SI-NING-FU TO LIANG-CHOW-FU 1211 
When we reached the open country, the traffic gradu- 
ally decreased. The valley was wide and open, and 
bordered by gently rounded hills with a gradual slope, 
except for a short distance, where it contracted to a narrow 
defile, into which the sun never shone, and where the 
sides of the Si-ning, a stream of considerable size, were 
fringed with ice. In this narrow pass, called Shio-sha, 
the Dungans kept the road blocked for a long time 
between Si-ning-fu and Lan-chow, the capital of the 
province (Kan-su). 
That evening it was very dark and cold. We only 
met one caravan, composed of an immense number of 
camels. In this part of Asia the camel -caravans only 
travel by night, for the animals graze during the day. 
Before reaching the large village of Ping-rung-i we 
crossed over two brooks, Sa-ku-fueh and Kwen-yin-tang. 
We had hard work to find a room in the guest-house ; 
every corner being packed with travellers. Before spread- 
ing my sleeping-carpets in these places, I always had the 
bench well swept, to rid it of undesirable intimates of the 
last person who slept there. 
December 2nd. The valley again contracted, forming 
the narrow gorge of Da-sha (the Great Defile), where the 
stream (on our left) foamed down a series of cataracts 
between walls of granite and black clay-slate. But on 
the other side of the defile the valley once more expanded, 
and became thickly dotted with villages and cultivated 
fields. After crossing the river by a ferry-boat, guided 
by a rope stretched from side to side, we came to the 
town of Nien-beh. Although it was dark, the town gates 
were not yet closed. 
Our next day’s journey took us through a region that 
was both thickly inhabited and excellently cultivated. The 
road crossed a number of frozen canals, in which the 
mill-wheels stood motionless in their icy fetters. Apples, 
pears, apricots, peaches, plums, and walnuts were grown 
in the orchards. The fields were being ploughed for the 
sowing of the next crop of .seed. 
The road was very deeply excavated in the loess strata. 
