116 On the Road to Batang— 
on the Mekong-Yang-tze watershed; so that in the event of 
my return to A-tun-tsi being delayed I might still secure seed 
of many species already noted. 
Everything was packed that evening, and Kin went down 
to the yamen for w/a, telling the official that I was going 
into Ssii-chuan. No objection was raised, and I dare say 
the official was rather glad to get rid of me for a bit, though 
he showed no sign of having heard anything about Tibet. 
I told the men nothing, merely saying that I was going to 
Batang, and would be back in two or three weeks. Gan-ton 
was to accompany me, and travelling very light I hoped to 
do the eight stages by the direct road in five days, Kin 
following more leisurely with the camp equipment as soon 
as he could secure the necessary animals. The bulk of my 
luggage was left in charge of Sung, who was deputed to look 
after it till my return. 
I had received the message at five o'clock in the after- 
noon and by eight o’clock next morning we were on the 
road to Batang, At such short notice the yamen had only 
been able to provide me with one pony, and the light loads 
were carried by three porters, a solitary soldier also accom- 
panying us as escort. I brought with me only a little 
bedding, and one box, containing such necessaries as my 
passport and cards, a map, aneroid barometer and compass, 
a medicine chest and flask of brandy, a few tins of meat 
and other stores, silver, and photographic outfit. Finally 
I slipped a heavy Colt automatic pistol with spare magazine 
and cartridges into my pocket. 
Crossing the spur just above A-tun-tsi we descended 
the long winding valley through beautiful woods to the 
village of Adon, situated at the point where a mountain 
torrent, after flowing southwards for some distance, suddenly 
turns westwards and breaks through a deep gorge in the 
barrier range to reach the Mekong below. They were 
reaping the wheat and barley here already, and the pears 
and apricots were fast ripening, for Adon is between two 
and three thousand feet below A-tun-tsi. 
At the house of the chief we stopped to change the wa 
and have lunch, ponies being supplied in place of the porters. 
The old chief had been beheaded by the Chinese after the 
1905 troubles, and his son, a lad of fourteen, was now at 
