166 COGGIN BROWN : MINER & MINERAL RESOURCES OF YUNNAN. 



posures of red shales and sandstones were seen in the bed of the 

 stream. The first stage is reached at Kuan-Ohiao, 1 ! miles from 

 the city. 



For some miles beyond this village similar sandstones and shales 

 are found in rapid alternations, the sandstones predominating on 

 the whole. The general strike is about north 20° west and the 

 dip 53° towards the south-west. It was very difficult to locate 

 my exact position from the map hereabouts ; the names of many 

 of the villages shown are unknown to the local inhabitants, neither 

 does the road follow the main stream as indicated. In realitv 

 it takes a northerly turn and ascends one of the tributary streams, 

 crosses a small spur and continues up the side valley. Numberless 

 blocks of red sandstone and shale strew the beds of the streams, 

 whilst the steep forest-clad hillsides rise up very close to the water. 

 There is now a very steep ascent to the top of the ridge separating 

 the valleys of the Yung-ping Ho and Lo-ma Ho, at an elevation 

 of 8,600 feet. From the summit an extensive view is obtained 

 of the country to the north, including the Mekong valley, and 

 the break in the hills where the Lo-ma Ho flows through to join 

 its parent stream. The hills are all covered with thick forest, 

 the monotonous tints of the pines and evergreens being brightened 

 at the time of my journey by patches of scarlet and white rhodo- 

 dendron blooms. There is a steep descent to a small tributary 

 of the Lo-ma Ho and after a slight rise the track proceeds north- 

 west, keeping almost level high up above the bottom of the valley ; 

 passing through the scattered hamlets of Kan-hai-tzu and Po 

 chiao, it then descends very precipitously to the river-bed and 

 at 25 miles reaches the hamlet of Sha-chiao. 



The country around this place is very poor, the villages are 

 small and scattered, and it is almost impossible to obtain supplies 

 or fodder. The people are all Minchia and Lolo, the pure Chinese 

 type being conspicuous by its absence. Poppy cultivation and 

 opium manufacture used to be the staple industry of these tribes, 

 but the recent prohibition edicts have had a wonderful effect in 

 banishing the poppy even from these remote valleys where it 

 used to form the chief means of livelihood of the people. The 

 Lo-ma Ho at Sha-chiao is a deep and unfordable stream with a 

 strong current. Its bed is from 50 to 100 yards wide and is full 

 of gieat sandstone boulders. In places the water fills the bed, but 

 in others it is confined to swift rapids 15 to 20 yards across. 



