CHAPTER!V 
‘UP THE MEKONG VALLEY 
We rested four days at Wei-hsi. It is a small unwalled 
city with cobbled streets, patches of cultivated ground 
being freely interspersed with tiled houses of wood or 
mud bricks; but the pear trees now in full blossom gave 
: brighter appearance to the shabby temples and mean 
anes. 
The valley itself is little more than a mile across here, 
considerably less elsewhere, shut in by the mountains of 
the Li-ti-p’ing to the east and by a high ridge to the west, 
clothed below with scrub and pine trees harbouring two 
or three species of pheasant, and above with fir forests. 
There is no flat ground anywhere except immediately 
beside the river, where a small flood-plain dotted with 
bushes affords opportunities of shooting duck and snipe. 
Though flowing with a strong current, the stream is of 
small size, fordable almost anywhere at this season, and 
spanned by a single wooden bridge of no interest. The 
gentler slopes of the valley are extensively terraced, rice 
being the principal crop for the whole of this district. 
Even the city is built on a slope. Major Davies gives its 
altitude as 8000 feet, and my aneroid readings agreed very 
closely with this. 
Considering that we were nearing the end of April, the 
vegetation was not far advanced, certainly not more so than 
it is in England by the end of the first week of that month, 
and there was snow on the ridge immediately to the west, 
probably not more than 2000 feet above the city. The 
valley itself however is dry, like the Mekong valley below, 
and the most interesting plant I met with during several 
