74 TRAVEL, ADVEJTTURE, AXD SPORT. 



even mistaken a bull's-eye lantern as useful for that 

 purpose; and they regard blue and light eyes as par- 

 ticularly powerful. At Kum-tow-lek the rumour got 

 abroad, from our wandering so much over the hills 

 with no apparent purpose, that we were enriching 

 the Lau - Yeh and ourselves by finding enormous 

 quantities of these eggs. Even two intelligent men, 

 collecting revenue for the mandarin of Tai-poong, 

 told us they understood Are had been very success- 

 ful in collecting gems. Once, when I broke a piece 

 of rock on a hillside to examine its structure, I 

 noticed a peasant, who was passing, lay down his 

 panniers, and turn perfectly pale with rage and ex- 

 pectation. This report, which spread abroad, was 

 rather dangerous for us, and annoying to our host, 

 whom it injured, and who besought us not to walk 

 at all, or, at least, to carry a gun when doing so, so 

 that he could explain our conduct by the familiar 

 phrase, ta ch'eok, or "bird-shooting." \Ve saw that 

 we were becoming unpopular, for the Chinese are 

 generally hospitable to foreigners, and very anxious 

 to see them ; but at a large magnificent wai, with 

 beautiful gardens, only about two miles off, the gates 

 were closed against us, though we did not offer to go 

 in without an invitation ; and a crowd which col- 

 lected outside behaved rather rudely. The pony 

 which Wong Kum Sau gave me the use of was thus 

 acceptable, but not altogether pleasant. The country 

 round had a good many deep crevasses, to be crossed 



