i64 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



Another interesting feature of these regions is the bridges. 

 All these structures are of designs differing from those found 

 throughout China proper, but agreeing closely with those in 

 use throughout Sikhim, Bhutan, and Nepal, thus furnishing 

 additional evidence of the affinity of these peoples. All 

 the smaller streams and torrents are bridged by logs arranged 

 on a semi-cantilever principle, and call for no special remark. 

 But the larger streams are crossed by suspension bridges con- 

 structed of split and plaited bamboo cables. These bridges 

 are very similar to the cane bridges of Sikhim and Bhutan. 

 They are found throughout the territory occupied by these 

 tribes and the narrow strip of territory wedged in between the 

 Min Valley and the western limits of the Red Basin. This 

 latter strip was formerly occupied by these tribes, and is to-day 

 largely peopled by their descendants or half-caste Chinese. As 

 mentioned in Chapter X, pp. 117, 130, iron suspension bridges 

 occur in one or two places in the north-west corner of Szechuan. 

 This style of bridge is common from the valley of the Ya River, 

 and the Tung at Luting chiao, southward to the frontier of 

 Burmah, and is probably of Shan origin. Similar bridges of 

 iron rods and chains are met with in Bhutan, where they are 

 considered to be of Chinese origin (White, Sikhim and Bhutan, 

 p. 191). Throughout the Chino-Thibetan Borderland iron and 

 bamboo are equally common, yet it is a singular fact that their 

 use in bridge-building is restricted to definite areas. 



Cable or rope bridges are abundant throughout the entire 

 region, and extend much farther west and south than the Chia- 

 rung territory. These simple but extremely useful structures 

 consist of a bamboo hawser stretched across the stream usually 

 from a higher to a lower point ; if the stream is moderately 

 narrow the question of incline is of less importance. The 

 hawser may be anything from 8 inches to i foot thick, and 

 being heavy sags considerably in the middle, unless the stream 

 is very narrow, as around Tachienlu, where a rather different 

 method of crossing than that about to be explained is in vogue. 

 To cross one of these cable bridges a person is supplied with 

 a length of strong hempen rope hanging free from a saddle- 

 shaped runner of oak or some other tough wood. The runner 

 clips the cable, and the hempen rope is fastened under and 



