The courtyard, I believe, remained filled till early in the morning, but I was allowed to sleep at last.
A large crowd followed me out of the town in the morning, and swarmed with me across the beautiful sward, as level as the Oval, which here widens into the country.

No guest was ever sped on his way with a kindlier farewell.

The fort is outside the town; we passed it on our left; it is a square inclosure of considerable size, inclosed by a mud wall 15 feet high; it is in the unsheltered plain, and presents no formidable front to an invader.

At each of the four corners outside the square are detached four-sided watch-towers.

No guns of any kind are mounted on the walls, and there are no sentries; one could easily imagine that the inclosure was a market-square, but imagination could never picture it as a serious obstacle to an armed entry into Western China.