the Last Town in China [2I 
of a piece of snake-skin stretched over a bamboo tube 
with strings of yak hair, upon which he scraped vigorously 
with a yak-hair bow. 
There was little enough room, but my visitors soon 
lined up, stuck out their tongues at me in greeting, and 
began to dance, to and fro, up and down, twirling round, 
swaying rhythmically to the squeaky notes of the violin 
(there were only about two notes on which to ring the 
changes), and singing in high-pitched raucous voices. 
Presently three women joined in, all tricked out in their 
best skirts and newest boots, with cloaks flung negligently 
over their shoulders. Thus they went through many of 
their national songs and dances, and in justice to my sex 
I must say the men danced with more skill and grace than 
did the women, though of course it is easier to dance heel 
and toe, bare-footed like the men, than in the clumsy boots 
and skirts worn by the women. 
I can still picture the scene in that dim little smoke- 
blackened room, the rain lashing down outside, and the 
roar of the river just below us, while I lay back on my 
bed enjoying it hugely, all cares forgotten. Those great 
giants of men looked strangely weird in the flickering light 
of the blazing torches which flared up and burnt down 
alternately; the wail of the fiddle rose and fell, the voices 
blended, and broke, and ceased, and still they danced on, 
up and down, to and fro. They danced for two hours in 
all, and in return for the little present I gave them would 
willingly have gone on till midnight had I not told Gan-ton 
I wanted to go to sleep. 
The Chinese, so far as I know, have no country dances 
like these, indeed they do not dance at all, and would con- 
sider any such mingling of the sexes on terms of equality 
highly improper. Even in the theatres women are not 
allowed to act with men, their place being taken by men 
dressed for the part. 
At breakfast next morning I was twice startled to hear 
the rattle of falling rocks, and looking across the ravine 
I saw a cascade of bouncing boulders pouring down the 
steep cliffs into the boiling river, just where the road passed 
underneath. It was still drizzling when we started at seven 
o'clock, and we hurried the animals one at a time past the 
