ACROSS THE CHINO-THIBETAN BORDERLAND 195 



T'ung-lu-fang, alt. 8800 feet, consists of about half a dozen 

 scattered houses. The one we stayed in is of Thibetan archi- 

 tecture, fairly clean, and owned by a Chinese settler. None of 

 these houses affords any bedding for the coolies, and of course 

 nothing is purchasable — all food-stuffs have to be carried by the 

 travellers themselves. 



The people at T'ung-lu-fang informed us that we should not 

 be able to reach ]\Iao-niu, as the road had been badly washed 

 away in several places, and under the lee of some cliffs was 

 flooded to a depth of 4 feet or more. This gratuitous and 

 discouraging information proved, luckily for us, to be scarcely 

 accurate, since, after a struggle, we managed to get through. 

 My head coolie declared it was the very worst road we had ever 

 traversed, and I was inclined to agree with him. Worse it 

 could not have been and constitute a roadway at all ! For 

 fully half the distance the track was under water or washed 

 completely away, and we were forced to wade or make a new 

 path over the mountain-side. Just how we got over the 30 li 

 I cannot describe, but we all came through with nothing worse 

 than a severe wetting. 



Mao-niu is a fair-sized village for the country, and is mainly 

 perched on a flat 200 feet above the torrent, and surrounded by 

 a considerable area under wheat — a veritable oasis, in fact, 

 surrounded by high mountains. Formerly it was the principal 

 village of a petty state to which it gave its name. It now 

 belongs to the state of Chiala. As far as Mao-niu the scenery 

 and flora is similar to that around Tung-ku and calls for no 

 special remark. The outstanding feature is the woods of Hard 

 Pine {Pinus prominens). The steeper the country the happier 

 this Pine appeared to be. The bark of the trunk is deeply 

 furrowed, often red in the upper parts of the tree ; the cones are 

 quite prickly, and are retained for many years. The wood is 

 very resinous, and is evidently much esteemed for building 

 purposes. The Hemlock Spruce is common, and all the trees 

 are of great size. 



At Mao-niu the main stream leads off in a westerly direction 

 to Th'ai-ling, a large village of over 100 houses and several 

 lamaseries. It is also the centre of a considerable gold-mining 

 industry, and has the reputation of being a lawless district. 



