28 ROAD TO CHANG-YANG 
such as I was in search of might be found at three 
days’ journey south of Ichang, in the district of Chang- 
yang, where the forest was of considerable extent, and 
where also he had a house. I therefore determined to 
make an expedition to see if the country bore out his 
description, and accordingly set out on the morning of 
October 7, 1887, with three coolies and a cook, who 
also acted as interpreter. My journey was made partly 
on foot and partly in a chair. After crossing the river 
and traversing the flat country on the banks I entered 
a valley, and found my first sleeping station on a small 
hill called Shih-te-yah, twenty miles from the start. 
Here I found the country beginning to get interesting 
to a naturalist. On starting the next morning I found 
the road at first descended slightly, and now the pine 
trees appeared growing in clumps in a soil of a rufous- 
brown colour. These were the first coniferous trees 
met with, and I now entered a valley of great beauty, 
which was studded with precipitous knolls crowned 
with a few firs and thick undergrowth. This valley 
trends to the westward for seven miles, and one passes 
through shady copses of graceful bamboo, some being 
nearly a mile long. As I proceeded the vegetation 
became much more varied, and patches of cultivated 
ground were met with. It had every appearance of 
being rich in entomological species, and I determined to 
