Kirin

A single caravan often numbers many as twenty large carts, each with a team of seven animals. In the best caravans, that is those which go into the provinces of Kirin and Hei-lung-chiang and into Mongolia, a team usually consists of a pony in the shafts and six tracing mules three abreast.

A simple example may be given to show the great advantage of railway transport in this country. In order to get from Kuan-cheng-tze to Kirin (a distance of eighty miles or so), we had to hire four carts to carry ourselves and our effects. The journey took three days and cost eighty roubles (£8) for cart hire alone. When the branch railway to Kirin is finished the same journey would take three hours, and the whole charge for ourselves and baggage could not exceed ten roubles (£1).