216 WAN-NIEN-SSU 
had got on with their work. During the day I travelled 
fifty li, and slept at a small village twenty li from Oméi- 
hsien. Passing through the latter town on the next 
day I reached Wan-nien-ssu in the evening, having 
traversed a highly cultivated valley where much rice 
is grown. Dotted about were small patches of ground 
rising slightly above the dead level of the paddy fields, 
on which clumps of trees were growing, and beneath 
their shade the farmhouses were built. I found com- 
fortable lodgings in a temple. On August 8 I made an 
excursion round Wan-nien-ssu, and found that the 
country had every appearance of being a splendid col- 
lecting ground, being very rich in species and covered 
to a great extent with virgin forest. 
One of my coolies who had come from Ta-tsien-lu 
was here obliged to leave, as he had a bad sore on his 
back caused by the load he had carried down, and which 
was part of my botanical collection. I therefore paid 
him his money, and he went to Kia-ting-fu to get a few 
things he had left in my boat. After getting them, he 
was returning to the town in a sampan, when he fell 
overboard and lost all his hard-earned wages. He was 
now ten days’ journey from home and in a penniless 
state, but luckily Mr. Kricheldorff had just arrived from 
Mou-pin, and on applying to him he gave him suflicient 
eash to enable him to reach his home. This coolie 
