78 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



autumn and winter the masses of scarlet fruit render it ex- 

 tremely beautiful. Wood Oil trees were general in rocky places, 

 and Hypericum chinense, a wealth of rich golden yellow, was 

 strikingly handsome, nestling on the cliffs everywhere. Quite 

 a little Ramie [Bcehmeria nivea) is cultivated, and the people 

 were busy stripping the fibre-containing bark from the stems. 

 The leaves, like those of several other plants, are used for 

 feeding pigs. The stripping and cleaning is all done by hand 

 labour. 



The day's march was full of interest, but the intense heat 

 and hard road made the 60 li very trying, and all were glad 

 when the end of the stage was reached. The scenery was 

 magnificent, and forcibly reminded us of the glens and ravines 

 around Ichang. The railway surveyors must have been filled 

 with despair when they encoimtered this steep limestone 

 country ! 



Sha-to-tzu is only about 700 feet altitude, and, in spite of 

 the swift- flowing stream which passes its " front door," was 

 suffocatingly hot. We managed to find a good inn with 

 quarters removed from the street and remarkably private in 

 character. We had no difficulty in changing silver here, but 

 lo-cash pieces are no longer negotiable. String-cash was the 

 only kind the people would accept. 



Just below Sha-to-tzu we crossed the river by a ferry which 

 is assisted by a convenient rapid, and commenced a steep 

 ascent. A few hundred feet up we were afforded a good view 

 of the village we had just left. It contains about a hundred 

 houses, crowded together on a narrow, fan-shaped slope. A 

 few temples shaded by large Banyan trees were conspicuous, 

 and the whole made a decidedly pretty scene. The ascent is 

 through cultivated fields, groves of Wood Oil trees, and finally 

 Pine woods. At 3100 feet altitude we crossed a gap, and 200 

 feet more led to the top of the range. The rest of the day we 

 followed an undulating, easy road which meanders through 

 rocky. Pine and Cypress clad mountain-tops, and finally 

 descends to Che-kou-tzu, which was our destination for the day» 



The country is very pretty ; farmhouses are scattered along 

 the route, and where possible the land is under cultivation. 

 Rice was of course the crop where water is obtainable, maize 



