573
10
after we had crossed the downs to the north and had come out upon the river again that we found even a service road. That road ceases at Siao-ho-koa (kilom. 311) opposite to a sandspit on which the engineers have built up an encampment with tents and brushwood huts. Here M. Son most kindly gave us tiffin, providing a fine large fish, one of a score he had secured that morning with a dynamite cartridge.
Between kilom. 311 and the I-liang Plain (kilom. 385) is one continuous gorge, broken only where, as near Lu-feng Tsun, an affluent enters the river. The river describes two great bends, and as, moreover, the service road has not yet been begun, still less any work on the permanent way, I took the usual short cut past Schiel to Lu-feng Ts'un. This means, as a rule, spending the night in a temple at Schiel; not a converted temple, but one still in its natural condition of dirt and dilapidation. "Schiel," it should be observed, would be written in Wade's system "Hsi-êrh"; it is the unfortunate French equivalent for the evasive burr that destines the village to go down to posterity as Schi-eul, or rather as Schiel.
From Hsi-erh Kai the road mounts steeply to a second Siao-lung-t'an (“Little Dragon Pool ") and thence descends by an easy slope to a clear stream. (A good stage, it may be worth mentioning, would be, when travelling northwards, to spend the night, not at Hsi-êrh, but at Siao-lung-tan, for that would make feasible a morning bath in and breakfast by this stream.) Here I came up with M. Briquet, Chief of this, the seventh, section, and received an invitation to dine and sleep at his "pagode" at Lu-feng Ts'un. The road hence passes through Lu-chou, a village to be avoided, full of slime and flies, to Wai-lu. Here we (M. Kalos was again with me) tiffined under a spreading tree above the village. All this stage is very pretty (Lu-chou excepted), with but little cultivation. The last valley leading down to Lui-feng Ts'un is full of dwarf azaleas (now over) and large white rhododendrons, the first I have seen since Chiang-Chuau, on the third stage south from Yunnan-fu.
At Lu-feng Ts'un, a "Siao-bo" or little river, joins the main stream. The little river was then (24th May) a mass of boulders, amid which ran two rivulets spanned by bridges of pine and brush wood. Just before reaching it we were caught in a violent thunderstorm of rain and wind. I lost sight of my companions, who pushed on to Lu-feng Tsun; I was myself taken into the hospital compound recently erected for Dr. Gervais and his wife. Mme. Gervais, that she may the more readily accompany her husband, has cut her hair quite short, and wears on occasion, she confesses, the habits of our inferior sex. She had only lately arrived, and the whole compound, infirmary, garden, well, and the rest, was still in the making. The oasis on which the hospital stands is separated from Lu-feng hamlet by paddy fields, over which my bearers stumbled and splashed. Outside the hamlet stands a three-storied "lou," which has been converted into offices, dwelling-rooms, and bedchambers, and below which a compound has been laid out with numerous servants' huts and a cabbage garden. A strong stream of water, diverted from the "little river," a mile or more up the valley, flows under the "lou.”
M. Briquet, a Swiss, put us up for the night. On his staff is a young fellow who, after six years in the Soudan, finds Yünnan Province dull.
The road from Lu-feng Ts'un continues up the valley of the "little river," and is not particularly interesting until, at 20 li (7 miles), the village of T'ang Shan is passed. Then, after a mile or so, the road mounts to a plateau—a long stiff climb. As the summit is approached the trees grow more numerous, but the plateau itself consists of rolling downs from which a magnificent view is had in all directions. There are springs at intervals on the downs, and near one of these, by the edge of a coppice, we tiffined. The downs continue right up to the I-liang Plain, to which the traveller may descend at once, as our convoys did, or not for some 3 miles further, when he will be nearly abreast of Hua-So, the goal of this stage.
At Hua-So, a small untidy village, we passed the night in the main shrine of a shiftless temple at the feet of the Buddhist pantheon. Hua-So is on the eastern edge of the plain, and just opposite, on the western edge, is the mouth of the long defile up from Lu-feng Ts'un. The road to I-liang slants across the plain to a village near which is a ferry and ford. Crossing this, the road inclines to the west until at last it arrives at the little walled town of I-liang Hsien, built up against a spur of the hills. On the east is an extensive suburb, and in this suburb are the two compounds of the second division and of the ninth section. The former is in charge of M. Prud'homme, the latter of M. de Violini. M. Prud'homme is installed in the usual converted temple, but, thanks, doubtless, to the fact that Mme. Prud'homme is with him, most comfortably installed, with dining and drawing rooms, both well furnished, and cosy bedrooms on an upper floor. An attempt is being made to produce a flower garden; in short, here, as in A-mi Chou, are all the signs of an expected lengthy residence. The compound is extensive, with a brick tennis-court, just completed, and a "magasin." The sectional compound, also originally a temple, is not much more than half the size. M. de Violini had lately shifted his quarters to the gorge by Su-kia Tou (kilom. 360), and Mme. de Violini and their two young sons were preparing to join him.
11
The land
compound is extensive...
[The rest of the text continues in the same manner, with proper HTML formatting applied.]
Page 11
...
[Text continues, adhering to the rules and formatting guidelines.]