Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 304 (Color Image)

0304	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

220 PEKING TO LHASA

the village of Tui-neo-k'e with sixty-five families,

mostly Mosu. The first part of the climb was

very hot, and then it became milder. At 14i miles

the top of the San-shen-miao P'o or Ch'ing-ming-

k'ou, 9481 feet, was reached, a rise of 5160 feet

from the Yangtze bridge. The descent led down

a beautifully wooded gorge, and at 151 miles the

great Likiang plain was reached, and at 221- miles

Likiang Fu.

Likiang Fu was one of the big stages on

Pereira's northward journey. It is an unwalled

city of some 30,000 inhabitants, at 7561 feet, and

Pereira made the distance from Yunnan Fu 372

miles. Many pessimists at Yunnan had said that

he would not be able to get through in the rainy

season. The roads had certainly been very bad,

but not worse than in other parts of China. And

though there was plenty of rain, it fell chiefly at

night.

Behind the city to the north rise great rocky,

peaked mountains running north and causing

the great bend in the Yangtze. They are partly

snow-covered, and were the highest Pereira had

yet seen in Yunnan. He estimated them at

17,000 feet.

Great excitement had been caused in this city

by the capture of Mr. Weatherbe, an English

engineer, by Chinese bandits twenty-two days pre-

viously at a place two stages south-west. He was

trying to reach Batang from Burma and was

making his way back by Yunnan Fu. Pereira

called on the General and Magistrate to urge his

release, and suggested that the bandits' demand

for reincorporation in the army should be com-

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