place it was found necessary to get rid of the head-groom. He was found to 
have been habitually under-feeding the ponies and bullying his subordinates, 
and was dismissed on the spot. From his departure there was a very marked 
improvement in the condition and spirit of the animals ; some which, till now, 
had seemed lazy and unwilling, developing a liveliness which made it 
imperative to ransack our stores for curb-bits. The altitude of this camp was 
estimated at about 3900 feet, and its distance from the last halt about 
seventeen miles. 
The following day after continuing down the ravine for another ten or 
twelve miles, we arrived at the walled town of Lin Hsien, situated on the 
slope of a broad valley. Just before we quitted the ravine, a fine golden eagle 
was shot whilst feeding on the body of an infant child by the roadway. Such 
a sight is by no means uncommon in a country where the people refuse to 
bury dead babies under the curious belief that if eaten by a wild animal the 
child is born again to its original parents. On hearing of our approach, scores 
of men, women, and children, poured forth from the town gates. They 
flocked round the camp, and were only kept from entering our tents with the 
very greatest difficulty. The gentleman acting as deputy in the absence of 
the Hsien magistrate certainly did his best to make things comfortable for us, 
but he had no real authority over the crowds that surrounded the camp. The 
party entertained him, however, together with a native Roman Catholic 
evangelist at dinner the same evening, and they seemed to appreciate the 
meal. We had another visit that night, this time from three wolves; how- 
ever they contented themselves with a serenade. Sowerby went after them, 
but the moonlight was insufficient to afford any chance of a shot. 
Lin Hsien, a well built town, surrounded by a wall in an unusually good 
state of preservation, contains a population of about 3000. The Roman 
Catholics have established here a Mission station, where a priest resides. 
The place owes its prosperity mainly to the fact that it forms the mart and 
distributing centre for a large stretch of country. Situated, as already stated, 
on the western slope of a broad valley, running north and south, a part of its 
wall ascends and encloses the crest of the hill overlooking the main portion of 
the town. This is a means of protection very frequently employed in a land 
where towns and cities are perforce built under high cliffs and hills. In the 
river bed to the eastern side of the town a strong dyke of massive stone blocks 
has been constructed to withstand the fierce attack of mountain torrents. 
These sweeping down the valley in the rainy season, unbroken sheets of water 
eight or ten feet deep, and filling it from side to side, would very quickly 
12 
