CHAP LE xiii 
OVER THE RUN-TSI-LA: A THIRD JOURNEY TO 
THE YANG-TZE 
Tue cultivated slopes just above the village were now 
bare, and the place looked dismal enough, for the corn was 
already reaped and the Tibetans could be heard singing to 
the rhythmical rise and fall of the flails on the neighbouring 
house-roofs. The leaves were rapidly turning yellow and 
falling from the trees, the flowers dying, and winter was 
creeping over the mountains, but the weather was not yet 
settled and showers were frequent. Sometimes the entire 
valley was buried in cloud so that it was impossible to see 
the length of the village, and then a persistent drizzle filled 
the air. In September we had seventeen rainy days, on 
three of which it rained all day; and between October Ist 
and 17th we had thirteen rainy days, on six of which we 
never saw the sun at all, as rain fell almost continuously. 
There are two rainy seasons in A-tun-tsi, the first in 
early spring, usually before May, the second in late summer, 
usually ending some time in September, and this year the 
second rainy season had been abnormally prolonged. It is 
this late summer rain which accounts for the rich autumn 
flora of the Mekong-Yang-tze divide, saxifrages and gentians 
being found in full bloom at altitudes where deep snow is 
already lying on the Mekong-Salween divide. The flora 
of the latter ridge is essentially a summer one, attaining its 
maximum development in June and July, for the rains break 
there before the end of June. Twenty miles to the east as 
the crow flies, the flora reaches its maximum development 
two months later. 
Time now hung a little heavily on my hands. The 
