166 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



was visible but an ocean of cloud banks. The descent was pre- 

 cipitous and for the first two thousand feet we fairly tumbled 

 down; afterwards it became a little easier. Reaching the river 

 we crossed by ferry to the village we saw from the heights above. 

 The river flows between vertical cliffs and from a point just below 

 the ferry to Taning Hsien, ten miles distant, there is neither house 

 nor hovel. To cover this distance we engage boats, narrow, 

 lightly built affairs, turned up at prow and stern with long sweeps 

 projected fore and aft for steering purposes. The current is strong 

 and rapids numerous; aided by a freshet we cover the distance 

 inside of half an hour. The brief journey was through one grand 

 chasm, with walls of rock sheer to the water's edge, allowing no 

 space even for a shingle-bank to establish itself. The sides of 

 the chasm are treeless and mostly bare, with here and there odd 

 patches of grass and clumps of the graceful bamboo (Phyllo- 

 stachys flexuosa). A road skirts the right bank of the river 

 zigzagging around the cliff well above highwater mark, every 

 inch of it blasted from the solid adamantine rock. Salt wells 

 occur in the vicinity, and this road, evidently oiie of the ancient 

 arteries of China, probably owes its origin to the discovery of these 

 wells long, long ago. Today it is very little used, but it is of such 

 a nature that time and neglect can effect but little. 



From Taning Hsien to Chengtu occupied about five weeks, 

 and was full of interest but we have not time to dilate upon it here. 



At Chengtu after a few days' rest, a new caravan was organized 

 for the purpose of penetrating into the wild and little known 

 country which forms the hinter-land between China proper and 

 the Thibetan plateau. This region agrees with western Hupeh 

 in the absence of decent roads, but the mountain ranges are much 

 higher and culminate in peaks clad with eternal snow. Fascinat- 

 ing beyond description is this rugged region but the difficulties of 

 travel are many, and the need of roads is keenly felt. The fol- 

 lowing extract from my diary may be interesting as bearing upon 

 this point: 



" I was under the impression that I had long ago reached bed- 

 rock in the matter of bad roads; today I have been disillusioned. 

 The road today absolutely defies description. We have done 

 nothing else all day but scramble over rocks, circumvent landslips 



