The Land of Deep Corrosions 255 
sea! Yet the black gashes between them recall to us those 
grim gorges where the rivers foam and thunder, flinging 
themselves irresistibly against iron-bound cliffs, swinging 
round towering headlands, cutting, grinding, pounding their 
way southwards. But of all this din not a murmur floats 
up to us here; not even the little torrent which has its 
source at the foot of the pass can be heard. All is silent, 
immense. 
Such is the scene, and yet there is spread out before the 
traveller not so much a land of high mountains as a land of 
deep valleys; it is not this barrier beyond barrier, peak on 
peak which he sees in splendid array that impresses him, 
but these deep gloomy gorges into which none but the 
eagles wheeling far overhead can peer; gorges whose 
presence is realised rather than seen, with black shadows 
torn into every spur. 
This same idea of their country has been gained by the 
Tibetans themselves, for Mr Edgar tells me that a classical 
name for Tibet is Vgam-grog-chz which he freely translates 
‘The Land of Deep Corrosions’; and for south-eastern 
Tibet at least no more appropriate title could be devised. 
How near to each other these rivers flow may be 
gathered from a consideration of the time it takes to cross 
the high ridges intervening. Thus Mr Edgar, starting 
from Menkong crossed the Salween, the Mekong at 
Y ‘a-k‘a-lo, and the Yang-tze below Batang within the week. 
And when we consider that these are three of the biggest 
rivers in Asia, one of them flowing to the Indian Ocean, 
the others to the two extremities of the China Sea, we can 
dimly realise something of the extraordinary nature of the 
country. 
From Tsu-kou on the Mekong over the Sie-la to the 
Lutzu villages on the Salween can be accomplished by 
lightly loaded porters in three days, and the natives them- 
selves frequently do the journey in two; similarly it would 
not be difficult to cross from Londre, just above the Mekong, 
to the Salween vza the Chung-tsung-la in two days, or by 
the Doker-la in three. On the other hand, crossing from 
the Salween to the Mekong takes rather longer, at least in 
my experience, probably because the watershed, instead of 
being symmetrically placed between the two rivers, is much 
