gaolyan, wheat, jumi, peas and rice are grown here. Average crop 6 fold. — There are no oxen in the village, but about 3o mules and 3-4 donkeys. — Snow from the gth or loth to the 3rd month; 5 inches in depth. W storms in winter and spring.
We continued down the river valley along small roads that were reported to be better than the highway, but left a good deal to be desired. It had been raining again during the night. The roads were covered by a regular sea of mud. After about 51i we descended into the valley and had left the last rise in the ground behind. Here lay the village of Saholung with 3o houses. In front of us, on the opposite side of the valley, there was a chain of mighty mountains. We reached the river Yang ho a short distance from there. It flowed in 3 arms, 20, i ro and 33o feet wide. At the greatest depth the water came up to the horses' bellies. The current in the middle of the river was fairly swift, the bottom sandy. The bed of the river was about 1/3 of a mile in width. The direction here was NW—SE. A little higher up the confluence of the Hung to shui ho with the Yang ho could be seen. After 8 li Taizadjuang with 25o houses quite close to the river bank, 20 li Changfang with zoo houses, and 25 li Chihchia chuang with 200 houses.
The road runs along the foot of the hills of stone, sand and gravel that we had reached on the left. Further north they change to fairly high mountains, rocky and beautiful. About 8 miles in front of us two projections of the mountains approached each other to form a sort of gateway, behind which there were other masses of mountains, unusually beautiful with their dark granite sides, numerous peaks and picturesque spurs. The long, sloping surfaces and crevices were covered with grass. The valley was compressed more and more until it ran northward between spurs of the mountains in a very narrow tongue. It shone in shades of lush green. Some leafy clumps of trees prevented our seeing the town, which must have been quite close. Occasionally we could sec a greyish-
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