ass 10,000 feet high and descended abruptly
into a long marshy plain where at the far end were the gray outlines of
Li-chiang dimly visible against the mountains.

Wu and I galloped ahead to find a temple for our camp, leaving Heller and
my wife to follow. A few pages from her journal tell of their entry into
the city.

We rode along a winding stone causeway and halted on the outskirts of
the town to wait until the caravan arrived. Neither Roy nor Wu was in
sight but we expected that the _mafus_ would ask where they had gone
and follow, for of course we could not speak a word of the language.
Already there was quite a sensation as we came down the street, for our
sudden appearance seemed to have stupefied the people with amazement.
One old lady looked at me with an indescribable expression and uttered
what sounded exactly like a long-drawn "Mon Dieu" of disagreeable
surprise.

I tried smiling at them but they appeared too astonished to appreciate
our friendliness and in return merely stared with open mouths and eyes.
We halted and immediately the street was blocked by crowds of men,
women, and children who poured out of the houses, shops, and
cross-streets to gaze in rapt attention. When the caravan arrived we
moved on again expecting that the _mafus_ had learned where Roy had
gone, but they seemed to be wandering aimlessly through the narrow
winding streets. Even though we did not find a camping place we
afforded the natives intense delight.

I felt as though I were the chief actor in a circus parade at home, but
the most remarkable attraction there could not have equaled our
unparalleled success in Li-chiang. On the second excursion through the
town we passed down a cross-street, and suddenly from a courtyard at
the right we heard feminine voices speaking English.

"It's a girl. No, it's a boy. No, no, can't you see her hair, it's a
girl!" Just then we caught sight of three ladies, unmistakably
foreigners although dressed in Chinese costume. They were Mrs. A. Kok,
wife of the resident Pentecostal Missionary, and two assistants, who
rushed into the street as soon as they had determined my sex and
literally "fell upon my neck." They had not seen a white woman since
their arrival there four years ago and it seemed to them that I had
suddenly dropped from the sky.

While we were talking Wu