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which were everywhere poor and scanty. The principal crop in Eastern Yünnan was pens, but it was not comparable with the Ssuchuan crop, or even with that of Kuischow.
Two days from Chiang-ti brought us to Loping (39 miles), over bare rough country of red and very stony earth. At Loping Mr. Chan requested me to travel direct to Yunnan-fu, suggesting that from Yunnan-fu we could take the train and do the journey to Hokow comfortably in two days. He stated that he did not like the bardships and inconvenience of travel in the interior of China. I told him that I did not propose to go to Yünnan-fu, where a British consular officer was permanently stationed; and that on no account would I travel by train on such a journey of inspection. Mr. Chan, however, never ceased for several days harping on the comforta of train-travel as compared with our rough paths and tracks.
For the next five days, from Loping to Mi-le (82 miles), the country was rough and mountainous, being at the altitude of 5,000-6,000 feet above sea-level. Yunnan is notorious for its strong winds, and it well preserved its reputation during my visit. Even in the middle of the day, wearing thick clothes and a heavy winter overcoat, I was barely comfortably warm. The " road" led through undulating plateaux, sometimes as much as 5 miles wide, and over mountain posses; the hill country is rocky and uncultivated. The high winds bring much dust. General conditions are thus antagonistic to agriculture in that part of Eastern Yunnan, and the attenuated crops peas and barley testified to the farmers' difficulties. Population is very sparse; in the hill districts there are a considerable number of people of the Lolo tribe.
of
In leaving me at the border of his jurisdiction the Lo-ping magistrate enquired with much anxiety if I had observed any opium poppy within his jurisdiction; and he vowed that to the best of his knowledge and belief there was not a single opium plant in his territory. I replied that I was aware that local officials had shown such zeal this spring in destroying all vestiges of the opium crop.
The general poverty the highland districts was reflected in even the official buildings. The Shih-tsung magistrate offered me quarters for the night in his own yamên; the room he offered me was as good as any in the building, but even so it was in a tumbledown condition, with large holes in the roof, which also did duty as ceiling to the room.
In the environs of Kuang-hsi, a town of some 5,750 feet of height above sea-level, and of about 2,500 inhabitants, it was a pleasing change to see extensive patches of vegetable gardens. They were quite the healthiest-looking crops I had seen in Yünnan. The soil bereabouts looked less poor, being more brown than red, the reddish soil being chiefly of a sandy consistency.
From Mile there was difficulty about route, the only recognised road going west- wards to Po-hsi on the Yunnan-Tonquin railway, and the direction in which I desired to proceed being to the south-east. Local enquiry elicited information that there were rough tracks to the south-east, but they were very rarely used, and only a very few of the natives knew their way to them. I maintained that the local officials must know, or must be able to ascertain without difficulty, the routes in auy direction in their own jurisdiction, and I suggested that the local officials should provide us with responsible guides. My immediate objective was Ch'iu-pei, a fairly large town, which appeared from the map to be about five or six days' march from Mi-le. Mr. Chan offered to obtain a sketch-map of the roure, and he handed me a route plan, showing five stages to Ch'iu-pei. This I agreed to follow. On the second day we reached a village, Kai-tien, when Mr. Chan coolly informed me that his plan was incorrect, and that we were now only 10 miles from Ami-chow, a town on the railway; furthermore, that the only road from Kai-tien went to Ami-chow. I was highly incensed at this impudent deception, and insisted that I would attempt to find a direct route eastwards to Ch'iu-pei. With some difficulty an inferior military officer was discovered who said he knew a track to the eastward. Next morning, however, all the bearers and coolies went on strike, saying that I was taking them into wild parts of the country, where they could get no food and where they would contract fever and die. With persuasion and argument, however, the majority of them yielded, the places of the few who refused to yield being filled by local men.
After travelling for half a day over rough hills, inhabited here and there by Lolo charcoal-burners, we came to an impasse a long steep desceut, impossible for baggage, chairs, or animals, with a river in the valley below and a difficult, if not in possible, ascent on the far side. I clambered ahead to satisfy myself that there was no way through, and after careful examination I decided to order a retreat. Mr. Chan was obviously pleased, and said that no doubt now I would overcome my prejudice to the
railway, as the road to Ami-chow was the only route left for us. But I again disap- pointed him by telling him that I proposed to go back one day's march and try eastwards again. So we returned the following day to Chu-yuan, and thence I was more successful and reached Chiu-pei in four days' stages, in spite of much opposition.
The road to Ch'in-psi was the highest part of my journey in Yünnan.
At Huang- Ji-baiso, a small village, in which we put up for the night, two stages before reaching Ch'iu-pei, the altitude above sea-level was 6,810 feet. Villages were not frequent along this route, and the majority of the villages were inhabited by Lolo "savages," who cultivated the land in the immediate vicinity of the villages, but left the steep hill-sides and the rest of the country in a state of original wildness,
At Ch'iu-pei Taoyin Ho, of Meugtzu, met me and travelled with me for the remaining eleven days to Hokow (198 miles). His bealth was far from good, and he travelled huddled up in his chair, complaining of the hardships of travel and of the weather, which was far from propitious, the heavy rains being just at the commencement of their season. He also pressed me to go to Mengtzu, there to take the train for the reat of the journey. He expressed himself anxious on my behalf because of the bands of brigands which infested the south-east corner of the province, and pointed out that if I did not tell him my route in detail, he could not clear the brigands away before our arrival; but I suggested that it would be far better to take the brigande quite unawares and to capture the whole band with the aid of our brave escort.
From Chiu-pei to Kaihua (65 miles) the country was rough and mountainous. The principal cultivation in this district is an astringent root, the local name of which is "three-seven," from the fact that the root is only useful for commercial purposes between its third and its seventh years, It is cultivated in large covered enclosures, and much care is given to its cultivation, dogs and cats being kept within the enclosures to keep down rats and other vermin which find the "san-chi" root good to eat.
At Chiang-na, one stage before Kaihua, I was unfortunate in missing by half a day only Mr. F. Brown, of the Carnegie Terrestrial Magnetisin Mission, Mr. Brown had travelled much in Yünnan this spring, and was then on his way from Bhamo to Canton, via Ssumno, Meagtzu, Kailua, Pose, Mr. Brown's route lay from west to east, I later received a letter from Mr. Brown, informing me that he had seen no opium poppy cultivation anywhere on his various route in Yünnan. The missionaries resilent at Kaihus, Messrs. Boyd and Lewer, also informed me that they frequently visited the villages on the Kaihua plain, but had seen zo opium-poppy cultivation there this spring.
Villagers on this part of my journey complained of lack of rain: the very skimpy crops testified to the state of drought which I found along a considerable tract of country in Eastern Yunnan, But the country itself is so stony and full of rocks that even with favourable weather conditions crops could never be anything but poor. Among the rough hills I occasionally saw Lolo women planting out paddy. Goitre is very prevalent in this district, especially among women. Beyond Kaihua, to Ma-kuan (40 miles), the country was still very hilly and A creat rough villages were few and far between, and cultivation thin and poor. deal of pine scrub thinly covers the country in this district. Crops now included
sugar-caue,
The rainy season was now setting in in earnest, and we were on the point of descending from the Yuunan plateau to the valleys near the Tonkin border, notorious for its fever and malaria. Coolies were daily falling out sick; and the Taoyin again endeavoured to induce me to change the route in the direction of the railway. I was abdurate, however, and by pressing ou managed to reach Hokow, 93 miles from Makuan, in four days.
fort close to the Tonkin
On the second day we reached Hsin-tien, a Chinese frontier. The height here above rea-level was 4,420 feet. Next day we coinmenced to descend, rapidly reaching tropical heat and vegetation. Putting up for the night in small Lolo village, we were able to arrive on the following evening at Hokow, which town adjoins the French town of Laokai. The inhabitants of the country between u-tien and Hokow are chiefly frontier tribes; the country is wild and uncultivated, ipt in the immediate vicinity of the villages. Some maize was being grown in the lower country.
In my direct route through Eastern Yünnan I traversed 484 miles. This does not include the excursions I made each evening from our day's destination. I saw no opium- poppy cultivation, nor did I see many signs of fields from which poppy may have been uprooted prior to my arrival. I am of opinion that in any case Eastern Yunnan is a particularly poor and arid country; that it is sparsely inhabited by a very poor type of
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