Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 135 (Color Image)

0135	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

LAN-CHOW TO TANGAR 101

their cart, take off their shoes, and bow themselves

down in prayer.

The same bare, treeless, desolate - looking

country was passed through on the following day

on the way to Hung-ch'eng-pu, 26i miles. The

only exceptions were two fertile valleys each

about 4 miles long. The road was very sandy

and dusty and was constantly rising and dipping,

6580 feet was the highest point reached, and

Hung-ch'eng-p'u lay at 6270 feet. It contains

820 families and is situated in the fertile valley

of the P'ing-fan River. Next day Pereira followed

up the valley, which was fertile all the way and

covered with many villages, to P'ing-fan-hsien,

24/ miles. This is a prosperous city of 1250

families at an elevation of 6910 feet.

The divide between the P'ing-fan and Ta-t'ung

Rivers was crossed on the following day by the

Hsiang-lu-shan, 8460 feet, and the road descended

among downs and sandy hills to Shuang-niu-kou,

7470 feet, a hamlet of ten hovels and a poor inn,

234 miles from P'ing-fan-hsien.

Continuing to descend on April 7, Pereira

struck the Ta-t'ung Ho valley at 12 miles and

found it fertile and dotted with villages and

a few trees. The intervening country in this

region is generally barren and treeless and hold-

ing only an occasional village. But the valleys

themselves are fertile and well inhabited. The

road led down the Ta-t'ung Ho and at 15 miles

Pereira crossed the river by a rope ferry. The

river was here 50 yards wide and 20 feet deep.

Chinese were here washing for gold, and a few

miles to the south were the gold and copper

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