120 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



I thought it best to secure such at this city. Sending my card 

 to the Hsien's yamen, in the ordinary way, I informed this 

 official of my project, and asked for the customary escort. Half 

 an hour afterwards my card was returned with the information 

 that there was trouble at Sungpan and no escort would be 

 supplied ! The refusal was as curt as it was insolent, but 

 whether the Hsien was actually responsible I never found out. 

 In the whole of my eleven years' travel in China this was the 

 first and last experience of official discourtesy. Thus two 

 annoying experiences, both unique in their way, yet, happily, 

 trivial and unimportant, marked my visit to Shihch'uan Hsien, 

 a town which, from the commencement of my travels in the 

 western Szechuan, I always had a keen desire to visit. 



The next day we left Shihch'uan Hsien at sunrise, glad to 

 escape from the malodorous, vermin-infested inn. No one put 

 in an appearance from the yamen, and no attempt to prevent 

 our taking the route proposed was made. I had rather feared 

 this might happen, but my fears were fortunately groundless. 

 On leaving the city by the north gate we struck a stream nearly 

 equal in volume to the main river. The road ascends the left 

 bank, and almost immediately plunges into a narrow, wild 

 ravine, through which we continued the whole day. Like all 

 such roads it skirts the mountain-side, being usually several 

 hundred feet above the river, but is constantly descending to 

 the w'ater's edge, only to ascend again a few hundred yards 

 farther on. It is in good repair, although the rocks are of 

 soft mud shales, and signs of landslips were frequent. Wherever 

 possible maize is cultivated, but houses are few and far between. 

 The country strongly reminded me of that around Wench'uan 

 Hsien in the upper Min Valley farther west. Trees are very 

 scarce, the Wu-tung {Sterculia) being perhaps the most common. 

 The shrubs denote a dry (xerophytic) climate, nearly all having 

 small leaves, either thick or covered with a felt of hairs. Of 

 these shrubs, Ahelia parvifolia, Lonicera pileata, Ligustrum 

 strongylophylhim, and various kinds of Spiraea, are common. 

 Bushes of the wild Tea Rose are not infrequent. Five li before 

 reaching Kai-ping-tsen, our destination for the day, we crossed 

 a clear-water tributary by a remarkably weU-built stone-arch 

 bridge. During the day we passed several " rope " bridges, 



