On the Li-ti-ping 25 
again a few minutes later, it had disappeared, and I never 
saw it again. 
By this time I had begun to realise that I was not on 
the main road, for where was my caravan, and why had 
not the men halted for lunch? It was already past mid-day 
and I had parted from them about ten o'clock. To crown 
all, the path came to an end and, unwilling to retrace my 
steps, I decided on a new and fatal plan of action. 
I have already stated that we had crossed a pass, and [| 
had good reason to believe that streams flowing down this 
side reached Wei-hsi; therefore, I argued, by following one 
of the streams I should eventually arrive at the city, though 
it was only to be expected that it would take considerably 
longer. Why did I not retrace my steps up the valley to 
the point where I had parted from the caravan, and care- 
fully follow the mule tracks? Scores of caravans use this 
road, and had I thought for a moment, I should never have 
gone wrong at all. I think it was partly from a love of 
plunging into anything which offered a certain amount of 
novelty, and partly from sheer laziness. I did not foresee 
any insurmountable difficulties, and though it was abundantly 
clear that I was some distance from the main road, I had, 
remembering the map, a hazy idea of rejoining it by a 
circuitous route without the trouble of going over the old 
ground again. From the hill-top where the path came to 
an end I turned away down the slope, and a minute later 
plunged into the forest in order to reach a big stream as 
soon as possible, where progress, I thought, might prove 
easier. However, as I proceeded, it became infinitely more 
difficult, for as the hill-tops of the plateau country were left 
behind, the deepening valleys became choked with dense 
bamboo brake, to the exclusion of everything else. 
For two hours I blindly fought my way through this 
jungle, the bamboos reaching a height of fifteen to twenty 
feet and growing so thickly that I had to force the stems 
apart, clambering over an occasional tree-trunk and plung- 
ing knee-deep into icy torrents, while the sweat rolled off 
me. Sometimes I emerged momentarily from the brake, 
hot and angry, and finding a trail, recklessly followed it till 
it disappeared, but always I came again to this appalling 
fence of jungle, which was slowly crushing the strength 
