Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 286 (Color Image)

0286	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

204 PEKING TO LHASA

well covered with vegetation. At 114 miles he

crossed the Yangtze by ferry to Ma-yi-ssu, a town

of 550 families, where a busy market was in

progress in booths on the shingly bank.

Though Ma-yi-ssu is the real head of navigation

small boats do go another 12 or 14 miles higher up

to Mao-shui-kung through some rather bad rapids.

Pereira returned to Fu-kuan by boat in a hundred

minutes.

On April 29 he left by boat for Sui Fu, which

he reached the next day. His boat was 13 yards

and 1 foot long by 2 yards 1 foot 3 inches broad,

and it took seventeen persons himself, two boys,

five chair-bearers, and nine crew. He put his

bed in the centre with the baggage underneath.

That day he reached P'ing-shan Hsien, about

21 miles, travelling at the rate of about 1 mile in

eight minutes. The hills soon became steeper,

and he passed through some beautiful gorges for

11 miles. Then the hills became more sloping

and were covered with vegetation and some trees.

Occasionally a few farms and villages were seen.

About a dozen rapids were passed, the chief being

the Yao-T'an at 9 miles.

At P'ing-shan he called on the magistrate, and

hearing he had some Nosu prisoners from Lei-po

T'ing, he photographed them. Some were black

Nosu and some were white. The former were slim

and upright men with beaked noses, but the

tallest was two or three inches shorter than

Pereira. They wore their Nosu cloaks.

On April 30 he left P'ing-shan at 6.20 A.M. and

reached Sui Fu, 514 miles, at 3.34 P.M., the boat

travelling for eight hours and six minutes. The

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