GREAT RAM OF THE SHANSI MOUNTAINS 193 



west, and dropped into the water as though at the com- 

 mand of a field marshal. 



Although we were following the main road to Kwei- 

 hua-cheng, a city of considerable importance not far 

 from the mountains which contained the sheep, we had 

 no intention of going there. Neither did we wish to 

 pass through any place where there might be soldiers, 

 so on the last day's march we left the highway and fol- 

 lowed an unimportant trail to the tiny village of Wu- 

 shi-tu, which nestles against the mountain's base. Here 

 we made our camp in a Chinese house and obtained two 

 Mongol hunters. We had hoped to live in tents, but 

 there was not a stick of wood for fuel. The natives 

 burn either coal or grass and twigs, but these would not 

 keep us warm in an open camp. 



About the village rose a chaotic mass of saw-toothed 

 mountains cut, to the east, by a stupendous gorge. We 

 stood silent with awe, when we first climbed a winding, 

 white trail to the summit of the mountain and gazed 

 into the abysmal depths. My eye followed an eagle 

 which floated across the chasm to its perch on a project- 

 ing crag ; thence, down the sheer face of the cliff a thou- 

 sand feet to the stream which has carved this colossal 

 canon from the living rock. Like a shining silver trac- 

 ing it twisted and turned, foaming over rocks and run- 

 ning in smooth, green sheets between vertical walls of 

 granite. To the north we looked across at a splendid 

 panorama of saw-toothed peaks and ragged pinnacles 

 tinted with delicate shades of pink and lavender. Be- 

 neath our feet were slabs of pure white marble and great 



