174 YUNG-CHING-HSIEN 
crossing the river six times, comes to an end, and the 
mountainous region commences. The weather was very 
hot, and my Tibetan dog, Ja-ma, was so knocked up that 
I was obliged to have him carried in a chair by two 
coolies. 
On April 19 the road led up the rocky bed of a 
small stream for fifteen li, the ground rising till an alti- 
tude of 4,500 feet was attained. Yung-ching-hsien was 
reached in the evening, and here my Yamen runners 
were changed. Just before reaching the town a small 
river had to be crossed. There is a large quantity of 
iron manufactured in this place. The pans for the 
evaporation of brine are cast, and many smaller articles 
are produced both in cast and wrought iron. Going 
out the following day by the west gate of the city, 
I passed through a whole street of blacksmiths, and 
reached Huang-ni-pu, 3,600 feet above the sea, at 3.30, 
having travelled fifty li. 
On the 21st the coolies struck work. They said that 
they were too tired to go any further, and that the roads 
had been very bad. They certainly had been hard- 
worked, but not more so than they are accustomed to. 
However, as there was no official in the place to appeal 
to, I was forced to grant a day’s rest, and the time 
was spent by them in idleness and opium-smoking. 
The next day, April 22, a start was made without 
