the marauders took whatever they could use, as dishes, utensils,
glass, linen, clothes, silver and plated ware, jewelry, etc., the
total loss being 4,000, including 1,000 for machinery.
That machinery has an interesting history. One of the members
of the mission, Mr. A. G. Jones, conceived the idea of
relieving the poverty of the Chinese by introducing cotton
weaving. Having some private means and being a mechanical
genius, he spent two years and 1,000 in devising the
necessary machinery, much of which he made himself. He
had completed the plant and was trying to induce the Chinese
to organize a company of Christians who would operate the
factory, when the building was burned by the Boxers and the
machinery reduced to a heap of twisted scrap-iron.

The women we met in these interior districts had only
partially bound feet, though they were still far from the natural
size. It was surprising to see how freely the women walked,
especially as several that I saw were carrying babies. But it
was rather a stumpy walk. Women of the higher class have
smaller feet and never walk in the public streets.

We left Ching-chou-fu Monday morning, our genial hosts,
including Mr. Shipway, who remained here, accompanying us
a couple of miles. The trees were more numerous, and as the
weather was cool, I greatly enjoyed the day. But the next
day, we plodded under dripping skies and through sticky mud
to Chang-tien, where a night of unusual discomfort in an inn
literally alive with fleas and mosquitoes prepared us to enjoy a
tiffin with a lonely English Baptist outpost, the genial Rev.
William A. Wills, at Chou-tsun, which we reached at noon