Page 63 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 63
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
DIHUA (URUMCHI)
They reached Dihua at last on 30 May in a dust storm that prevented them seeing what seemed to be
beautiful country. Mr. Hunter had gone on ahead so as to have everything ready to welcome them,
and they also received a warm welcome from Arthur's old friend the ex-postmaster from Lanzhou, Mr.
Tudhope.
Arthur's first impressions were that "Dihua is a big place with a Chinese city and a Manchu city as well
as a large south suburb, the population of which is mainly Turks. There is also a large Russian
concession with a Russian consulate and many Russian business firms run by Russian Turks who do
big business bringing in goods, American, German and English, from Russia." The population of
Dihua was said to be one hundred and forty eight thousand at that time.
It was with a great sense of thankfulness to God that Arthur looked back on the experiences of that
long, three months journey since they left Lanzhou. Having accomplished their purpose of bringing
Percy Mather safely through to the place where he was to live and work, he and Mr. Meng planned to
take only a brief three weeks for rest and preparation before setting off on the homeward journey.
The folk in Dihua tried to persuade them to wait until the worst of the summer heat should be over, but
they felt they must start back as quickly as possible. Rumours were coming through of the havoc
being wrought by a band of brigands under the leadership of "White Wolf" who had already been to
where the Mengs lived in Minchu, and were now making their way towards Lanzhou. "The thought of
what our wives and children might suffer at their hands made us the more determined to get back as
quickly as possible", Arthur wrote
RETURN TO LANZHOU
Because of the heat and the flies "which gave neither man nor beast any rest along the road north of
the Tian Shan" they travelled by night most of the thirty eight stages back to Suzhou in Gansu.
Because of this night travel, Arthur had an accident that prevented him from being able to walk at all
for a week, and kept him feeling unwell for over three weeks. That night was a very dark one and
there had been a thunderstorm just before they reached a stream which they had to cross. The carter
crossed the stream at the wrong place in the dark and got entangled with some logs on the other side.
These had to be cleared away before they could get back on to the right road. Arthur leaped from the
cart in the dark to help and, not seeing the logs, was severely scraped by one of them along the right
shin and ankle. Later it swelled quite seriously and he felt he might have blood poisoning.
It was 10 July before they reached Hami again. They stayed for two days but found the weather so
unbearably hot that they seldom left the shelter of the inn. Three or four days after leaving Hami, the
weather became cooler and they ran into storms and rain. In one place they found themselves
fighting against a gale which made it almost impossible for the mules to pull the carts. They dared not
stop as there was no shelter at all, but they did at last reach the end of the stage. Of the seven carts
travelling the same route, theirs was the only one to reach the stage that morning. Two others came
through in the afternoon, and the rest were stranded in the desert forty li away. As Arthur said, "it is
no fun travelling over the Gobi in a gale."
63
Amy Moore
DIHUA (URUMCHI)
They reached Dihua at last on 30 May in a dust storm that prevented them seeing what seemed to be
beautiful country. Mr. Hunter had gone on ahead so as to have everything ready to welcome them,
and they also received a warm welcome from Arthur's old friend the ex-postmaster from Lanzhou, Mr.
Tudhope.
Arthur's first impressions were that "Dihua is a big place with a Chinese city and a Manchu city as well
as a large south suburb, the population of which is mainly Turks. There is also a large Russian
concession with a Russian consulate and many Russian business firms run by Russian Turks who do
big business bringing in goods, American, German and English, from Russia." The population of
Dihua was said to be one hundred and forty eight thousand at that time.
It was with a great sense of thankfulness to God that Arthur looked back on the experiences of that
long, three months journey since they left Lanzhou. Having accomplished their purpose of bringing
Percy Mather safely through to the place where he was to live and work, he and Mr. Meng planned to
take only a brief three weeks for rest and preparation before setting off on the homeward journey.
The folk in Dihua tried to persuade them to wait until the worst of the summer heat should be over, but
they felt they must start back as quickly as possible. Rumours were coming through of the havoc
being wrought by a band of brigands under the leadership of "White Wolf" who had already been to
where the Mengs lived in Minchu, and were now making their way towards Lanzhou. "The thought of
what our wives and children might suffer at their hands made us the more determined to get back as
quickly as possible", Arthur wrote
RETURN TO LANZHOU
Because of the heat and the flies "which gave neither man nor beast any rest along the road north of
the Tian Shan" they travelled by night most of the thirty eight stages back to Suzhou in Gansu.
Because of this night travel, Arthur had an accident that prevented him from being able to walk at all
for a week, and kept him feeling unwell for over three weeks. That night was a very dark one and
there had been a thunderstorm just before they reached a stream which they had to cross. The carter
crossed the stream at the wrong place in the dark and got entangled with some logs on the other side.
These had to be cleared away before they could get back on to the right road. Arthur leaped from the
cart in the dark to help and, not seeing the logs, was severely scraped by one of them along the right
shin and ankle. Later it swelled quite seriously and he felt he might have blood poisoning.
It was 10 July before they reached Hami again. They stayed for two days but found the weather so
unbearably hot that they seldom left the shelter of the inn. Three or four days after leaving Hami, the
weather became cooler and they ran into storms and rain. In one place they found themselves
fighting against a gale which made it almost impossible for the mules to pull the carts. They dared not
stop as there was no shelter at all, but they did at last reach the end of the stage. Of the seven carts
travelling the same route, theirs was the only one to reach the stage that morning. Two others came
through in the afternoon, and the rest were stranded in the desert forty li away. As Arthur said, "it is
no fun travelling over the Gobi in a gale."
63
