THE HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS OF KWEICIIOW 171 



boys are taught Chinese as well as the ordinary elements ot 

 education, and about forty students varying in age from 

 about ten to twenty had come along the winding path to 

 meet us some two miles outside the town. They had 

 gathered magnificent deep red rhododendron heads, which 

 with their blue robes formed a gay picture. They all wear 

 Chinese dress in the school, though they come from various 

 tribes, as it is more convenient in the city, which is of course 

 Chinese. Miss Welzel rede out to* meet us, and certainly it 

 was a very cordial as well as picturesque welcome that we 

 received. They walked back to the city in single file, pass- 

 ing through a handsome haiphong. 



The city stands high up among the hills (altitude 5,100 

 feet), and is continually shrouded in mists, which come down 

 like a thick blanket, blotting out all the surrounding moun- 

 tains. Only one day in four does the sun penetrate it, and 

 then perhaps only for a few minutes. In the days we were 

 there, April 23 to 26, we did not once see the outlines of the 

 mountains, and we were considered very fortunate in arriving 

 there in sunshine. 



The city is surrounded by a wall, and is thoroughly 

 Chinese. Formerly they had great trouble with the neigh- 

 bouring tribespeo'ple, but they say they have much fewer 

 disagreements since the missionaries have made friends with 

 the tribes, and there seems to be no difficulty about their 

 coming in considerable numbers to the mission premises, 

 where they stay for the week end. The majority of those 

 we saw were the Wooden Combs (Ching Miao) ; but there 

 were also Lichias — people of six villages only, and who* are 

 not to be found anywhere else but in this district; Little 

 Flowery Miaos (Hsiao Hua Miao) and I-chia, a tribe of very 

 different quality from any of the Miao and much taller. 

 The Wooden Combs are so-called because both men and 

 women wear long hair rolled up on the to<p of the head and 

 fastened with a large wooden comb. These are mostly plain 

 and unvarnished, but I have a very pretty one painted in 

 various colours and quite a good design, which was given as 

 a present to one of the ladies. They are entirely unlike the 

 Chinese physically — have large noses, rather Semitic. 



The men wear a thickly-folded white band round the 

 head, covering most of the forehead. Their clothes are for 

 the most part white, with a touch of blue in the design of 

 the waist band for instance, and a pocket slung in front. 

 They wear long loose garments, not trousers. The women 

 also dress in blue and white, with occasionally a touch of 

 red in the skirts. The predominating colour of the women's 

 clothes is dark blue. The girls wear their upper garment 



