SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 



narrow and tortuous. It continues winding up 

 this valley, which gradually widens and finally 

 opens out into a small plain adjacent to that of 

 Ta-t'ung Fu, from which it is separated only by 

 a very slight rise. 



The scenery along the line is picturesque only 

 round Tsai-kou-pu, though the high mountains 

 north of Yang-kao have a rough beaut}^ of their 

 own. Along the base of this range the Great 

 AVall, which has been lost sight of since leaving 

 Kalgan, can be seen running parallel with the 

 railway line. In places the country passed through 

 appeared to be extremely fertile, though there 

 are great stretches of land composed of rubble 

 and rocky debris, brought down from the granite 

 mountains, upon which nothing but a few strag- 

 gling willows and poplars grow. 



As a severe sandstorm was raging when we 

 arrived at Yang-kao, we decided to spend the 

 night there and continue our journey next day. 

 The town itself presented nothing of interest. It 

 was, at the time of our first visit, of the usual type 

 of small border town. A few months later, 

 however, when I had occasion to visit it once more, 

 the change was remarkable. In one summer an 

 extensive trade in grain sprang into existence in 

 the district, and Yang-kao being the centre of this 

 district, and the terminus of the railway, by 

 which the grain was shipped out of the coun- 

 try, assumed for the time being a commercial 



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