i8o A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



soaring skywards. We flushed an occasional Snow-partridge 

 and saw one or two flocks of Snow-pigeons, but bird-life 

 generally was extremely sparse. Save a few voles and mice we 

 saw no animals, but Bharal and Wolves were said to occur 

 here, the former in quantity. 



After travelling 38 li we reached the hostel at Hsiang- 

 yang-ping, alt. 11,650 feet, and remained there for the night. 

 This place is part temple, part inn, and is kept by a priest, to 

 whose clothing and person water was evidently a stranger. The 

 medicine Pei-mu {Fritillaria Roylci and other species) is 

 common in this region, and as fellow-guests for the night we 

 had a number of people engaged in digging up the tiny white 

 corms of this plant. Some Chinese traders also were there 

 buying up this medicine at 60 cash per ounce. In Chengtu 

 it is worth, wholesale, 400 cash per ounce, so their profit is 

 a handsome one. Among the medicine-gatherers were several 

 Wokje tribesfolk, about 5 feet 8 inches tall, sturdily built, with 

 straight noses and fearless expression. Two of their women 

 were with them, and had they been clean and decently dressed 

 they would have been decidedly handsome and attractive. 

 We enjoyed during the day a certain amount of sunshine, in- 

 terrupted by occasional showers, but soon after our arrival at 

 Hsiang-yang-ping it commenced raining in torrents, and con- 

 tinued to do so far into the night. 



It ceased raining before dayhght, to our great joy. Making 

 an early start we toiled slowly over the dreaded Pan-Ian shan, 

 crossing the pass in a dense, driving, bitterly cold mist. The 

 ascent is nowhere difficult, and none of us suffered seriously 

 from the effects of the rarefied atmosphere, in spite of the 

 evil reputation this pass has for mountain-sickness. The 

 ridge is narrow, razor-backed, the summit being composed of 

 sandstone, with marble embedded, piled up at an acute angle 

 and devoid of vegetation. Snow, unmelted from the winter, 

 lay in odd patches immediately below the pass, and on all 

 sides there was much fresh snow. The dense mists prevented 

 any extended view, but what little of the region was visible 

 was bare and desolate. Two or three of the lovely Snowbird, 

 Grandala ccelicolor, were flitting around the snowy patches, 

 their intense blue plumage contrasting remarkably with the 



