180 Over the Riin-tst-la 
The first news I heard on my arrival was that the mission- 
aries had left Batang! This was a bolt from the blue with 
a vengeance! Two Europeans were reported to have 
arrived in A-tun-tsi on the previous day, and two more, 
whom I learnt later were American missionaries, were even 
now sleeping in A-dong, having arrived the same day as 
myself. However I decided not to disturb them as they 
were likely to be tired after their journey, and certainly I 
was. I therefore went to bed, expecting to see them early 
on the following morning, but I was so late that they 
were up and away long before me. 
On the way to A-tun-tsi I fell in with a soldier who had 
been sent by the official to seek me and escort me back, on 
account of the trouble in Ssu-chuan, a kindly act on his 
part. 
We reached A-tun-tsi at mid-day on October 26, after 
a journey lasting only nine days, though it seemed much 
longer, no doubt on account of the cold. On the whole I 
had been fairly successful with my work, securing seeds of 
several new plants; but alas! most of the photographs 
taken on this journey, together with all of those taken on 
the journey to Pang-tsi-la, were subsequently lost. 
