the time we reached Ning-yang, we were ready for a night's
rest which even fighting mules, vicious vermin, and quarrelling
Chinese gamblers in the inn courtyard could not entirely
destroy.

As we approached Chining-chou, the country became almost
perfectly flat, a vast prairie. It was carefully cultivated
everywhere, the kao-liang and poppy predominating. The soil was
apparently rich, and the landscape was relieved from monotony
by the green of the cultivated fields and the foliage of the village
trees. Dominating all is the rather imposing walled city
of Chining-chou. The high, strong wall, the handsome gates
and towers, the trees bordering the little stream and the
crowded streets looked quite metropolitan. With its imme-
diate suburbs built Chinese fashion close to the wall, Chining-
chou has 150,000 inhabitants. It is a business city with a
considerable trade, the produce of a wide adjacent region
being brought to it for shipment, as it is on the Grand Canal
which gives easy and cheap facilities for exporting and importing
freight. There is, moreover, no loss in exchange as the
danger of shipping bullion silver makes the Chining business
men eager to accept drafts for use in paying for the goods they
buy in Shanghai. Consequently there is a better price for
silver here than anywhere else in Shantung. The main street
is narrow, shaded by matting laid on kao-liang stalks and
lined with busy shops. Along the Grand Canal, there is a
veritable ``Vanity Fair'' filled with clothing booths and deafening
with the cries of itinerant vendors.

But the loneliness of the missionary in Chining-chou is