Across the China-Tibet Frontier 129 
wooden clubs is sufficient to flay a man to ribbons, and, 
hammered till he resembles a senseless jelly, he is dragged 
out to die; but this sturdy man had lived, and Mr Edgar 
had visited him day after day to pour balm into his wounds, 
though no doubt he was a scamp. 
In appearance he was a well set-up good looking young 
fellow, and his small room was surrounded with the most 
gorgeous knick-knacks of their kind—silver prayer-wheels 
and ¢samba-bowls, a silver-mounted snuff-box made from 
the claw of a tiger, brass images and kettles, and alabaster 
cups. Round his neck was an amber and coral rosary; on 
the walls were quaint pictures emblematic of Buddhism 
and horoscopes, and the floor was carpeted with rich 
rugs. 
a the third day of my stay at Batang, Kin arrived, 
so on August 6 we started back for A-tun-tsi, not however 
by the most direct route, for [| had applied to the Prefect 
for permission to go westwards by the main road into Tibet, 
a request which he reluctantly granted on condition that 
I would sign a paper relieving him from all responsibility. 
The following statement was therefore drawn up in 
English and Chinese, two copies being made, one of 
which I retained myself. 
“T, F— K— W-—, wishing to go to Garthok in Tibet 
for the purpose of collecting plants, go entirely on my 
own responsibility, nor do I ask for any help from His 
Excellency W—, Prefect of Batang.” 
Probably the Prefect realised as well as I did that so 
far as our respective Governments were concerned, such a 
document was not worth the paper it was written on, and 
I was astonished at his accepting this guarantee; on the 
other hand his obligation ended there, and it was entirely 
an act of grace on his part to provide me with an wa 
passport and a mounted trooper as escort. It appeared 
later that the Prefect had made this provision never 
dreaming that I would agree to sign such a document, 
for no sooner had I| departed than he fled to Mr Edgar 
in a most pitiable state of nervousness, begging him to 
call me back; but it was then too late. 
For the first two days on our return journey to A-tun-tsi 
we retraced our footsteps, but on reaching the Yang-tze, we 
w. T. 9 
