172 Mr, J. D. D. La Toiiclie on tie 



rafts in use on this part of the river. This we transformed 

 into a fairly comfortable craft for my wife, by making fast 

 a bath-tub on its shaky and half-submerged surface, while a 

 couple of low stools furnished one of the collectors and myself 

 with seats, and on this somewhat rickety concern we poled 

 up the gorges. Fortune, in his ' Tea Countries of China 

 and India,' has described Wu Yi Shan, its geology and 

 botany, but he does not seem to have navigated the beautiful 

 stream that winds through this truly wonderful mass of 

 quaint-shaped hills. The scenery as viewed from our raft 

 was simply enchanting. The water was of a bright emerald- 

 green, and deep pools were not uncommon, while the fre- 

 quency of shallow rapids added to the interest of the 

 excursion. Tall perpendicular rocks, with joss-houses 

 perched high overhead in seemingly inaccessible places, 

 towered over us, and at every turn of the stream we had 

 charming views of the pinnacles, mushroom-heads, and 

 other curious shapes into which these hills are cut up. We 

 saw several interesting birds. Kestrels were circling round 

 the top of a cliff, on the face of which a square-cut hole was 

 pointed out as the last resting-place of the head of some rebel 

 abbot. Game appeared to be common, and we flushed several 

 Ring-necked Pheasants on the river-bank. The pretty and 

 familiar Water-Kobin {Rhyacornis fuliginosa) was also com- 

 mon, and we saw Dippers, an Osprey, and Ceryle guttata. We 

 proceeded for some miles up the gorges; then, as the sun began 

 to sink, we turned back and swept rapidly down, past the 

 ruins of the DeviFs bridges, round the foot of Wu Yi Kung's 

 precipice, then past the slender "Three Sisters," and lastly 

 along the base of temple-studded Wu Yi Shan, and our 

 simple-minded Charon brought us back to our boat delighted 

 with the day^s outing, and regretting that we had so short a 

 time to spend in this fairyland of South China. 



We left Ling Kung Kow towards 8 a.m. on the 28th 

 March, and for the first few miles the road led over the 

 Wu Yi hills. The town of Hsing Ts'un, a busy tea- 

 market, was traversed without accident, and for some hours 

 we travelled over level ground, and afterwards over low and 



