A-tun-tsi 61 
real forest, the slopes rising immediately above the village 
being clothed with scrub oak and numerous rhododendrons, 
many of them now in bloom, with a variety of shrubs and 
small trees, such as the mock orange, barberry, //zppophaé 
rhamnoides, cotoneaster, and Deutzia discolor. Indigofera, 
Caragana, Desmodium, and other shrubby Leguminosae 
were common, with Sfzraea canescens and innumerable 
roses, and the slopes were covered later with masses 
of white and yellow clematis, chiefly C. montana and 
C. nutans. 
The forests consisted mainly of firs, but in places there 
were poplars, maples, and birches, and here too were a few 
climbers of the genera Schizandra, Vitis, and Actinzidza. 
The beautiful pink-flowered Podophyllum Emodi grew in 
the shady nooks of the shrub belt, along with two delightful 
Cypripediums—C. Zzbetzcum and C. lutewm—and higher 
up, at 13,000 feet, the white-flowered Soulea vaginata was 
just blooming, its flowers opening almost before the leaves 
appeared, as is the case in so many of these shade plants. 
In drier places was a yellow-flowered shrubby paeony 
(P. Delavayz) and a dwarf blue iris (/. kumaonensis). 
Several species of Primula were already in flower, mostly 
shade and moisture-loving species, such as P. sonchzfolza, 
the recently discovered P. lichzangensis, and P. septemloba. 
At 15,000 feet there was still a good deal of snow, at 
least on north-facing slopes, and consequently not much 
was in flower as yet. 
At this season the Tibetans, who still form more than half 
the population of A-tun-tsi, exclusive of soldiers—for nearly 
every Chinese soldier has a Tibetan wife—were preparing 
with child-like glee for their annual festival, which fell on 
the first three days of June. 
The Tibetans always strike me as being so much more 
jolly and irresponsible than the Chinese, who are just as 
sedate and gloomy when enjoying a holiday as at any other 
time. The latter never seem able for a single moment to 
shake off the idea that life is a serious fever which has to 
be borne, and consequently they never take risks. Every 
question of policy is carefully debated from all possible 
points of view before any particular line of action is de- 
cided upon; everybody asks everybody else’s advice before 
