THE KINGDOM OF FLOWERS 
in the wildest manner imaginable. West 
of this town the world-famous gorges of 
the Yang-tse River extend for 140 miles. 
This mighty river has cut its way 
through mountain spurs running at right 
angles to its course and produced gorges 
presenting wondrous and awe-inspiring 
scenery. ‘The cliffs are mostly of hard 
limestone, often a thousand or more feet 
sheer, with their summits worn into 
crenulated and castellated peaks, of 
the most grotesque form and _ shape. 
Through these mighty gorges, narrowed 
to a quarter of its usual width, with a 
summer rise of a hundred or more feet, 
its course broken here and there by 
rapids of alarmingly dangerous nature, 
the mighty river rushes. At times no 
craft can stem its currents, and at all 
times navigation through these gorges is 
exciting and dangerous. 
DOES CHINA CONTAIN MOUNTAINS 
WIGHER THAN MT. EVEREST? 
The far west of China and the Chino- 
Thibetan hinterland is even wilder than 
in the central parts, but the watersheds 
run north and south. These wild, razor- 
backed ranges, separated by narrow val- 
leys and deep defiles—across which it is 
frequently possible to converse with a 
person, though to reach him would take 
a days march—ultimately culminate in 
vast peaks crowned with perpetual snows. 
These “eternal snows” are mostly un- 
charted and unmeasured, and can only 
be compared with those of the Indian 
Himalayas. It is the writer’s firm con- 
viction that when this terra incognita is 
properly surveyed, peaks will’ be found 
rivaling in height even Mount Everest 
itself. The whole region may well be 
considered, both geographically and eth- 
nologically, as a northern and eastern 
extension of the mighty Himalayan 
chain. For savage grandeur and wild, 
enchanting scenery it is comparable only 
with the Indian Alps. 
This is a region where narrow bridle 
tracks, often excavated by blasting along 
the face of cliffs, do duty for highways. 
Nothing on wheels traverses this region, 
and, though mules and ponies are used 
1017 
sparingly here and there, the Chinese 
coolie is the pack-animal and beast of 
burden. These roadways always follow 
the courses of rivers and torrents and 
in the summer floods are constantly be- 
ing destroyed. Landslides are of very 
common occurrence and add consider- 
ably to the danger and difficulty of travel. 
The writer has cause to remember these 
landslides. After being an eyewitness 
of many accidents, his turn came to be 
actually involved in one. He had a mar- 
velous escape from death, but sustained 
a compound fracture of the right leg, 
which has rendered ‘im lame for life. 
The wild character of the country and 
absence of supplies render travel slow 
and exceedingly difficult. Yet the botan- 
ist and others must be thankful that the 
country 1s so savagely wild and impossi- 
ble of cultivation, or the Chinese would 
have destroyed all the natural flora to 
make room for crops. Even as it is, the 
making of charcoal and potash salts is a 
severe tax upon forests, even in most re- 
mote and inaccessible regions. Wherever 
it 1s possible to get timber down to the 
streams the forests have been almost ut- 
terly depleted. 
Through ignorance and lack of control 
China has bankrupted her forests, to the 
detriment of her climate and consequent 
fertility of her soil. The deplorable state 
of things, due to neglect and wanton 
waste of forests, obtaining in China 
should serve as a grave warning to other 
countries and particularly to our own. 
MILES AND MILES OF GORGEOUS 
RHODODENDRONS 
In such wild mountain country, afford- 
ing such variety in climate and blessed 
with a good rainfall, a rich and varied 
flora is to be expected. This, as indi- 
cated earlier in this article, is what is 
found, and the richness surpasses that of 
any other temperate region in the world. 
In the southern latitudes, near the sea- 
coast and in the iiver valleys, a warm- 
temperate flora obtains. Above this, up 
to an altitude of 3,000 to 5,000 feet, ac- 
cording to latitude, we find rain forests, 
consisting largely of broad-leaved ever- 
green trees. Above this again, up to 
