1118 
village. One principal narrow street par- 
allel to the river and lined solidly with 
shops constitutes the main portion of the 
village. A swaying bamboo suspension 
bridge connects the cluster of habitations 
on the terrace across the river. 
Standing forth prominently on the 
river bank opposite, in the angle between 
the Min and its tributary, is a picturesque 
nine-storied pagoda. ‘This is a common 
sight, for no town of any importance in 
China would feel secure unless over- 
looked by at least one of these odd- 
storied pagodas to ensure it favorable 
winds and weather. The pagodas that 
guard the welfare of river towns, as in 
the present case, are commonly perched 
upon the most conspicuous point of the 
opposite bluff, or of the bluffs above or 
below the town, that they may the better 
work their beneficent results on the 
spirits of the air. 
To facilitate the next day’s dash into 
the mountains, all of our baggage and 
the heavy fourman chair were left be- 
hind with our servants. Taking only the 
remaining pair of two-man sedan chairs 
and eight chair-carriers for relays, our 
party of three pushed up the valley al- 
most due north across the trend of the 
mountain structure. 
A path amid a wild gorge led us 
through the great mass of Carbonifer- 
ous limestone into the more open portion 
of the valley above, where the older 
Paleozoic formations of less resistant 
character have retreated somewhat into 
mountain slopes before the steady wear 
of the elements. In this wider portion 
of the valley a thick mantle of loose rock 
and vegetal covering obscures the solid 
rock, which comes to light on the lower 
slopes only here and there. Wherever 
the strata could be inspected in place on 
this hurried trip, the bedding planes, 
often with ripple-marks, were found to 
stand nearly vertically or to be slightly 
overturned. The direction of strike 
ranged from N. 65° to 70° E. 
The persistence of these vertical or 
very highly dipping beds is quite extra- 
ordinary. or mile after mile, as we 
crossed the axes of folding, their attitude 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
continued unchanged. Finally we came 
suddenly upon granite which had every 
appearance of being basal to the series 
rather than intrusive in it. The valley 
then narrowed sharply and the country 
beyond became wild and mountainous. 
Three miles onward into the granitic 
region over a rough trail was the limit of 
the party’s advance. In this distance no 
very notable change in the character of 
this basal granitic mass was observed. 
A scramble of 2,000 feet up the slopes of 
a prominent peak afforded a general, 
though not very distant, view of the 
mountains. The sky, unfortunately, was 
overcast and the great peaks were en- 
shrouded in the mists. In addition that 
peculiar but singularly persistent haze 
which hangs over Szechuan conspired 
with the clouds to curtail anything like 
an extensive, sharp-cut panorama. 
In the direction from which we had 
come, the Front Range, those giant hog- 
backs of nearly vertical, red Permo- 
Mesozoic grits and conglomerates, was 
still plainly visible. This hogback ridge 
rises beyond Tzien Keh in a fine serrate 
peak to an altitude of about 7,000 feet, or 
4,500 feet above the Chengtu plain. The 
peaks of older Paleozoic rocks in the 
middle distance were generally less lofty, 
but, on account of their vertical bedding, 
they give rise to a rugged topography. 
But with the insetting of the granite the 
mountains rapidly increase in magni- 
tude; they give the impression of taking 
on lines of a larger order. 
Viewed toward the northwest, eack 
peak beyond seemed to rise higher than 
the one in front of it until obscured in 
the clouds, leaving the rest to be imag~ 
ined. Mountains which should reach 
12,000 feet were seen, and at a distance 
of some 30 miles further on there are 
said to be snow-clad peaks towering well 
over 20,000 feet above the sea. 
Structurally the first ranges of the 
Szechuan Alps which buttress Tibet on 
the east are the carved remnants of the 
outer limb of one stupendous anticlinal 
fold. The other limb must be far away 
and may not exist, for the structure may 
consist of a monoclinal flexure. No evi- 
