a second Journey to the Yang-tze 159 
money, whom he liked, and an ugly Chinese woman with 
plenty, whom he disliked. It required the utmost finesse 
to obtain aid from his lawful wife under these circum- 
stances, for she was furious with the temporary Tibetan 
wife who had usurped her position, and made no secret of 
the fact. 
However the liabilities were eventually met or evaded, 
and Hsia-fu was accorded a great send-off by Chao and the 
merchants, most of whom he had probably swindled. A 
table was spread just beyond the village, all the soldiers 
were drawn up ina line, and Hsia-fu feasted with the official 
and chief merchants who had thus shown him honour. 
Pretty speeches were then made by everybody, there was 
a shrill fanfare on the brazen trumpets, and Chao, preceded 
by his soldiers, rode back to his yamen, while Hsia-fu, 
having taken a tender farewell of everybody, set out on 
his journey. 
On the 18th we started for Pang-tsi-la on the Yang-tze, 
a three days’ journey. I had long wished to do some 
collecting on the pass and again compare the floras on the 
two sides of the watershed. In order to be as close to the 
pass as possible we went on till it was quite dark, and finally 
pitched camp on a grassy slope at an altitude of about 
14,000 feet. 
Leaving camp early on the following morning and 
taking with me only my Tibetan interpreter, we climbed 
to the pass (15,800 ft.) and struck up the ridge towards 
Pei-ma-shan, collecting seeds as we went. 
About 1000 feet above the pass, that is at an altitude 
of nearly 17,000 feet, the screes began, and at this stage 
the alpine grass-land dwindled to an open formation which 
nevertheless included a wide range of species such as P77- 
mula dryadifolia, Meconopsis rudis, a Scirpus, an Allium, 
a Crucifer (Cochlearia scapifiora), and several cushion 
plants including a Potentilla and three species of Caryo- 
phyllaceae. 
I have remarked elsewhere on the fact that most of 
the high alpines in this region have small seeds, doubtless 
to aid in wind distribution. But a second reason naturally 
suggests itself, namely the short time at their disposal for 
ripening, which would militate against the chance of their 
