CAMPING IN A CAVE 61 



was certainly there, and on the whole there seems 

 no reason why his story should be false. The 

 takin is allied to the ox, which, in a wild state, is 

 notoriously vindictive. 



Two of these animals were caught when young 

 and kept in a village through which we passed. 

 One died, but the other lived for two or three 

 years, when it turned savage and had to be killed. 

 Having secured our hunters, we left the village on 

 August 1 at 5 a.m. for Tai-pei-shan. About 

 10.30 a.m. we had reached the bamboos, and half 

 an hour later thickets of rhododendrons. We 

 intended if possible to reach the summit of the 

 mountain and camp in a cave of which the doctor 

 knew. However, the porters with our possessions 

 did not arrive until 3 o'clock, so we decided to 

 spend the night in another cave, situated at an 

 elevation of about 8,000 feet. It was very still 

 up there. Even the ceaseless whirring grind of 

 the cicadas, with its peculiar little run-down at the 

 end, had ceased ; and in place of the whispering 

 murmur of the willows was the clean, aromatic 

 scent of pines. From the cave we looked out into 

 a dense sea of bush, from which limestone and 

 granite pinnacles, streaked and gashed, broke their 

 way. Far below rose the red mud hills which 

 fringed the river, a curving white streak at their 

 feet. Mud-walled cottages dotted the green of 

 the paddy fields, and beyond again rose more 

 foothills, stained red with the everlasting, persever- 

 ing patches of cultivation. They rose in spurts of 

 enthusiasm nearly to the summits ; then died fit- 

 fully away, exhausted by the effort. Beyond, the 

 great plain of Sian-fu baked and sweltered in its 



