6o A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



by extensive plantations of Medicinal Rhubarb. Man}?' fine 

 herbs luxuriate hereabouts, and among them Iris Wilsonii 

 with its yellow flowers was conspicuous, covering large areas. 

 Eventually we reached the edge of a precipice, down which 

 the road fairly tumbles for 5 li to Hsao-pingtsze. This 

 hamlet, as the name indicates, is situated on a tiny flat 

 (probably caused by a landslide) and boasts two miserable, 

 dilapidated houses. We took up lodgings in the smaller and 

 presumably less squalid of the two, but there were little to 

 choose between them in all conscience. On three sides the 

 hamlet is walled in by steep cliffs and the fourth is the edge 

 of a precipice itself. It was only some 30 yards from our hut 

 to the edge of this precipice, and the view from this point is 

 one of the most extraordinary and wonderful my eyes have 

 ever beheld. Below me (some 4000 feet the morrow proved) 

 at an acute angle lay a small village with a considerable river 

 flowing past it. Beyond this was range upon range of bare, 

 treeless, sharp-edged ridges, averaging 5000 to 6000 feet in 

 height, with outstanding higher peaks and grander ranges in 

 the beyond. The rocks are mainly of limestone, white, grey 

 and reddish, giving a bizarre appearance to the whole scene. 

 Never have I looked upon a wilder, more savage and less 

 inviting region. A storm was brewing and the light rapidly 

 failing, making it impossible to take a photograph, though 

 no photograph could have produced a picture that would give 

 an adequate idea of the savage grandeur of the whole scene. 

 It was indeed sufficient to awe and terrorize one. Such scenes 

 sink deep into the memory and the impressive stillness 

 produces an effect which is felt for long years afterwards. 

 Soon the angry rain-clouds darkened and blotted out the 

 whole scene and the next moment a thunderstorm burst over 

 us. This storm lasted through the night and, the roof of our 

 hovel being like a sieve, the rain soon converted the mud floor 

 of the hut into a quagmire. We huddled together and did 

 what we could to keep dry and warm, but the night proved 

 long and cheerless. 



Soon after daybreak next morning we made our escape 

 from these wretched quarters, but rain was still falling, and of 

 the wonderful scene of the preceding evening nothing was 



