I have been shaved by Chinese in many places; and
whilst resident at Yuen-nan-fu with a broken arm a man came regularly to
me, his shave sometimes being delightful, and--sometimes not.
I had another rather amusing experience at Pu-piao about a month after
this. A supplementary coolie had been engaged for me at Tengyueh at a
somewhat bigger wage than my other men were getting, and this, known, of
course, to them, added to the fact that he was not carrying the heaviest
load, did not tend to produce unmarred brotherhood among them. The man
had been told that he would go on to Tali-fu with me on my return trip,
so that when I took the part of my men (who had come many hundreds of
miles with me, and who had engaged another man on the route to fill the
gap), in desiring to get rid of him, he certainly had some right on his
side. The day before we reached Yung-ch'ang he was told that at that
place he would not be required any longer; but he decided then and there
to go no farther, and refused point-blank to carry when we were ready
to start. I should have recompensed him fully, however, for his
disappointment had he not made some detestable reference to my mother,
in what Lao Chang assured me was not strictly parliamentary language.
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