a third Journey to the Yang-tze 175 
were lost in the gloom, there the path plunged steeply down 
towards a bridge of tree trunks spanning a gully. In some 
places it was indeed horribly dangerous, consisting only of 
bare slabs of rock tilted downwards, so that a slip would 
have shot one over the precipice, and on one such occasion 
I crawled across on my hands and knees. I do not know 
which were the more terrifying in the darkness, the preci- 
pices above or those below. Needless to say I did not 
ride my pony after dark, and it was ten o'clock before 
we reached Yie-rii-gong. 
Our night’s lodging was paid for in brick tea, which the 
Tibetans in the mountain villages off the main roads always 
prefer to silver, since it is immediately useful, whereas the 
latter is not; and I had by this time learnt to carry brick 
tea for that purpose. Silver is certainly not valued by the 
Tibetans for its own sake. 
About 3 a.m. I awoke to see what looked like a moon- 
beam across my bed, though I had seen the moon set quite 
early, and stepping out on to the roof I saw a planet of 
wonderful brilliance, presumably Venus, rising in the east. 
So bright was the light that I could have seen to read 
large print by it. 
After leaving Yie-rii-gong we continued up the Yang-tze 
for another half-day’s march and then struck up a ravine to 
the west in order to recross the mountains and reach Tsa-lei 
on the Batang road. An alternative route was to continue 
up the Yang-tze to the mouth of the Garthok river, and so 
to the Batang road where it joins that stream. This indeed 
was what the men wished to do, as they maintained that 
the pass to Tsa-lei was too difficult. However by paying 
them their own price (certainly not an exorbitant one) we 
persuaded them to try it, for there was nothing to be gained 
by continuing up the arid Yang-tze valley. 
It was October 22. As I rode along I gradually became 
conscious of a peculiar appearance in the sky to the north, 
which had assumed a deep violet-blue tint. At this time I 
wished to take some photographs, but the waning light 
made me hesitate; yet when | glanced at the sun I was 
surprised to see it apparently shining as brightly as ever, a 
thing I could not understand, for I could have sworn that 
it was obscured by clouds. There were no clouds however, 
