FOREST AND CRAG 47 



animal, but to no purpose, though he secured a tantalizing 

 glimpse of just one specimen.) 



The name Hung-shih-kou signifies " Red stone mouth," and 

 has reference to the outcropping of red sandstone which occurs 

 here and extends to Hsao-lung-tang, 20 11 distant, which we 

 made our halting-place for the next day. Though we had only 

 20 li to cover we started early, glad to escape from the miserable 

 lodgings into the woods again. Ascending a stream, through 

 brushwood thickets composed of Willow, Birch, Spiraea, and 

 Roses, we twice crossed the stream by rotten bridges of roughly 

 hewn tree-logs before reaching our destination. On the way 

 we passed several fine trees of Picea Wilsonii, beneath which old 

 graves nestle. The largest trees are about 70 feet tall and 

 6 feet in girth ; the leaves bright green, and the habit distinctly 

 stately ; the cones are borne in large clusters, and many still 

 remained on the trees. Here also are small trees of the White 

 Pine [Pinus Armandi) with cones 9 inches long. A new Poplar 

 was discovered in flower, and Veitch's Viburnum and Spiraea 

 were common with their young leaves just unfolding. 



The handsomest tree in these parts is, however, the Chinese 

 form of Betula utilis, a Birch with orange-red bark, which on 

 exfoliating exposes the glaucous waxy bloom of the layer below. 

 Trees 40 feet high are still pyramidal in habit, much branched, 

 with slender, ascending branches on which the lenticels are very 

 prominent. The older trees, as seen on the tops of the moun- 

 tains, are mop-headed, 60 to 80 feet tall, with a clean trunk for 

 40 feet more, and are still strikingly handsome though blown 

 and battered by the wind. 



The hamlet of Hsao-lung-tang (Small Dragon-pool), alt. 

 7400 feet, consists of two dilapidated wooden huts pitched on 

 opposite sides of a lovely burn, which flows through a narrow 

 sloping valley lying almost due east and west. This valley is 

 flanked by steep ridges clad only with grass and scrub. Odd 

 patches of Birch and Silver Fir attest to forests which have all 

 been destroyed by fire. From the numerous old graves and 

 abandoned fields it is evident that formerly more people dwelt 

 in this valley than do so to-day. Tiny patches of cabbage 

 and Irish potato occur around the huts ; and also plantations 

 of Tang-kuei [Angelica polymorpha, var. sinensis), a valued 



