Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 125 (Color Image)

0125	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

TO LAN-CHOW 91

for 11 mile, and then an easy descent for the

rest of the march to Chan-cha-lu, 26 miles down

the valley of the Shang-ch'uan Ho. The hills

were bare and rose to only from 300 to 500 feet

above the valley. At Chan-chu-la 58 out of the

60 families were Mohammedan.

Descending the Shang-ch'uan valley the road

improved, and two-wheeled carts drawn by one

bullock were seen. The hills were only 300 or

400 feet in height and covered with grass. At

114 miles Minchow, 8400 feet, a town of 575

families, was reached on February 28. There

were shops here and a poor inn, but the inn-

keeper gave Pereira his own comfortable and

clean room. Ascending the Ta'o Ho by the left

bank on the following day Pereira reached

Shih-ch'i at 274 miles. For the first 7 miles

the valley was as much as 2 miles wide, and it

was fertile and contained many villages of the

mud huts such as are found in the North. But

near Shih-ch'i it narrowed to a width of only

200 yards. Pereira passed a lady missionary

going to new Tao-chow and a missionary coming

from old Tao-chow.

Choni, 8880 feet, was reached on March 2,

after a march of 17 miles, still up the left bank

of the T'ao Ho. Some Chinese villages were

passed, and others partly Chinese and partly

Tibetan. Choni has 320 families, of whom about

half are Chinese and half are Tibetan, but of

these latter only about one-fifth are pure Tibetan.

The Prince of Choni, a man of thirty, was very

friendly to foreigners. He had been on very

good terms with the previous Governor of the

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