ACROSS THE CHINO-THIBETAN BORDERLAND 179 



The main stream takes its rise in some snowclad peaks, 

 of which we obtained a gHmpse and a photograph, but a 

 considerable tributary flows down from the Pan-Ian shan 

 Pass. The mountains to the right of this affluent, and also 

 to the right of the main stream, are forested up to 11,500 

 feet altitude with Spruce, Silver Fir, and Larch. The bed 

 of the valley is covered with bushes of Willow, Hippophse, 

 and Barberries. Up to 10,000 feet altitude Cypripedium 

 luteum is not uncommon on humus-clad boulders and in 

 the margins of woods. 



The flora of the grassy ridge leading up to the Pan-Ian shan 

 Pass is strictly alpine in character, and the wealth of herbs 

 was truly amazing. Most of the more vigorous growing had 

 yellow flowers, and this colour predominated in consequence. 

 Above 11,500 feet altitude, the gorgeous Meconopsis integrifolia, 

 which has huge, globular, incurved, clear yellow flowers, 

 covers miles of the mountain-side. Growing on plants from 

 2 to 2^ feet tall the myriads of flowers of this wonderful Poppy- 

 wort presented a magnificent spectacle. Nowhere else have I 

 beheld this plant in such luxuriant profusion. The Sikhim cow- 

 slip [Primula sikkimensis) , with deliciously fragrant pale yellow 

 flowers, is rampant in moist places. Various kinds of Senecio, 

 Trollius, Caltha, Pedicularis, and Corydalis added to the over- 

 whelming display of yellow flowers. On boulders covered with 

 grass and in moderately dry loamy places. Primula Veitchii 

 was a pleasing sight with its bright rosy-pink flowers. All 

 the moorland areas are covered so thickly with the Thibetan 

 Lady-slipper Orchid [Cypripedium tiheticum) that it was 

 impossible to step without treading on the huge dark red 

 flowers reared on stems only a few inches tall. Yet the most 

 fascinating herb of all was, perhaps, the extraordinary 

 Primula vincceflora, with large, solitary, violet flowers, in 

 shape strikingly resembling those of the common Periwinkle 

 [Vinca major), produced on stalks 5 to 6 inches tall. This 

 most unprimrose-like Primula is very abundant in grassy 

 places. The variety of herbs is indeed legion, and the whole 

 country-side was a feast of colour. Silence reigns in these 

 lonely alpine regions, a silence so oppressive as to be almost 

 felt and only broken on rare occasions by the song of some lark 



