THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF PA 91 



to-day of no importance. The market villages, the real 

 places of importance, are not shown. Maybe these villages 

 have sprung up comparatively recently, and the forts, from 

 long-continued peace, lost their importance. This is the 

 only feasible explanation which occurs to me. This section 

 of the country is only known from Chinese maps, and these 

 were probably compiled during military times long ago. 



From Lei-kang-k'eng a steady ascent for 30 li leads to the 

 top of a ridge where is situated the important market village 

 of Peh-shan. This place boasts a fine temple and about a 

 hundred houses. Like all such villages in these parts it con- 

 sists of one central street, practically closed over by the nearly 

 uniting eaves of the houses. These market villages are a 

 striking feature of this part of Szechuan. They are situated 

 approximately 30 li apart, and nine markets are held monthly 

 in each. These are arranged in such manner that the three 

 villages lying nearest to one another hold market on different 

 days, thus between them practically covering the month. 

 On market days the country-folk assemble from all sides to 

 buy and sell. Pedlars and itinerant merchants constantly 

 journey from m^arket village to market village. Such markets 

 are of the highest importance in a sparsely populated country, 

 but the denizens of these villages suffer from too much spare 

 time. Market days are what they exist for, and on : the other 

 days are mainly spent in gambling and sloth. This system 

 of market villages dates away back to the very dawn of 

 Chinese civilization, and in the region we are concerned 

 with here, is very little changed from what it was in the 

 earliest times. 



Five li before reaching Peh-shan ch'ang we struck a road 

 which comes from Suiting Fu, 120 li distant. The country 

 hereabouts is split up in low mountain ranges, averaging 

 3000 feet altitude, composed of grey and red sandstones. 

 The river-valleys are mere ravines clothed with dense jungle, 

 Pines, and Cypress, with no bottom lands nor cultivation of 

 any sort. Some 500 feet up the cultivated area begins and 

 extends to the summit. Terraced rice fields abound, tier 

 upon tier, intercepted by low bluffs, the tops of all of which 

 are cultivated. The whole country is very pretty, and in 



