CHAPTER XIX 

 WA SHAN AND ITS FLORA 



THE sister mountain to the sacred Omei is Wa shan, 

 situated about long. 103° 14' E., lat. 29° 21' N., six days' 

 journey (roughly 80 miles) from the city of Kiating. The 

 intervening country is very rough, wild, and mountainous. 

 The road is execrable. Baber, the first foreigner to visit and 

 ascend this mountain, as well as Mount Omei, gives its altitude 

 as 10,545 feet above the sea-level, 4560 feet above the neigh- 

 bouring valleys. My readings were 11,250 feet above the sea, 

 5150 feet above the surrounding country. Allowing for error 

 in the barometer, I think the mountain cannot be less than 

 11,000 feet. The flora — always a fair guide as to altitude — 

 proves it to be higher than Mount Omei (10,800 feet) ; and this 

 agrees with the opinion of the natives, who assert that it is the 

 higher of the two mountains. 



As seen from the top of Mount Omei it resembles a huge 

 Noah's Ark, broadside on, perched high up amongst the clouds. 

 Viewed from a near distance it is seen to consist of a succession 

 of tiers of vertical limestone cliffs, only seriously broken at one 

 point, with a peculiarly fiat summit. From the hamlet of 

 Ta-t'ien-ch'ih (6100 feet), which is situated in a depression at 

 its base, the mountain is remarkably square looking, its four 

 sides being more or less perpendicular. It appears to be no 

 more than 2000 feet above the hamlet, and yet it is really 5000 

 feet higher. When it was first pointed out to me, 20 miles or 

 so distant, I could not believe it was Wa shan — it looked so like 

 a huge precipice, its massiveness belittling its height. 



As already stated, the first foreigner to visit Wa shan was the 

 late E. Colborne Baber, who made the ascent on 5th June 1878. 

 The description of this mountain, given by him, is so accurate 

 and beautiful that I cannot do better than quote it : " The 



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