36 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



By the side of streams at low altitudes the Rambler Rose 

 {Rosa muUiflora) was a pretty sight with its white and pink 

 blossoms, but the Musk Rose {R. moschata) was the flower of the 

 day — bushes 6 to 20 feet tall and more in diameter, nothing 

 but clusters of white fragrant flowers. Growing on some old 

 graves I found a sulphur-yellow flowered form of Rosa Bank- 

 sice ; this, I think, must have been planted. Rose bushes are a 

 special feature in this region and numerically are the common- 

 est of shrubs. Around our lodgings the Hardy Rubber tree 

 [Eucommih ulmoides) is cultivated for its bark, which is 

 valued as a tonic medicine. 



Peh-yang-tsai is a scattered hamlet, situated in a narrow 

 valley, some 2500 feet altitude. Facing our lodgings is a 

 massive peak called Wan-tiao shan, its face a sheer precipice 

 of hard limestone, the summit and farther slopes apparently 

 well forested. The people of this hamlet, like the country 

 people everywhere in these parts, were extremely nice and 

 obliging, and it was a real pleasure to be amongst them. 



Wan-tiao shan looked too tempting to be passed by without 

 investigation, so we spent a day, and a very hard day too, 

 in making its ascent and descent. Leaving our lodgings at 

 8 a.m., several hom^s were occupied in rounding the spurs and 

 surmounting the cultivated and scrub-clad land which subtend 

 the mountain proper. At 6000 feet we reached Bamboo 

 scrub, and a path through this led to an area where medicinal 

 Rhubarb was cultivated, and where the drug " Tang-shen " 

 was extraordinarily abundant. At 6500 feet we entered the 

 timber. At the margin of the woods, to the left of the road, 

 are extensive plantations of the drug " Huang-lien." This 

 interesting plant {CopHs chinensis) is grown under a frame- 

 work of brushwood reared some 3 to 4 feet above the ground. 

 The drug is used as a tonic and blood-purifier. 



As the path winds the trees are at first small, with plenty 

 of Bamboo scrub, but this belt is very narrow and speedily 

 gives place to large trees which extend to within 500 feet of the 

 summit, where Bamboo scrub again becomes troublesome. 

 Everywhere above 5000 feet, where the woods are thin and 

 sunlight penetrates freely, Bamboo scrub is found, rendering 

 travel excessively arduous and, unless a path is cut, im- 



