Chap. XIV. 



TSIN-TSUN. 



247 



and the other was the difficulty of getting away from 

 Foo-chow when once there. 



After weighing the matter in my mind I determined 

 neither to go down to Foo-chow-foo, nor to return by 

 the way I came, but to take another route, which led 

 eastward to the town of Pouching-hien, then across 

 the Bohea mountains and down their northern sides 

 into the province of Chekiang. I ascertained that 

 the distance from Woo-e-shan to Pouching-hien was 

 280 le, and that, as the road was mountainous, the 

 journey would occupy from three to four days. 



We halted in Tsin-tsun only long enough to pro- 

 cure refreshment, and then pursued our way. Turn- 

 ing our faces eastward we crossed one of the branches 

 of the river, which here flows round the foot of the 

 hills. 



I now bade adieu to the far-famed Woo-e-shan, 

 certainly the most wonderful collection of hills I had 

 ever beheld. In a few years hence, when China 

 shall have been really opened to foreigners, and when 

 the naturalist can roam unmolested amongst these 

 hills, with no fear of fines and imprisonments to haunt 

 his imagination, he will experience a rich treat indeed, 

 To the geologist, in particular, this place will furnish 

 attractions of no ordinary kind. A Murchison may 

 yet visit them who will give us some idea how these 

 strange hills were formed, and at what period of the 

 world's existence they assumed those strange shapes 

 which are now presented to the traveller's wondering 

 gaze. 



The direct road from Woo-e-shan to Pouching- 



