city. Mr. McIntyre and Mr.
Herbert, who was passing through Sui-fu _en route_ for Ta-chien-lu,
where he is now working, showed me around the city one afternoon, and
one could see everything typical of the social life of two thousand
years ago.
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