THE WHITE WOLF AND HIS GANG.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 135, 14 July 1914, Page 4

THE WHITE WOLF AND HIS GANG.

Mrs Mary Gaunt, who a few weeks ago set out from Peking on her journey across Asia to Turkestan, sent a message to the "Daily Chronicle" regarding the fearsome brigand "White Wolf" and his gang. The disturbances on his account may oblige Mary Gaunt to cut short her journey and return to Taiyuanfu. She writes from China on April 24: —"At last Fenehoufu has come up with the prevailing fear of Pai Lang ('White Wolf'). This morning came a message from the Tutuh of Taiyuanfu, asking the missionaries for an account of their numbers and their property, not only in Fenehoufu, but anywhere in the surrounding districts, in order that the Government may take measures to protect them in case of an attack by Pai Lang. There is no immediate says the Tutuh, but soldiers haw been sent to guard the mountain passes on the way to Suitechou (China's 'Holy City') —that is, on the way to Lanchoufou. '' I am rather pleased at this message from those in authority, because I was the first to bring them news of this possible danger ago, and they, in this peaceful, friendly place, thought I, in iny ignorance, was exaggerating. "Whether Pai Lang elects to attack Lanchoufu or to pour over the mountain passes into Shansi, it closes the road westward to me, and I must regretfully return. But this message looks as if the Government were by no means holding its own, as the Peking "Gazette" declares it is. I fear the outlook for China is very bad. '' Meanwhile, having engaged and paid down a certain sum to my muleteers, 1 shall make a three days' jouruey and look at the Yellow Kiver before I return to Taiyuanfu. It will only delay me a week, and will be well worth dtfing; then I shall return, for I fear the interior is to be no place for the foreigner, let alone a solitary woman.'' The route she projected before setting out from Peking lay through Northern China, over the tableland of Tibet, \ across the Desert of Gobi, and through the Tian Shan mountains. She was strongly advised by the European circle in Peking against setting out, on account of the dangers threatened by robbers, especially as, travelling through such wild country, the only method of carrying money for the expenses of her journey was to take it in solid silver.