subjects for their cameras ; the naturalist busied himself in the pursuit of 

 chipmunks through the ravines ; and from time to time Hazrat Ali and his 

 coolies could be seen hard at work in country which, for the purposes of the 

 surveyor, it would be hard to beat. 



After reaching an altitude of well over 5000 feet, we commenced to 

 descend ; at first gradually, but after some distance the end of the ridge was 

 reached, and the road fell away sharply as the valley of the F6n Ho came in 

 sight. At about four o'clock we entered Ku-chao, a large village situated on 

 the right bank of the river, and some thirteen miles from Sh^ng-yi. It may 

 be noted that the river runs from Ku chao in a south-easterly direction, but 

 then taking a turn enters the plain fifteen miles north-west of T'ai-yuan Fu 

 and, having fallen 300 feet since leaving Ku-chao, flows past that city in a 

 southerly course, thus forming two sides of a triangle, along the base of which 

 we had travelled. The population of Ku-chao was estimated at five hundred, 

 including women and children. A peculiar square-built tower, rising above 

 the rest of the buildings, was found to mark the house of a local magnate. 

 Several other small villages could be seen scattered along the valley in both 

 directions. We halted at this place for a day to afford the servants an 

 opportunity of getting things straight, for, unaccustomed to this nomadic life, 

 they had allowed our commissariat to get in a terrible state of muddle. 



On the following day, October ist, the journey was continued still in a 

 westerly direction. At a spot about a mile from Ku-chao the F^n Ho, coming 

 from the north-west, changes direction as a large affluent joins it from the 

 west, and up this latter lay our road to the Chiao-ch'eng Shan, so that the 

 caravan had perforce to quit the bed of the main stream. The road was good 

 all the way to Tsa-k'ou, where we pitched camp. During the day we passed 

 some nine small villages, with an average population of from a hundred to a 

 hundred and fifty. In one was a little Roman Catholic church, and all the 

 villagers appeared to be converts. The valley varied in width from one to 

 four furlongs, and though boulder-strewn or sandy in places, contained 

 occasional cultivated fields. The hills on either side were covered with the 

 usual loess terraces, bearing rich crops of millet, buckwheat, castor-oil, and 

 potatoes, and the natives were busy harvesting after a very good season. 



On October 3rd our march was resumed up the valley, the sides 

 of which were now lined with lofty straight-boled poplars. The road soon 

 became very rough, and began to ascend sharply, until at last a high pass was 

 reached at a height of over 6000 feet. The descent from here into the bed of 

 a second wide stream, running from south to north, and consequently at right 



