178 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XI. 
and slept more soundly than if I had been on a bed of 
down. 
The next day we had to cross another mountain pass, 
]not so high as the last, but presenting scenery equally 
1 beautiful. Being at a lower elevation, the hUl-sides 
' were clothed with trees and brushwood, and reminded 
. me of the rich tropical scenery which I had seen near 
i Batavia and Singapore. Here were some beautiful forests 
I of the lance-leaved pine {Cunninghamia lanceolata), 
I the finest I had ever met with in China. 
^ The making of the road over this pass must have 
been a gigantic undertaking. The sides of the mountain, 
both above and below the road, were steep and rugged. 
So dangerous had the Chinese considered this road, 
even after it was made, that they had fixed in many 
places a massive stone rail on the lower side to prevent 
people from falling over. Far below, in a beautiful dell, 
a little stream was gushing down amongst the rocks and 
trees, which was fed by many waterfalls from the sides 
of the mountain. In some places the height was so 
great that it made me giddy to look down. 
When we crossed this pass it was blowing a gale of 
wind, and I was obliged to have the cover taken off my 
chair. Had I not done so there would have been some 
danger of my being blown over the rocks ; indeed, after 
the covering was removed the danger seemed so great 
that I considered it safest to get out and walk. Stopping 
at one of the tea-houses on our way, which was kept by 
a very talkative old woman, she contributed not a little 
to our amusement. " Hai-yah,'' said the chair-bearers, 
