26 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



villages in Western China are situated on the banks of streams 

 for the simple reason that the valleys offered lines of least resist- 

 ance. Even when the streams are not navigable they afford 

 easier means of access to the interior than the mountains and 

 forest-clad country. In a general way all the older roads 

 in China follow the courses of streams as closely as possible, 

 leaving them only when the nature of the country necessitates 

 the departure, and watersheds intervene. 



Bypaths and narrow tracks permeate the country in every 

 direction, and abound even in the most sparsely populated 

 mountainous regions. Some one has very wisely made out that 

 the exchange of salt was the first commerce engaged in by 

 mankind at large. Salt is, and long has been, a Government 

 monopoly in China, consequently the practice of salt-smuggling 

 has gone on from time immemorial, and the majority of 

 the mountain-paths were very probably first struck out by 

 smugglers of salt. Indeed, many important trade-routes to-day, 

 in China, presumably originated in this way. The province of 

 Szechuan is abundantly rich in salt and also in mountain-paths. 

 From a lengthy study I have come to regard this network of 

 bypaths as the result of salt traffic, and more especially illicit 

 traffic. There are to-day many such paths throughout the 

 Hup eh- Szechuan boundary, used for practically no other traffic 

 than that of salt, and by these paths salt still reaches certain 

 districts in defiance of the law. Very useful, if difficult, the 

 traveller finds these bypaths, for without them it would be 

 impossible to traverse some of the wildest and most interesting 

 parts of central and Western China. 



When travelling overland in China it is not possible to use 

 tents, and one has perforce to make use of such accommodation 

 as the country affords. The Chinese do not understand tents, 

 and it is unwise to try innovations in a land where the people 

 are unduly inquisitive. The traveller gets along best when he 

 avoids publicity as much as possible. On all the main roads 

 there are inns of sorts, usually very filthy, and in season abound- 

 ing in mosquitoes, creeping things, and stinks, the latter, in 

 fact, being always in evidence. On the byways, and more 

 especially in the mountains, accommodation is hard to find and 

 is of the meanest description. However, one is usually tired. 



