Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 66 (Color Image)

0066	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

36 PEKING TO LHASA

these Chinese soldiers, when away from their

comrades and alone with the foreigner, are always

docile and anxious to help.

At Ningia the magistrate came to meet him

outside the city and prepared an official house

with a nice clean room for him. He sent him a

lot of ducks, chickens, etc., as a present. But

Pereira told him he made a rule not to accept

presents and that he had expressly asked the

foreign bureau at Sian to send a letter to all

magistrates on his route, telling them not to offer

him any gifts. Unfortunately these requests were

always ignored, as the officials would regard the

request as a delicate way of asking for presents.

The scenery, especially after the P'ingho-liang,

was very fine and was like the hilly parts of

Szechwan. The valleys were green with rice and

wheat. Trees covered the hills and on their

sides was a profusion of wild flowers, lilac, yellow

and white. Added to them were the pink and

white blossoms of the fruit trees. April 27 was a

glorious day and Pereira walked the whole 24-i

miles from Liang-ho to Kin-shui-ho (the Gold

Water River). After crossing a river by a ferry

he had a steep climb of 1880 feet up the Shan-tzu

P'o and a further climb along the top of ridges

for another 390 feet. From there he had splendid

views all round, over range after range with deep

valleys between. Some of the hills were gently

sloping and partly cultivated or covered with

trees. All along the path was the sweet smell

of flowers. And coolies swarmed up and down

the slopes, which from a distance looked like

a gigantic ant-heap. After a sharp descent of

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