BAMBOO BAFTS 173 



sufficiently small to pay them in ; consequently, a con- 

 siderable number of cash have to be carried. The 

 quantity is always kept as small as possible because 

 the weight is a serious matter. 



Ya-cliow is about 2,600 feet above the sea-level, and 

 is a well-built city. It is a busy place, all the tea for 

 export to Tibet being made up here into slabs. This 

 tea is of a coarse description, and in the slabs are, besides 

 the leaves, twigs and chopped bits of stem. The leaves 

 are not picked, but branches are chopped from the 

 plant and dried in the sun. 



The Chinese look down upon the Tibetans, and say 

 that this description of tea is good enough for them, 

 but even the poorest Chinese will not use it. Tobacco 

 is also exported to Ta-tsien-lu. 



Very few junks are seen on the Ya Eiver, the navi- 

 gation being too dangerous, but goods are sent down in 

 long narrow bamboo rafts. Many of these come up 

 loaded with samshew (native spirit) in large earthenware 

 jars, holding perhaps fifty gallons each and cased in 

 bamboo. These are stowed in a sinf>ie line rio-ht alono- 



o o O 



the centre of the raft, which may carry as many as 

 thirtv, and are brouo-ht from Sui-fu. 



Passing through Ya-chow, the village of Tzu-shih-li 

 was reached in the evening. Here the valley of the Ya, 

 through which we had travelled for the last three days, 



