SUPERSTITION OF NATIVES 195 
where splendid collections could be made. I allowed 
them to go, giving them the necessary money and appara- 
tus. Some little time afterwards I heard that they had 
tramped all the way back to Ni-tou, where they were 
spending their time and my money in opium-smoking, 
there being also a further attraction in the shape of a 
Chinese damsel. Of course I recalled them immediately , 
but it was most annoying to have the valuable time so 
wasted. 
On June 14 I noticed that the medicine collectors 
were all absent, instead of being scattered over the hills 
as usual. This, together with what my men had told 
me, looked suspicious, so I decided to go to Ta-tsien-lu 
and see the magistrate, as perhaps he might be able to 
make things gomore smoothly. Leaving camp at noon, 
T crossed the pass, and on the north side, at an elevation 
of 10,000 feet, and where the ground had lately been 
covered with snow, I found a plant in bloom much 
resembling a gloxinia, the flower being crimson. 
I reached the city in the evening and went to the 
inn, where I found quarters. 
On June 17 the mandarin received a despatch at 
9 p.M., which he sent on to Mer. Biet, from whom I 
heard the contents. It was a petition from Mo-si-mien, 
signed by a large number of the inhabitants, and also 
by the medicine collectors, who had left the hills for 
02 
