THE BARRIER 29 
make a station here at the proper season the following 
year for the purpose of collecting. After proceeding 
for about seven miles further I came to some paper 
mills, where the material manufactured is bamboo. 
The buildings, or rather huts, were wretched in the ex- 
treme, but as there was no choice of better, I decided to 
stop the night. Starting at 7.30 a.m. the next day, the 
first range of hills was soon met with. The road turned 
sharply to the left and led nearly due south, the ascent 
being very steep in some places; so much so, indeed, 
that in many places flights of steps had been cut. 
I passed many beautiful gorges and valleys, and hay- 
ing travelled about fifteen miles over a very up-and-down 
road, reached a small Chinese village of about 250 huts, 
but which contained a new native inn, where I took 
up my quarters, and found it, for a wonder, to be very 
clean. The highest altitude reached during the day 
was nearly 3,000 feet, and the village was situated in a 
valley. 
The next morning, after journeying for an hour 
along the ordinary road, I arrived at the foot of a high 
range, which I called afterwards the ‘barrier.’ I here 
determined to leave the main road and make the ascent ; 
but as it was exceedingly steep and precipitous, and the 
mountain foot-trail very rough and winding, it was 
necessary to get additional assistance in carrying the 
