178 



MOUNTAIN STREAM. 



Chap. IX. 



the adjoining stream, from the bottom of which 

 they obtained large quantities of black sand, which 

 was for the most part iron. Having melted it in 

 this furnace, and formed cakes of raw iron, about 

 a foot square and an inch thick, they then brought 

 it to the forge, and reduced it to the state of 

 wrought iron, in blocks four inches long by two 

 wide and one thick. This they carried to the 

 market and sold." * 



From Too-poo-dow to the Snowy Yalley the dis- 

 tance is about nine or ten miles. Headed by our 

 mandarin friend, and surrounded by hundreds of 

 the natives of both sexes, old and young, we 

 started on our journey. The road, which was a 

 narrow footpath, led us up the valley and every 

 now and then we approached' the banks of the 

 stream, which was now quite narrow, shallow, and 

 in some places very rapid. Although no longer 

 navigated by boats, it was still made to serve the 

 purpose of the industrious inhabitants in a number 

 of other ways. Small rafts, made by lashing a 

 few bamboo poles together, were plying about in 

 all directions, bringing the productions of the hills 

 down to Too-poo-dow, where they could be put 

 into boats and so conveyed onwards to the lowland 

 towns for sale. Large quantities of basket-tea, 

 liquid indigo, paper, mats, wood, and such-like 

 hill productions were observed coming down the 

 river in this way. Fish seemed most abundant in 

 the little stream ; and as it was now far beyond the 



* Rev. Dr. Medhurst, in N. China Herald. 



