110 LUNG-CHI 



and in about a hundred days has attained a thickness 

 of perhaps a quarter of an inch. 



The branches are then lopped off, and as much as 

 possible of the wax is carefully scraped off and thrown 

 into boiling water, from which it is skimmed as it rises 

 to the surface. This is the best wax. The branches 

 and twigs are then thrown into the pot, but the wax 

 melted from them is darker and inferior. 



It is used for making candles or coating those made 

 from inferior substance, and for giving a polish to wood- 

 work, &c. 



Yang-tsun was reached at 4 r.M. and a halt made 

 for the night, having travelled seventy li. 



May 22. — Started at 6.30, and, travelling through a 

 very fertile valley, the small village of Lung-chi was 

 reached at 9.30. From here the road ascends, and 

 Hsin-chang was reached in the afternoon. I had a very 

 bad room in the inn, but was very tired and had to put 

 up w^itli it. It was between two cesspools. 



The village inns are generally built of mud and in 

 the form of a square, with rooms built facing inwards 

 from the outside wall. In the centre is a court which 

 is sometimes paved, and in the middle of the court is 

 generally a depression or hole which is the receptacle 

 for all sorts of filth. As a rule the inns are dirty in the 

 extreme, especially when the village is not on a high 



