168 THE HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS OF KWEICHOW 



and the ground carpeted with mauve-coloured orchids and 

 primulas. 



We very soon lost our way, and there was no one 

 to be seen in all the wide landscape to set iis right. We 

 wandered on for hours till we came to a little hamlet and 

 found a pottery in full swing. With much persuasion and 

 the promise of a good tip, we barely succeeded in coaxing 

 a boy to shew us the way to the village of I-mei, where we 

 proposed spending the night, and we set off again in more 

 cheerful mood. It seems hardly credible that after some 

 two hours travelling, he admitted he didn't know the way 

 and suggested that the fields in which we had halted were 

 the village ! Fortunately there were some women working 

 in them, and they told us it was some distance away and' 

 they were very dubious as to> our getting any accommodation, 

 even should we succeed in finding the place in the dark, 

 for the sun was setting. A comfortable-looking farmhouse 

 was within sight, so we sent to enquire if they could take 

 us in, and they proved friendly folk and offered us one of 

 their living rooms, while the rest of the company was 

 accommodated in sundry outhouses. It stood in a tiny 

 valley, watered by a charming stream, up which we had 

 come; countless wagtails and other small birds had beguiled 

 us with their pleasant chatter, for it could hardly be called 

 song. 



At the farm we naturally found poultry and a sufficient 

 supply of food for our escort, and it was quite interesting 

 to see the relative comfort in which these people lived. 

 Of course the live stock are on very intimate terms with 

 their owners, and the cat rather resented our intrusion and 

 hurried about in the middle of the night to see what we 

 were doing. We tried to shoo her away, and than heard a 

 reproachful voice from the other side of the partition gently 

 calling, "Mimi, Mimi"; upon which the cat quickly sidled 

 away to her master. 



Next day we were up betimes, and our host said his 

 white-haired brother would act as our guide. These two old 

 gentlemen still wore attenuated queues, almost the only ones 

 we saw on our journey. We found the whole family kindly, 

 and interested in their strange visitors : no other European 

 had ever been in their little valley, I feel sure. We gave 

 the lady a cake of soap, which was evidently a thing she had 

 never seen before. We had a long climb up a glorious 

 mountain pass, named "Climbing to the Heavens," the air 

 scented with magnolia, roses and other delicious shrubs, and 

 when we came to the town of Pinguan, a stage of some 

 fourteen miles, we decided to stay there, for it was such 



