peas, potatoes, opium and hemp are grown. Average crop 3-4 fold. SW storms are common, especially in spring. Little rain between the 3rd and 8th months. Snow between the 9th and the beginning of the 3rd month. Frequent mist during the 2nd-4th months. The quantity of livestock is said to amount to 6o head of cattle, 6-7 horses and 8o-90 sheep. — 'I'he sarais seen yesterday and to-day were built in a peculiar way. Cupboards, boxes, large clay dishes and other household utensils were placed along the walls in a barn-like room that occupied the whole house. To the right or on either side of the door there was a small »kang» in the corner of the room. There was no ceiling. Other houses are built in the same way. — Rather a pretty coarse cloth of hemp is woven in the village.
April gth. It began to rain heavily yesterday later in the evening. There had evidently been snow in
Chang-hsien. the mountains, as they were freshly covered when we started this morning. Near Hsientien-tzu the mountains look picturesque, rising in the form of high and steep granite walls from the narrow valley. For about 3 miles the valley describes a wide curve from the village and then continues in a NE direction. During this time the river is fed with water from several side gorges. The valley is scarcely 200 fathoms broad at its widest and is much narrower in other places. The mountains are high and considerably steeper than hitherto. Many of' them are grey granite. There were several villages at the bottom of the valley, but with the exception of one of 3o houses, they are all insignificant. The fields are very small and incredibly stony. The houses are poor and small. You sec a lattice-work of twigs used as the inner frame of the clay walls. The roofs are no longer thatched, but have a ridge as ours have. Small clumps of' leaf-trees can be seen between the villages and behind them. In one or two places, where the steep granite walls drop from a giddy height into the bed of the river, compressing it very much, the view is wild and beautiful. One of these occurs after the river has flowed in a NE direction for a little over I i /2 miles. The
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