At dusk we were still winding our weary way over mountains, through passes and across valleys. Anju seemed a myth, but at night we entered the city and were hospitably received by the Japanese. It is a town of some importance, and stands on an eminence surrounded by a wall built for defence against incursions from the North. The streets are narrow and foul, and the hovels were crowded to overflowing with soldiers on their way to the front. In the early morning I left Anju, and crossing a broad river rode over a sandy plain that was at one time the bed of a torrent. A few miles of broken country brought me to another water course which, like most of the rivers of Korea, is shallow and channelless. The Japanese had bridged this river, but in order to avoid a long diversion I passed over in a ferry boat or lighter. By way of Kasan I reached Tyon-ju on the 17th of April, having to travel through very wild country and to walk eighteen miles, dragging behind me a very weary horse. It was close upon midnight when I presented myself at the depot, only to find the officer in command too much occupied with a gift of oxen from the King of Korea to give heed to the “European gentleman” who came hungry and footsore. At Syen-chen, where I haltered next night, I had a delightful welcome from the American Mission, of which Dr. Sharrocks is the head. Head-quarters of the army were at Sharenkwan--a short day’s march--and on the 19th of April Mr. McKenzie of the _Daily Mail_ (who had overtaken me at Tyon-ju, where I was detained by a slight accident through miscalculating the height of a Korean door) and I were presented to General Fujii, Chief of the Staff. We were just in time, for head-quarters moved next day to Hiken-min-jori, and on the following morning to the vicinity of Wiju, where we found the army preparing to force the passage of the Yalu. Chapter VIII THE VALLEY OF THE YALU. Between China and Korea nature has thrown a barrier of mountain and river that looks impregnable. Behind this defence the Russians decided to make their first stand. The Yalu is the longest river in Korea, and has its source on the Southern slopes of Chang-poi-Chang. Its upper reaches traverse an almost inaccessible region of forest and mountain, but from its junction with the Eastern Hun river the valley is cultivated. From the Manchurian side the Yalu receives several tributaries that descend from the Ever White Mountains, making it in spring and autumn a turbulent flood. After a sinuous course of three hundred and twenty miles like the writhing of a dragon, the Yalu, swollen by the waters of the Ai-ho, empties itself into the Yellow Sea.