230 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



the river, but, as I discovered later, with a piggery and 

 latrine below. 



The next day we began our real journey. Instead of 

 following the main route to Yachou Fu by crossing over the 

 river, we ascended the right bank for a couple of li beyond 

 Che-ho-kai, and then crossed a considerable affluent of the 

 main stream. Rafts of good-sized poles of Chinese Fir 

 descend this tributary from Liu ch'ang, a market village, and 

 ordinary bamboo-rafts ascend to this place. After climbing 

 to the tops of some low hills the road zigzags around con- 

 siderably through fields of rice and wooded knolls, and 

 affords an unusually fine view of the Ya Valley. Passing 

 the tiny market village of Tung-to ch'ang we reached Kuang- 

 yin pu (or ch'ang) at 10.45 a.m., having covered 30 li. 



From Kuang-yin pu we engaged in a steep ascent over a 

 well-paved if narrow road, and after four hours' climbing 

 reached the summit of the Fung-hoa-tsze, alt. 4100 feet. 

 This ridge is of red sandstone throughout, and is well timbered 

 with small trees of the Chinese Fir. This conifer abounds 

 on the slopes flanking the roadway to the top of the pass and 

 forms pure woods. Though the timber is of no great size, 

 the area covered with this tree compares most favourably 

 with any other I have seen. Where timber is scarce the 

 jungle growth is very thick, warm-temperate in character, 

 and of little interest. 



Descending, at first steadily, through knoUs covered with 

 Chinese Fir and the densest fern jungle composed of 

 Gleichenia linearis I have ever seen, we soon reached an area 

 under maize. From this point a steep descent led to a 

 cultivated flat, then, after winding through rice fields with 

 tiny wooded hillocks on all sides, we crossed a neck and 

 entered the hamlet of Liang-ch'a Ho, alt. 2350 feet, and 

 65 long li from our starting-point. We found very decent 

 accommodation, all things considered, but mosquitoes were 

 most unpleasantly numerous and hungry. 



It rained very heavily during the early morning of the 

 next day, so we delayed our starting until eleven o'clock. 

 We found all the streams in flood, and to cross one larger 

 than the ordinary we had to engage local assistance. After a 



