Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 94 (Color Image)

0094	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

64 PEKING TO LHASA

The return journey to headquarters at Teng-

ch'ih-kou, over a mountain 12,000 feet high, was

very trying, as he had to wade through deep snow

in socks and sandals. In consequence, he had

four toes of his right foot partially frost-bitten.

And as this precluded all further possibility of

hunting he decided to return to Chengti. Leaving

Teng-ch'ih-kou on November 7, carried on the

back of a coolie, he descended the valley by a

fairly good path. All the way he passed small

Chinese villages and hovels with crops. At 23

miles he reached Mu-p'ing, a small Chinese walled

town. The native prince (with a few prehistoric

Mantzu men as a guard) lived in a yamen sur-

rounded with a wall on a hill-side just north of

the town.

Ten miles beyond Mu-p'ing the hills are lower

and open out into a picturesque little valley

covered with small Chinese villages, paddy fields

and trees. His escort here consisted of six

Mantzu soldiers belonging to the semi - Mongol-

Tibetan tribes who entered Tibet from Mongolia.

With the exception of a few soldiers and passing

natives these were the only Mantzu he came across

in the whole of his hunting trip. They were

dressed in old-fashioned Chinese uniforms and

retained their pigtails.

Leaving the main Ya-ho valley on November 9

he crossed the divide separating it from the Ta-ho

branch, and on the far side passed through a very

deep gorge with precipitous cliffs. And the

following day he crossed the divide between the

Ya and the Min Rivers and gradually descended

to Kao-hsin-ch'ang. Beyond this he passed down

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