EFFECTS OF LANDSLIP (207 
been nearly destroyed by a landslip, or, rather, mudslip, 
since my last journey through. Quite half the houses had 
been utterly destroyed, and many of those remaining 
were filled with a deposit of mud and stones. It may 
seem difficult to understand how these houses are thus 
filled with rubbish, because one would be apt to think 
they would be thrown down ; but the Chinese build their 
houses in a different manner to what we are accustomed 
to see, for they first get uprights of timber fixed in the 
ground, upon which plates are laid and the roof is built 
upon them. Then the walls are built between the 
uprights, and are composed of stone, brick, or mud, ac- 
cording to the locality and the means of the builder. 
When a flood or a landslip occurs and reaches a 
house so built, the first thing to go is one of the walls, 
and if they are not all demolished, a large deposit takes 
place, naturally, within the building. On my journey 
westward a hill had to be descended, here a dry water- 
course was crossed by a bridge, and an ascent made on 
the other side. Now there was a nearly level road 
across, and the bridge was either swept away or buried. 
Hundreds of acres of level and cultivated ground had 
been covered with earth and stones to a depth of seven 
or eight feet, and all the crops destroyed. What had 
been a scene of prosperity was now one of desolation, 
and the mischief had probably been caused by the sudden 
