128 DANGEROUS ROAD 



laughed at by the natives when crossing, for the oscil- 

 lation was so great as to cause me some alarm, there 

 being no hand rail. I therefore made a halt in the 

 middle, waiting for it to get steady again before pro- 

 ceeding. They being accustomed to it can of course 

 cross without any hesitation. 



After getting across I heard that there were some 

 French missionaries at Cha-pa, a short distance down 

 the river, and instead of going on the direct road I 

 decided to visit them, and therefore made a sharp turn 

 to the left. The road was in a place extremely 

 dangerous, being merely a groove cut into an almost 

 precipitous abutment, composed of shale. This foot- 

 hold — for it is nothing more, and barely that — has to 

 be constantly renewed by anybody who wishes to pass, 

 for in wet weather the shale is washed away, and in 

 dry weather it crumbles. A false step would send a 

 traveller over the slippery surface into the torrent of 

 the Tung Eiver, perhaps a hundred feet beneath, and as, 

 in which, owing to its violence, a boat can hardly live,, 

 except in the most quiet places, even the most expert 

 swimmer would have little or no chance of saving his- 

 life, if even that had been left to him after the fall. 

 There is considerable traffic past this dangerous place,, 

 and it was curious to notice that though such a capital 

 bridge had been constructed such a short distance- 



