138 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



cabin, built of shales and roofed with shingles held down by 

 stones. The floor is of mud and very uneven ; there is no outlet 

 for smoke, save the doorway, and no windows. At midday 

 a candle was necessary to avoid falling over things when moving 

 about indoors. During different visits I have suffered many 

 days and nights in this lonely spot, on one occasion being 

 snowed in for three consecutive days. The cabin is situated 

 on a narrow sloping valley running nearly east and west, a 

 mile or so above the tree-limit, flanked on the northern side 

 by a ridge of stark, crumbling rocks. To the south the range 

 culminates in bare peaks and eternal snows of the Hsueh-po- 

 ting. The moorland country all around is typical of Eastern 

 Thibet, so perhaps a few details are permissible. The treeless 

 spurs and valleys are covered with extensive heaths of scrub, 

 made up of several species of Spirsea (including S. mollifolia, 

 S. alpina, and 5. myrtilloides), Sihircea IcBvigata, Lonicera 

 hispida, L. chcBtocarpa, L. prostrata, L. thihetica, and others, 

 several Barberries, Currants, shrubby PotentiUas, Astrag- 

 alus, Sallowthorn, small-leaved, twiggy Rhododendrons, and 

 Juniper. As the altitude increases, one by one these shrubs 

 give out until only the Juniper is left. This ceases about 15,000 

 feet ; alpine herbs ascend another 1000 feet, and the limit of 

 vegetation is roughly 16,000 feet. The Juniper scrub is from 

 I to 2^ feet tall, very dense and difficult to traverse, but 

 furnishes excellent fuel. Mixed with this scrub are herbs 

 in great variety, the Poppyworts {Meconopsis) being par- 

 ticularly abundant. Possibly the commonest herb between 

 12,500 feet and 14,000 feet is Meconopsis punicea, a lovely 

 species having large, dark-scarlet nodding flowers. (It was 

 from near this vicinity that I succeeded in introducing this 

 plant in 1903.) The violet-blue flowered M. Henrici is common 

 between 13,000 feet to 14,000 feet, but much less so than around 

 Tachienlu. The prickly M. racemosa, with blue flowers, is 

 plentiful in rocky places between 13,000 feet to 14,500 feet. 

 From 11,500 feet to 13,000 feet the gorgeous M. integrifolia, 

 growing 3 feet tall, with its peony-like, clear yeUow flowers 

 8 to II inches across, occurs, but is not plentiful. The intense 

 colours among alpine flowers ever3rwhere is well known, and 

 this region is no exception. The yellow is mostly supplied by 



