Riding down Staircases 179 



amount of level ground to be found in the valley bottoms. 

 The upper sides of these gulHes often consist of vertical rocks, 

 and where the road runs along their summit, or has been 

 cut into them, it has in olden times been protected by a 

 handsome balustrade of stone, now in a sad state of disrepair, 

 and in the worse places often wanting altogether. My 

 diminutive steed entertained a most uncomfortable preference 

 for the extreme edge of the narrow pathway, the flagstones 

 of which, where not wanting altogether, invariably seemed to 

 slope outwards. The ascents and descents were by narrow, 

 steep, dilapidated staircases. Originally constructed with an 

 utter absence of engineering skill, these paved footpaths 

 have been rendered still worse by the insidious encroach- 

 ments of the avaricious peasantry. After leaving the main 

 artery, the road got so bad that, but that there was positively 

 not room for me to dismount, I should on several occasions 

 have resigned the saddle and taken to my legs. Apart from 

 the risk of a fall, it seemed cruelty to animals to ride a 

 pony over such country; but on being assured that he 

 was accustomed to carry double my weight in goods over 

 the Kwei-chow mountains, I hardened my heart, and we 

 scrambled on. At length, in the afternoon, we reached our 

 destination for the day — the mansion of Sha-ping Pa (the 

 " Spreading Sandbank "). Heading our cavalcade over the 

 rugged paths, I had noticed on the slope of a hill to our 

 right a spacious walled enclosure with a broad terrace in 

 front, approached by a handsome flight of stone steps — a 

 noble residence, superior to anything yet encountered in my 

 travels in this dilapidated- land. I was not a little surprised 

 to learn that this was our destination, and I trotted gaily up 

 the steps, glad to escape from the blazing sunshine into the 

 umbrageous courtyards and gardens before me. I found 

 that this was the ancient home of the Tung family, now 



