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When all the walnuts were eaten, the children amused themselves by wandering round the room and examining everything in it. It was not at all like any room in an English house. The floor was stone, and part of it, called a kang, was raised like a platform. Every house in North China has one of these kangs, with a little fireplace underneath.
"You're not muddle-headed, mother," said Pao-yue, "it's the mention of Chin kangs and Buddhas which confused you." "Stuff and nonsense!" ejaculated Madame Wang. "What you want again is your father to whip you!" "My father," Pao-yue laughed, "wouldn't whip me for a thing like this." "Well, this being their name," resumed Madame Wang, "you had better tell some one to-morrow to buy you a few."
The sleeping kangs of the Chinese inns, which are made of beaten earth and heated in winter like an oven, harbor these pests the year round, not to mention the filthy coverlets and greasy pillows that were sometimes offered us. Had we not had our own sleeping-bags, and used the camera, provision-bag, and coats for pillows, our life would have been intolerable.
The straw-heated kangs would soon cool off, and leave us half the night with only our thin sleeping-bags to ward off rheumatism. But over the beaten paths made by countless wheelbarrows we were now fast nearing the end.
The wind having suddenly dropped and the sand-storm subsided we continued our journey, arriving by nightfall at the village of Yang Fang, where we had arranged to sleep. It was here that I came very near to shuffling off my mortal coil. Throughout the North of China brick beds called kangs are universal.
The fire is then allowed to die down, when a wadded quilt, a thick blanket and a pillow will be found sufficient to make a most comfortable couch. I had not seen one of these kangs before and the method of heating it had not been explained to me, so, the cold being intense, I placed fresh fuel on the smouldering embers the last thing before turning in.
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