Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 264 (Color Image)

0264	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

192 PEKING TO LHASA

country on the edge of a fertile plain. But on

the following day he left this main road and

marched to Tung-ch'uan-hsien, which he reached

on March 21. The country was mostly undulat-

ing and well populated, and there was much

poppy cultivation in spite of the interdicts on it.

As before, this country also was infested with

brigands, and one day he passed an enormous

caravan of 1400 animals, with an escort of nearly

a hundred soldiers. Rhododendrons, mostly of

a deep red colour and in full bloom, he saw near

Lai-t'ou-p'o, 7500 feet. And on March 20 he

crossed the Chih-ch'ang Ya-k'ou at 9100 feet, the

highest point he had reached in Yunnan. From

here he had fine views on the left of ranges 10,000

to 13,000 feet in height, all covered with a coating

of snow. The descent was very steep and the

road bad, and the wind bitterly cold.

Tung-ch'uan-hsien is situated in a very fertile

valley at an elevation of 7250 feet and has a popu-

lation of over five thousand families. His next

objective was Chao-t'ung Hsien, which he reached

on March 27. Halting for a day, he left Tung-

ch'uan-hsien on March 23, he himself, as usual,

travelling in a chair or walking, while his baggage

was carried on mules. He passed first through

the fertile but somewhat swampy plain, in which

were many storks and duck and a few cranes.

At 74 miles he reached the summit of the Lung-

wang-miao Kou-tzu, 8400 feet, and then passed

through cultivated valleys. On March 24 he

reached Yi-ch'ê-hsün, 6300 feet, a busy market

town of 350 families. Here he heard that a

village he had slept in five days previously had

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