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 



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