angles to that just quitted, was very steep and roiigli, but it was negotiated 

 without mishap. Mi-yiieh-ch'^ng, distant from Tsa-k'ou about nineteen 

 miles, was reached in the afternoon, and we encamped in a grassy field close 

 to the village. 



From Mi-yueh-ch'eng the road ran southward up the valley, the country 

 becoming wilder and the mountains higher with each succeeding mile, until at 

 last the valley narrowing and changing direction we began to ascend, west- 

 wards again, to another high pass. Here an altitude of nearly 8000 feet was 

 attained, lofty forest-clad peaks rising still higlier to right and left. A descent 

 of about 1000 feet brought us into the Mo-aii valley, and a camping-ground 

 was chosen in a sheltered ravine at the foot of a mountam named Yiin-t'ing 

 Shan (" Cloud-roof Mountain"). No village was passed during this day's 

 march ; only here and there a cluster of two or three huts, and the muleteers 

 were forced to go on down the valley for about five miles to a village, where 

 they could stable their mules. The grooms, however, managed to find 

 sufficient accommodation for the ponies in the cattle-sheds of a tiny hamlet 

 across the valley, near the camp. 



The ravine chosen for the camp was comparatively wide, and opened 

 towards the north, so that astronomical observations could be made 

 comfortably. Towards the south it soon narrowed, ascending rapidh' at the 

 same time until lost in the forest-clad slopes of Yiin-t'ing Shan. The ridge to 

 which this mountain belongs runs east and west, commencing with a series of 

 peaks, heavily covered with forests of larch and fir, and diminishing in size till 

 they merge into the shale and loess foothills, and terminating in the supreme 

 grey granite crest of Mo-erh Shan. From its base again branch out several 

 lower ridges, of which the largest, curving towards the south, splits into a 

 number of sharp peaks. As a rule, the slopes facing north are clothed in 

 dense forests of pine, spruce, larch, and birch, interspersed with patches of 

 impenetrable hazel scrub, whilst the slopes facing south are grassy, or covered 

 with low herbaceous growth. The forests commence at about 7500 feet, and 

 extend to the summits of the ridges. At the season of our visit the larch's 

 autumn foliage of bright gold and the coppery tints of the hazel stood out in 

 striking contrast to the deep blue-green of spruce and pine. 



A trip was made during our stay in camp to the summit of Mo-erh Shan 

 for the purpose of taking a round of angles to check the plane-table work. 

 From this point the panorama that stretched itself before us was magnificent 

 in the extreme. In every direction winding vallejs threaded by sparkling 

 streams ; granite crests and rugged scaurs, all ablaze witii colour ; and, as a 



