128 DANGEROUS ROAD 
laughed at by the natives when crossing, for the oscil- 
lation was so great as to cause me some alarm, there 
being no hand rail. I therefore made a halt in the 
middle, waiting for it to get steady again before pro- 
ceeding. They being accustomed to it can of course 
cross without any hesitation. 
After getting across I heard that there were some 
French missionaries at Cha-pa, a short distance down 
the river, and instead of going on the direct road I 
decided to visit them, and therefore made a sharp turn 
to the left. The road was in a place extremely 
dangerous, being merely a groove cut into an almost 
precipitous abutment, composed of shale. This foot- 
hold—for it is nothing more, and barely that—has to 
be constantly renewed by anybody who wishes to pass, 
for in wet weather the shale is washed away, and in 
dry weather it crumbles. A false step would send a 
traveller over the slippery surface into the torrent of 
the Tung River, perhaps a hundred feet beneath, and as, 
in which, owing to its violence, a boat can hardly live, 
except in the most quiet places, even the most expert 
swimmer would have little or, no chance of saving his 
life, if even that had been left to him after the fall. 
There is considerable traffic past this dangerous place, 
and it was curious to notice that though such a capital 
bridge had been constructed such a short distance 
