216 WA N-NIEN- SS U 



had got on with their work. During the day I travelled 

 fifty li, and slept at a small village twenty li from Omei- 

 hsien. Passinjr throuoh the latter town on the next 

 <lay I reached Wan-nien-ssu in tlie evening, having 

 traversed a highly cultivated valley where much rice 

 is grown. Dotted about were small patches of ground 

 rising slightly above the dead level of the paddy fields, 

 on which clumps of trees were growing, and beneath 

 their shade the farmhouses were l^uilt. I found com- 

 fortable lodgings in a temple. On August 8 I made an 

 excursion round Wan-nien-ssu, and found that the 

 country had every appearance of being a splendid col- 

 lecting ground, being very rich in species and covered 

 to a great extent with virgin forest. 



One of my coolies who had come from Ta-tsien-lu 

 was here obliged to leave, as he had a bad sore on his 

 back caused by the load he had carried down, and which 

 was part of my botanical collection. I therefore paid 

 him his money, and he went to Kia-ting-fu to get a few 

 things he had left in my boat; After getting them, he 

 was returning to the town in a sampan, when he fell 

 overboard and lost all his hard-earned wages. He was 

 now ten days' journey from home and in a penniless 

 state, but luckily Mr. Kricheldorff had just arrived from 

 Mou-pin, and on applying to him he gave him sufficient 

 cash to enable him to reach his home. This coolie 



