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The central Asian Buddhist roadto ChinaMiss Mildred CablePublished online: 25 Feb 2011.

To cite this article: Miss Mildred Cable (1943) The central Asian Buddhist roadto China, Journal of The Royal Central Asian Society, 30:3-4, 275-284, DOI:10.1080/03068374308731099

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THE CENTRAL ASIAN BUDDHISTROAD TO CHINA

BY MISS MILDRED CABLE

Lecture given on March 23, 1943, at a joint meeting of the Royal Central Asianand the China Societies, Professor W. Perceval Yetts in the Chair. The lecture wasillustrated by remarkable lantern slides.

I PROPOSE to ask you just to travel with me along the desert roadand see what I have seen by means of some pictures which, I hope,will illustrate what I say.The old road lies across a great part of die Asian Continent and is so

deeply trodden down by reason of die caravans which have crossed itdirough the centuries that it has somehow become fundamental to Asianlife. " The Road " has been the means of intercourse between nationsand the highway for commerce, and men of die road speak of it widi anintensity which the Turki expresses when, parting from a friend, he says :" May there b'e a road ! " It is part of life to die Central Asian.

It is an interesting fact that, whatever geographical barriers may existbetween any two countries, die people of diese countries will inevitablyfind some way of communication and intercourse, and assert their right tobarter goods, exchange the treasures of their soil with each other, andlearn what they can of die odier man's art of living. The rulers andhierarchy may forbid foreigners to enter a country, but somehow diepeople manage it in spite of diem.

Communications between Europe and China took place throughCentral Asia. China explored die trade routes which crossed diat greatterritory in order to export to the lands of the West her own peculiartreasures, and it was through die great commercial caravan business thatthe nations of East and West came to know each odier so well. Chinagave much to die West, including her porcelain, paper, tea, rhubarb,ginger and various fruits, as well as die treasured silk which was soimportant an industry as to give its name to die Old Silk Road acrosswhich silks were carried to the Courts of Europe. The people of CentralAsia to-day talk of die invention of the motor-car and the airship as beingtheirs, but add with delightful naïveté : " We always let the Westernersperfect our inventions for us, and dien we get diem back complete andready for use." Alas, die West sometimes perverted the use of diematerial which it got from China; as, for example, when pure saltpetre,known to the Arabs as " Chinese snow," was purchased, and dien its useturned from die simple amusement of firework displays into gunpowderfor purposes of warfare.

Our attention this afternoon is chiefly centred on die great highwaywhich crosses Asia from east to west, connecting Peking widi Kashgarand widi lands which lie beyond die Pamirs. In the course of centuries

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276 THE CENTRAL ASIAN B U D D H I S T ROAD TO CHINA

this road has been given many names. One portion of it is called the" Northern Road," another is known as the " Great Old Road," and yetanother name is recorded on a stone which still stands at the place wherethe older travel road diverges from the present highway. On this stone iswritten in Chinese, " The Great Road to the North-West."

In ancient times a southern stretch of this same caravan route wasknown in Europe as the Old Silk Road, for it connected Cathay withRome, and before the Christian era the wealthy people of Rome de-manded that at all costs they be supplied with fine silks from China.Later on, this road was the highway over which a young Princesstravelled from her distant Chinese home to the Court of Khotan, the cityof jade, carrying, hidden away in her elaborate coiffure, cocoons of thesilk-worm, which, when she unwound the delicate thread, were themeans of revealing the mystery of silk-worm culture to other nations thanChina. Later on, the trade in Chinese porcelain almost reached the sameproportions as that of silk.

It was the use of caravan trade which first led to the exploration ofthe long and dangerous road across the desert stretch which we now callthe Gobi, and it was by means of this commercial life that intercourseand friendly relationships were established between people who otherwisemight never have met. The Great Road to the North-West, however, notonly carried traders, merchants and patient camel-drivers, but conveyedChinese armies bent on the conquest of the many small kingdoms intowhich the Central Asian area was divided. From that time anotherwholly different class of men trod the length of the Great Road fromIndia to the cities of China and from China across the Pamirs to India.These were men whose hearts were not set on gaining any advantagefrom the exchange of the rich produce of one land with that of another,nor were they interested in the subjugation of any small kingdoms by agreat and strong empire, even though that great empire were their ownnative land.

They were pilgrims, Buddhist monks, who craved knowledge andwere convinced that the source of knowledge lay in the distant land ofIndia where the young Prince Cautama had lived, and where the recordsof his life and teaching were treasured in the many volumes of the SacredWritings which recorded his life and teachings. These men of themonasteries thought no hardship too great, no renunciation too severe tobe endured, in the quest of matters relating to the soul.

It was through Central Asia that Buddhism spread from its originalhome in India to China and other countries in the Far East. Many of theearly missionaries who converted China to Buddhism were not Indians atall, but natives of Central Asia. The question of Buddhist origins is im-portant, because the coming of this religion to China revolutionized thecultural life of the people» of the Far East.

To this day the traveller on the desert highways meets many aChinese pilgrim, staff in hand, or red-robed Tibetan lama, whoseanswer to the inevitable question "Whither bound?" will certainly be," I go to the land of the setting sun where God is." On they travel,patiently and pathetically, always toward the west, to end the quest, still

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THE CENTRAL ASIAN B U D D H I S T ROAD TO CHINA 277

unsatisfied, in some distant monastery of the mountains, ever seeking,but never satisfied that they have found, the god whom they pursue, a godwho is never near to the seeker, but always elsewhere, and at somedistant locality concealing himself in an unsearchable hiding-place.

Among the crowd of pilgrims who have travelled the long trek toIndia two names are outstanding. Fah-Hsien, in A.D. 399, and HsiianTsang, in A.D. 630, were both such notable travellers and accurateobservers that their names arc inscribed among those who have made aunique contribution to men who record the historical setting of theirperiods. Both of them were monks of Buddhistic orders and both setforth from the town of Changan, for long years spoken of as Si-an-fu, inthe province of Shensi, with an unshakable determination to reach theland of the Buddha and study his teachings at their very source. They,like some modern people, had been strangely perplexed by the disputesover doctrine among the theologians, and they therefore went direct to thesource to learn for themselves. They had received from Indian propa-gandists of the faith the urge to spread this knowledge through the land.

It was during the great Han Dynasty, which lasted in one form oranother for over four hundred years (202 B.C. to A.D. 220) that Buddhismwas first introduced into China, and along with Buddhism came culturalinfluences from India, from Persia and from Greece.

Long before' the West had any notion of the geography of CentralAsia the Chinese were well acquainted with the limitless wastes, andthese pilgrims contributed to the knowledge by their journeys westwardthrough Gobi and over the mountains round the Pamirs and on to India.Fah Hsien made his escape through the jealously guarded nordi-westborder of the Chinese Empire. He writes of the Gobi Desert : " Herethere is a multitude of evil spirits and also of hot winds; those who meetthem perish to the last man. Gazing as far as the eye can see to discovera path, there is no guidance except from the bleaching bones of die deadthat mark the way." I, also, found bones a useful guide over the sametrackless waste.

Hsiian Tsang visited Karashar in order to see one of die processions inwhich die image of Buddha was carried, and its accompanying escort ofpriests with gold and precious stones, fluttering streamers and embroideredcanopies. To-day die same kind of processions can be seen, and it is mostlikely that the banners are those which have been preserved with suchcare by die lamas through die centuries.

Although pilgrimage has. become such a recognized part of theBuddhist profession, in the earliest order and scheme of Buddhist monasticlife we are told diat there was no recognition of die duty or even theadvantage of pilgrimage and no sanction was given to the practice,founded, as it necessarily was, on die belief in the condnuity of the soulafter deadi. Only when relics began to be distributed and stupas werebuilt over them did die practice come into being of visiting diese sites,for it was die desire of men seeking to accumulate merit in view of afuture life to make obeisance at such shrines, and to gain prestige amongmen and virtue in the realm of die spirit by having done so. The habit,however, docs not seem to have been encouraged in die sacred books, for

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278 THE CENTRAL ASIAN BUDDHIST ROAD TO CHINA

we read " that the heedless pilgrim, far from securing good for himself,only succeeds in scattering the dust of his unsubdued passions morewidely than he would have done had he remained at home." There aresuch pilgrims to-day, men who wear the monastic garb but have not thepilgrim's heart.

There may well have been something which appealed to the seekerafter truth in the thought of the lonely and perilous journey which wouldbe involved by travel to some sacred shrine. The dangers to be facedwere tremendous; the solitude in itself would surely be something soterrifying as to merit a special reward. Certain it is that Fah-Hsien him-self travelled for sixteen years through India and Ceylon, and during thattime succeeded in visiting all the principal scenes of Gautama's life andof his death. The story of the desert crossing of Hsiian Tsang is no lessremarkable, and is recorded in vivid and dramatic language which speaksof the Gobi as a desert " where is a great multitude of evil spirits and¡Jso of hot winds. Those who meet them in their intensity must perishbefore them."

It is obvious that a road widi such a wealth of historical backgroundmust be full of interest to the traveller. The road is approached fromthe Indian side by a journey across the Pamirs, and from the China sideby a long trek across the Mongolian sands or the trade route throughSian, Lanchow, Liangchow and Suchow. The traveller to-day wouldleave Peking and, passing by Kalgan, come to the great so-called RussianValley, which is always full of carts, carts which carried the amazingluxury tea trade in the days when it was believed that tea was spoiled if itcrossed the water. Those carts still come down laden with goods fromRussia.

From Kalgan the journey follows the line of the Great Wall, sectionsof which still mark the old frontiers, and the traveller will make his wayalong them until he comes to Peiling Miao, the Temple of the Larks.Here it is that all those singing larks are found, in which such a greatbusiness has been done in China. Men will tramp for long stages to theTemple of the Larks just in order to secure these birds and put them incages. When he has secured his bird in a cage, its owner will take ithome and listen to its beautiful singing, and then every day take it for awalk that he may teach it to sing.

Some of my Chinese friends have found it difficult to understand whya Britisher takes a baby out in a perambulator when it might just as wellbe left in its home garden. It really does not gain anything by beingmoved from one street to another. Perhaps some Britishers have found itequally hard to understand why die Chinese takes his bird in a cage for awalk. The reason is quite obvious : he is teaching his bird something—to sing—and so he takes it to new surroundings, and when it sees newthings its desire to sing is awakened, and only so the beautiful singinglarks from Manchuria and Mongolia are trained after being brought to allparts of North China from Peiling Miao, the Temple of the Larks.

Near this temple there is another very interesting place which thetraveller is able to visit; it is a ruined Nestorian city in Inner Mongolia,which was probably familiar to pilgrims in early times but which was

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THE CENTRAL ASIAN B U D D H I S T ROAD TO CHINA 279

only rediscovered by Owen Lattimore in 1932. It lies in the famousgrazing-grounds of the Temple of Larks, and it was found, as so manyother interesting things on this road have been found, by listening to thetalk of the people of the country.

Caravan gossip told of a certain nobleman's wife who had been pos-sessed by the spirit of the lord of the ruined city. The nobleman stolesome of the bricks from the place to make a palace for himself, andshortly after his wife was possessed by a Chitgur, or demon. The husbandcalled in the lamas, who discovered that die demon was servant of acertain blind ruler of that city, and the woman was the medium for hisvoice and his reproaches. " You think," it said, " you are a great man,but you arc only a great man of to-day." A feast was spread, much foodwas eaten, honour was satisfied and the woman was healed. Lattimorefound diis city to measure about one-quarter of a mile cast and west, andrather less north and south. Within the site are numbers of mounds, andthe bricks are larger than ordinary. Many are marked with a handprint,and standing near the site are stone slabs bearing crosses of the kindknown as Nestorian. From Peiling Miao the road leads through thebeautiful Edzingol area, which is to-day one of die most coveted parts ofthe Mongolian plains.

Suchow is the last town within the Great Wall of China and lies onlyfifteen miles from Kia-yii-Kwan. This is the old city of Chiu-chiian(Spring of Wine) and has very ancient historical records, although thetown has been so completely destroyed and rebuilt that it contains littleto serve as monument of its ancient associations. Contrary to Chinesecustom, it has city gates only in the north, south and eastern walls.Tradition has it that, were its western wall to be pierced with a gate, floodswould pour in and submerge the town. Its inhabitants proudly assert," Kia-yii-Kwan is our western outlet."

Here every traveller has to prepare for his desert journey across dieGreat Road. He has to change his axle so that die widest possible may beused, and here he has to attempt die impossible—he has to try and finda good carter. The Chinese have a proverb which says, " Of carters thereis ne'er a good 'un." It is certainly true. If I set out to get a man who ishonest, capable, who understands the beasts he will have to deal with andwho will make a happy member of die caravan, not be lazy yet not getme up too early in the morning, it will become evident diat such a carteris not possible to find. Therefore die experienced traveller looks out alter-nately for a pleasant rogue or for a more honest man, who is probably sodifficult to get on with that all are thankful to see him go.

After leaving Kia-yü-Kwan the road passes over stony ways, utterlybarren, and in some places marked with an undulating swell which givesan appearance of ocean billows suddenly brought to immobility. Whendie gate of die fortress has been shut behind him die Gobi presents one ofits more inimical moods to the traveller, and, as was die case with the oldBuddhist pilgrims, all must feel die isolation and danger which face them.No friends can locate him, an arduous journey lies just ahead, which,once begun, must be completed. During die stay at Kia-yü-Kwan eachtraveller is warned of die perils of the way and is told endless stories of

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280 THE CENTRAL ASIAN BUDDHIST ROAD TO CHINA

those who have been lost through thirst, or have followed voices whichlured them from the direct path and never led them to the right road, butalways away from it. " It is between Ansi and Hami that you will findthe mirage of glittering sand," the old innkeeper will warn die wayfarer," but die voices arc worst in the desert of Lob and in the approachesnear Turfan."

The night stage from Kia-yü-Kwan westwards lends colour to theseweird tales, for somewhere about midnight die animals stand to rest awhile at die crumbling entrance to a deserted town where streets arcdiscerned and die ruins of buildings which once were dwelling-housesof men but where now no vestige of life remains. The suggestion of ahaunt of demons is too strong to be dirown off, but when the first oasis,Moslem Tomb Halt, is reached, it seems as if die bad dream of die nightis dispelled, for here are normal men and women leading normal lives,and die sight of clear water running down from die hills dirough dievillage street is refreshing to die body and stabilizing to die mind. TheTomb of the Moslem contains die body of a famous Moslem envoy, oneof diree companions who reached Central Asia from Arabia, and two ofwhom died in lonely wayside oases.

Many of die oases have some individual product of which dieir in-habitants are inordinately proud. Moslem Tomb Halt, for example, supplies a special quality of sand which is used for a process in die polishingof jade, and thus, small as this hamlet seems, it is known to die craftsmenof Peking who make use of diat sand.

Jade Gate lies next on die old pilgrim road, and its well-repaired citywall, with die little light tower at die soudiern angle, is an outward signof die self-respect and decorum of its inhabitants.

Quite another is Ansi, which bears die ideograph of peace in its namebut which batdes with incessant winds, and, were its inhabitants to ceasefighting die invading sands, would shortly be smodiered by dieir en-croachment. It is die ancient town of Kua-chow (City of Melons). Atthe present city of Ansi, on die left bank of die Suleho, is die parting ofdie ways—one padi leading off towards Tunhwano (Blazing Beacon) anddie odicr leading to Hsing-hsing-hsia, die Valley of Baboons. This pointis said by geographers to mark the centre of Asia, and here die traderoutes intersect, and caravans widi dieir varied cargoes arrive from Paotowon die Yellow River, from Khotan where the precious jade is found, fromAksu and Turfan renowned for cotton and dried fruits, and from Chugu-chak, from which die great carts bring Russian textiles and metal goods.

From Ansi even die most abstemious pilgrim must start heavily ladenwidi provision of bread and widi a full water-botde, for diere is no way-side food for many a day on die road towards Hami. There can be butlittle difference between die things which die old pilgrim Hsiian-Tsangsaw and diose which I have seen. Time has been moving at its properpace in die Desert of Gobi, and die centuries have passed slowly, not ina series of jerky changes, but in a dignified record of die generations ofthose who have crossed its wastes and who have been disciplined by itsausterities. Every pilgrim across die old Buddhist road would be urgedto visit Tunhwang and make the small detour of four or five days'

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THE CENTRAL ASIAN BUDDHIST ROAD TO CHINA 28l

journey to sec the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas and the School ofDisciples, always controlled by a famous abbot. These Caves of theThousand Buddhas have now secured world-wide reputation, largelythanks to the writings of Sir Aurel Stein and Professor von la Coq. Butit is only in recent years that the caves have been re-cared for and thelittle oasis re-made a place of beauty.

Hsiiang Tsang cared for none of these things. To India he wouldgo, and in order to avoid the Barrier which he must pass on the mainroad, he crossed the Suleho ten It from the watch station, always lookingfor the desert landmarks and watch towers. I have been over that sameroad and for the same reason—I, too, wanted to avoid the Barrier and thewatch towers.

The great road between Ansi and Hami lies across Black Gobi, socalled because of the small black stones which cover its surface. HereHsiian Tsang nearly lost his life dirough lack of water, and later on wasa target for the arrows of the frontier guard when he attempted to goforward. He, as every other traveller on the road, must have passedHsing-hsing-hsia with fear, for it is an eerie place where thousands ofenemies might hide in the rocks and clefts of the rocks. To-day everyadvantages has been taken of its rocks for purposes of camouflage, and noone is able to detect whether there are men behind the upstanding rocks,so alike are the stone-like men and the man-like stones.

I was travelling on the old road not so long ago when our party cameupon three men, apparently asleep in the shade of one of the rocks. Tomy horror and amazement, my Chinese Christian companions rushedupon the men, held them and took from diem a large iron-headed mallet.I was assured that die feigned sleep was but a trick to deceive us, and haddie men not been dealt with summarily we should have been attackedand robbed. Such bands of ruffians have always travelled on Asia's greathighway, and early pilgrims suffered from their attacks as does themodern missionary.

Hsing-hsing-hsia is the frontier station in Turkestan. I have seen itheld by a force of a thousand troops, I have been feasted in its yamen,and I have seen it in ruins widi none but ghosts to keep me company.The name of Hsing-hsing-hsia is derived from ideographs.

On eidier side of Hsing-hsing-hsia are small oases, and the charm ofthe names of these water-holes is very cheering to die wayfarer. Whowould not be intrigued by such a name as Iris Well, especially when dieflowers are in bloom and a carpet of blue desert iris with green leaves liesat one's feet? Or the Park of Tamarisks—what matter that die wordPark be an illusion? There are still a few tamarisk bushes, and whensunset catches die crimson leaf and sets it ablaze widi colour it is sheerbeauty. The great Asian road prepares for its guests artistic treats—butthey must understand die expression of art from an Eastern standpoint;it consists in elimination—not in masses of flowers and trees, but in dieunique shape of one tree, die charm of one spring, the glory of onetamarisk bush, or the joy of one small patch of blue iris in die midst ofbarren wastes.

In Gobi all roads lead to Hami, which stands in an important strategic

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282 THE CENTRAL ASIAN BUDDHIST ROAD TO CHINA

position, and is dear to the heart of the road traveller because it holds agood supply of water and food which is welcome after days of hardship.The Chinese have always valued this outpost, and showed in the earlydays their good sense by appointing a man to hold a new post. Theycalled him " The Minister who promotes Agriculture," and promote ithe did.

One of the great interests of the road is the cleverly made oases whichhave been rescued from encroaching sands by the skilful use of the desertleguminous plant called haodz. The road leads on through One CupOasis and Cart Wheel Oasis, where the great wild sheep are to be found,and on to Seven-Horned Well, passing over some of die most beautifullycoloured stones of the Gobi. I was only able to bring little pieces of thestone home, but I dunk that this natural colour photo will give you someidea of the sheer glory of the desert flooring—sometimes pink, sometimesred, sometimes greenish and sometimes black.*

Passing over these stones, as I say, we come to Seven-Horned Well,where diere are supplies of tamarisk fuel sufficient for an army, and, pooras the place is, it stands at the dividing roads which go across the Tien-shan and ancient city to Urumchi and southward to Pichan and Turfan.The old pilgrims took diis more southerly route, and reached die townPichan or Shan-Shan, known as one of the ears of the Gobi. Its bazaaris colourful and busy, and here are to be seen men and women from manyof the tribes who frequent the old road.

The innkeeper is a Moslem, but very kind to the Christian mission-aries. He never allowed us to pay for the use of a room in his inn." No," he said, " you are people of God. I am not going to take moneyfrom you." Whenever we went there we were received into his homeand always given a shelter.

From here die old road goes on past Turfan, which has always beenone of the most interesting of the larger oases : its extraordinary fertility,its fields of cotton, vineyards of sultana grapes, melons, peaches, nectar-ines, widi every kind of vegetable, all of which can be bought for almostnothing. Such bliss is balanced, however, by the intense heat, whichnecessitates dug-out rooms in summer, and by the scorpions and diejumping spiders.

Buddhist pilgrims would be refreshed by such abundance after thedesolating experiences of the high-roads, but dicy, as we, must have spentmany an hour thinking back over the history of the road on which dicyfound dicmselves. I have often sat under the walls of die old ruined citynear Turfan, called Dakianus, or Ephesus, and taken a mental journeyback to the days of Alexander the Great, when armies marched that wayand Grecian influence played such an important part in the art andculture of Central Asia.. I have dreamt of that city as it stood when,known as Kaochang, it was prosperous and important. Here HsiianTsang was detained, and received with such overwhelming kindness thathe had to go on hunger-strike to get away.

Perhaps the old pilgrims were offered, as I have been, specimens of

* See The Gobi Desert, p. 96.

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THE CENTRAL ASIAN BUDDHIST ROAD TO CHINA 283

Greek sculpture, or picked up such a brick, as I have, with a Greciankey pattern on it.

There is one shrine which no traveller of any standing will be allowedto pass by. This is the Tomb of the Seven Sleepers at Tuyok. Thereseven men arc supposed to be lying in a deep sleep waiting for the worldto get better. They came out after a thousand years, but found the worldwas so bad that they went back again.

So we leave the old road, which can tell us so many wonderful stories.It is so old that when the blizzards blow and the track is temporarilyobliterated by sand, it always in time re-emerges and reasserts itself byreason of the millions who have trodden it through the millennia. Acrossits path came Nestorian Christians, to be followed later by the armies ofIslam, and across its highways British missionaries also have travelledwith the Christian message of hope and goodwill.

The Great Old Road has kept its secrets well, and seen to it that noman or woman penetrates its remoter parts or captures its treasures with-out paying the price in loneliness, austerity and detachment. If men sawits seemingly unimportant highways in true perspective they would knowthat he who holds ¿he trade routes and highways of Central Asia controlsthe pivotal highways of the East. But men do not study the maps, nor dothey read the history of such remote desert lands, so Gobi remains solitaryand the Old Buddhist Road has been undisturbed by aggressors through-out long centuries.

Then suddenly and rudely the twentieth century and its so-calledprogressive civilization broke in on it. A new name was given to part ofthe old road and it became the Red Highway, and pilgrims must needsavoid it by taking a long by-way lest they be suspect. The old caravanbash sees his business departing and sends his sons to take what they calla course for technicians in some distant town, where they put off sheep-skin coats, don a uniform and drive a gas-car. These boys no longer careabout the best grazing-grounds of camel thorn, and the wild chives haveno longer any interest for them. The old rocks, which have been land-marks for centuries, are blasted in order that the " gas-cart " should passeasily over them; but their fathers and uncles, men of a former genera-tion, still sit in their tents and smoke their long pipes. But if, one day,they hear the ding-dong of a camel caravan bell, something within themstirs and they must be out and off, where the silences and spaces of Gobicall them.

The sounds and sights of Gobi create a fierce nostalgia and, havingtalked with you of the desert I love so well, I would that I might betransported from this door to lovely Turfan—not for the sake of cither itsfruits or its spiders, but that I might walk out into the Gobi which sur-rounds it and enjoy its spaces and its silence on the Old Buddhist Road,and carry on my work as a pioneer missionary, sit and talk to the peopleby the roadside, get a group round me in some small oasis and tell themthe Christian message, and then be welcomed into one of the larger oasesby the group of men and women who are joined to me by the closestties that there can be, for they, with me, have become members of theChurch of Christ.

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284 THE CENTRAL ASIAN BUDDHIST ROAD TO CHINA

A MEMBER : May I ask Miss Cable what language or languages aremost useful?

Miss CABLE : Chinese will take you almost anywhere in those parts,but it is also necessary to know Turki, which is something like Persianand written with Arabic characters. Arabic is also very useful becausethe Moslems in the mosques speak it.

A MEMBER: HOW many miles a day did you travel?Miss CABLE: Almost always thirty miles a day, sometimes forty, at

three miles an hour. Whether you went by camel or cart or walked, itworked out at three miles an hour.

A MEMBER : Will the advent of aeroplanes entirely spoil that beautyand peace?

Miss CABLE : I think it will certainly spoil that old life which has beenthere for so many centuries. Many of the oases will close up. Sand willchoke the wells, and there will be no more of the old caravan life. Ideplore it because we shall have one less place on earth where we havetime to think.

A MEMBER : Is the Gobi much affected by the war as it is now?Miss CABLE: Very considerably. Russia sent China a great deal of

help in die early days of the war, and it was sent by lorries across Gobi.A MEMBER : Is it a country where it is easy to build aerodromes?Miss CABLE : Very easy, because there are great spaces of rather hard

surface. The trouble is that the plane may come down at a great distancefrom any water, but possibly wireless would bring aid.

The CHAIRMAN : All students of Chinese civilization must have paidattention to this great highway, a stupendous factor in history, not onlyfor the Far East but for ourselves. We have had to turn for informationto 1 the records of Chinese historians, scanty maps, and the observations ofthe few Western explorers.

But the lecture we have heard this afternoon has brought home to usin an intimate manner, unobtainable in any odier way, some of thedangers and hardships, though I fancy Miss Cable has dwelt more on diepleasant aspects of the country. In die future we shall never think of thishighway in the same way as we did before.

What Miss Cable has said helps to stress, or radier to dispel, a verypopular fallacy, which is that the Chinese have developed their civilizationalone and unaided. Such a statement is made in that great work, Wells'sHistory of the World, but it is not true. For two thousand years andmore—how much more we really do not know—this great highway hasbeen traversed in bodi directions innumerable times by coundess millions.Fresh impulses have dius been carried not only to Chinese civilization,but also to our own.

That is one reason why Miss Cable's lecture has been of such intenseinterest to us, and we have enjoyed die personal touch widi which she hassketched her experiences of fifteen years in these surroundings. I am sureyou all wish that I thank her most heartily for kindly coming here andgiving us this most fascinating lecture.

The vote of thanks was carried with enthusiastic acclamation.

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