THE NANKOW PASS

Evening Star, Issue 19330, 17 August 1926, Page 3

THE NANKOW PASS

A VISIT RECALLED [Written by M. S. I’miiumt, for Ho "Evening Star.’] Cabled nows comes through this week from China that the famous Nankow Puss has been captured, and that Peking is in consequence bedecked with Hags. No wonder, for this magnificent defile js of the utmost strategic impoi tanco,- commanding as it does Mongolia at one end and China proper at the other. ]t 'was this same pass that was one of the contributory reasons for the building of the Groat Wall over ->OOO years ago, long before the Manchurians conquered both Mongolia and China*

Chinese enterprise—without any foreign aid —has built a railway Loin the village of Nankow to Kalgan (about 124 mdcs), and in spite ol great engineering difficulties the Chinese ha\c managed a grade of 1,600 ft in a low miles, so that the visitor cam now alight to within a short distance ol the LL spurt of the Great Wall. • .Having already been in China lor a few months, wo were both quite prepared to deal with the vociferous crowd of donkey boys, who not only urged us to admire the beauties of then own steeds, but poured contempt on all others, finally we bargained with two, and agreed to hire animals and drivers for about ss, and toon we proceeded up the Groat Wall to one of the- numeous outposts or vaulted conning towel.-. (40ft high), from whore one bos a magnificent view' over the fertile Mongolian plains to tho north and the forbidding mountains of North and Northwest China, from those towers it was possible to see tho advancing enemy for many miles, and stores of stones were kept ready to hurl down. No doubt the weapons used in the present war are more modern; but, given the rugged conditions, one wonders if they aie really more efficacious. At first sight the wall is disappointing, as owing to the enormous cizc of tho mountains it looks little more than a thread winding its way in and out. However, it is only a matter of minutes before you pay homage to the patience and imagination of tho Chinese, who alone of" all the peoples of the earth not only conceived the. idea, hut carried .it out so .successfully that thir- wall and tho pass it protects are still of first-rate value to lighting generals. Our hurried meal, taken on the hillside, with our backs against the wall a*id a higlilv-amusod crowd of Chinese beggars in front of ms, will not be forgotten. Various curios wore offered us, among them the really interesting little purses used by the “ wild men ” wdio drive camels along the Kalgan track, which contain (lint and tinder for making fires on. the way, and to light their beloved tobacco dust. "We mot many of these drovers along the pass, and, though rather terrifying to look at, with their shaggy,- unkempt hair, long sheepskin coats, wit.h the fur worn inside, and their general unwashoii state, we soon found that they were harmless, unless indeed they had become professional bandits. It was 1.30 p.m. on a glorious afternoon in October (the best month in or near Poking, for thou the luscious orange persimmons give a bright eplash of color in otherwise somewhat dull scenery), when wo started with our little steeds" and talkative “boys,” to be shaken and jolted for five mortal hours through the'famous Nankow Pass, once tho refuse of marauding bands, lip and clown wo went through inarmw mountain tracks, scrambling through fords (whose stones always seemed, to wobble dangerously), wandering through deserted and decayed villages (which yet showed signs of past glory in the beautifully carved stone gateways find nrchc-S even through the innu.iir tains themselves), one moment all sto quiet that; except for the soft pad-pad of our “boys’” steps (like pH Chinese ■they walk for miles in a kind of beetroom slipper affair), wo felt a.nnc in the world, the next finding us wed mixed up with converging herds black-hooded sheep and skittish cattle. U was a wonderful experience—-two women from two of the world’s newest countries trending tho path worn in the rock-bv the countless generations ol 2,000 rears that had used this as the main highway, with their supercilious camels loaded with coal, skins, and precious cargoes of ombrcdcrios and other works of art. It had its -amusing,side, too, for often we found ourselves sitting on the donkey’s tail or his neck, and gripping the iron handles so thoughtfully put at the back and front of the sifldh'S. Of bridles wo little recked; the donkeys guided themselves in an expert ruanmor. And ono our “boys” most hare been .quite Chinese, for whenever we passed rocks or huge boulders with old inscriptions he refused to oven attempt to translate, simply snorting out the words “Mongol, no good.” And so, tired, very stiff and sore, and dirlv, we arrived back at our hotel at 6.30 p.m: to find a:n, excellent meal m-idv. and in spite ol a hard bed, a pillow that must have been stuffed with sawdust, and the usual Chinese evening noises of hand and parties to listen to story-telling, f for one slept tho sleep of the just and happy.