Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 294 (Color Image)

0294	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

210 PEKING TO LHASA

Pereira was now riding a mule instead of being

carried in a chair as on his previous journey.

Pretty country, the hill-side fairly covered with

pine and shrubs, was passed through on the next

day, the road leading up and down over slopes

rising to 800 feet at the highest. Wu-ting-Chow, a

town of seven hundred families, at an elevation of

5664 feet, was reached at 21i miles. Five miles

to the north is a mission station at Sa-pu Shan,

where Mr. Nicholls was working among the Lisu,

Tahua Miao and tame Nosu (Lolos). Two Lisu

boys brought by Mr. Nicholls to Pereira appeared

to him to be very like Chinese, with almond eyes

and snub noses, but they belong to a Tibetan

group.

Ma-an-shan, 6366 feet, 25t- miles, was reached

on July 20. The road for a couple of miles led

across a fertile rice plain and then up the narrow

valley of the Hsi-ts'un Ho, in which rice and a

little maize were grown. At 10 miles there was

a steep climb over the Yao-yin Ya-k'ou, about

7000 feet, and then down among low hills and

rice valleys. The road was very muddy after the

rain, and was often under water.

Yunnan, says Pereira, is a picturesque Pro-

vince, but there is a great sameness. It is nearly

all red sandstone hills with some pine and shrub.

Between these are narrow valleys with rice culti-

vation, and where these valleys open out are

large cities.

On July 21 he marched 22.i miles to Ma-t'ou,

crossing at 7 miles the Kung P'o ridge, 8300 feet,

the divide between the So-Ling Ho on the west

and the Lung-kai Ta Ho on the east, both

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