144 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



the stay and departed with regret. Did the Fates ordain that 

 I should hve in Western China I would ask for nothing better 

 than to be domiciled in Sungpan. Though the altitude is 

 considerable the climate is perfect, mild at all times, with, as a 

 general rule, clear skies of Thibetan-blue. During the summer 

 one can always sleep under a blanket, in winter a fire and extra 

 clothing are all that is necessary. Excellent beef, mutton, 

 milk, and butter are always obtainable at very cheap rates. 

 The wheaten flour makes very fair bread, and in season there 

 is a variety of game. Good vegetables axe produced, such as 

 Irish potatoes, peas, cabbages, turnips, and carrots, and such 

 fruits as peaches, pears, plums, apricots, apples, and Wild 

 Raspberries {Rubus xanthocarpus) . Nowhere else in interior 

 China can an Occidental fare better than at Sungpan Ting. 

 With good riding and shooting, an interesting, bizarre people 

 to study, to say nothing of the flora, this town possesses attrac- 

 tions in advance of all the other towns of Western China. 



The vaUey, which varies from J to 1^ mile in width, and the 

 mountain-slopes, rising from looo to 1500 feet above, are given 

 over to wheat and barley cultivation, with occasional fields 

 of peas and flax, the latter being valued for its seeds, which 

 yield an oil used as an illuminant. In the latter half of August 

 the whole country-side is one vast sheet of golden grain bending 

 to the wind. This grain is reaped, leaving a generous stubble, 

 which is immediately ploughed under. The ploughs are simple, 

 consisting of an iron-shod shear, a straight handle of wood, and 

 a long shaft, to which is harnessed a couple of oxen or half-bred 

 yak. 



In harvesting the grain, tribesfolk (chiefly Po-lau-tzu), 

 who come from the upper reaches of the Tachin Ho, many 

 days' journey to the west-south-west, play an all-important 

 part. Every year these people visit this region for the express 

 purpose of this work, and are, in fact, indispensable. As the 

 crop is reaped it is tied into little sheaves and stacked ears 

 downwards on high hurdle-like frameworks (Kai-kos) to await 

 threshing. The threshing is done by wooden flails, both men 

 and women taking part in the work. The corn is ground in 

 mills driven by water-power. 



The name " Sungpan " has reference to forests of Spruce 



