122 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



village of some importance, but a fire had recently destroyed 

 half the houses. We had some difficulty in obtaining lodgings, 

 the only decent place being full and the occupants unwilling 

 to move. After a little time persuasive insistence won, 

 and we settled down comfortably, if crowded. One of the 

 occupants was down with fever. I dosed him with quinine, 

 and supplied him with enough to last several days, much to 

 his appreciation. This act got noised abroad, with the result 

 that applications for medicine quickly became too numerous. 

 Quinine is a drug much appreciated by Chinese, being about 

 the only foreign medicine they have real confidence in. 



The day's journey was said to be 70 li. It was long and 

 uninteresting. The flora is miserably poor ; Alder being the 

 only really common tree. 



The road we were following ultimately joined the Mao Chou- 

 Sungpan main road near Chen-ping kuan, about 160 li below 

 the town of Sungpan. We could get no tidings of a road 

 crossing to the Lungan-Sungpan highway, but all the same we 

 felt sure of finding one. Thus far the route indicated on my 

 map was all wrong, and we were left very much in the dark 

 as to our actual whereabouts. However, I was long since 

 accustomed to this state of affairs. 



Leaving Pien-kou, a journey of 40 li brought us to Peh- 

 yang ch'ang, a village of a dozen scattered, dilapidated houses. 

 The road was distinctly bad in places owing to landslips. The 

 rocks are mainly mud shales standing on edge. We followed 

 the right bank of the river we had pursued from Shihch'uan 

 Hsien for the first 22 li, then crossed over to the left bank 

 by means of a shaky improvised bridge of two tree logs, the 

 bamboo suspension bridge which formerly crossed the stream 

 hereabouts having broken down. At this cross-over point 

 resides a Chinese official, locally styled a Tu-ssu. This official 

 was most courteous, helping us with advice and guidance to 

 cross the stream. 



The journey generally was a repetition of the two former 

 days, through a rocky but uninteresting gorge. Wherever 

 possible, maize is cultivated, and we noted two odd patches 

 of rice. Houses are few and far between, and we met only 

 a few coolies laden with potash salts, charcoal, and shingles. 



