and in fact everything about us, but were
generally shy and decidedly less offensive in their curiosity than the
Chinese of the larger inland towns to whom foreigners are by no means
unknown. As a matter of fact we have found that our white skins, light
eyes, and hair are a never failing source of interest and envy to almost
all Orientals.

Yvette usually excited the most curiosity, especially among the women, and
as she wore knickerbockers and a flannel shirt there were times when the
determination of her sex seemed to call forth the liveliest discussion. Her
long hair, however, usually settled the matter, and when the women had
decided the question of gender satisfactorily they often made timid, and
most amusing, advances. One woman said she greatly admired her fair
complexion and asked how many baths she took to keep her skin so white.
Another wondered whether it was necessary to ever comb her hair and almost
everyone wished to feel her clothes and shoes. She always could command
more attention than anyone else by her camera operations, and a group would
stand in speechless amazement to see her dodge in and out of the portable
dark room when she was developing photographs or loading plates.

We made arrangements to go with a number of the Lolos to a spot fifteen
miles away on the Chung-tien road to hunt wapiti (probably _Cervus
macneilli_) which the natives call _maloo_. Our American wapiti, or elk, is
a migrant from Asia by way of the Bering Strait and is probably a relative
of the wapiti which is found in Central Asia, China, Manchuria and Korea.

At present these deer are abundant in but few places. Throughout the
Orient, and especially in China, the growing horns when they are soft, or
in the "velvet," are considered of great medicinal value and, during the
summer, the animals are trapped and hunted relentlessly by the natives. In
Yuen-nan, when we were there, a pair of horns were worth $100 (Mexican).

Thanksgiving morning dawned gray and raw with occasional flurries of
haillike snow, but we did not heed the cold, for the trail led over two
high ridges and along the rim of a tremendous gorge. To the south the white
summits of the Snow Mountain range towered majestically above the
surrounding peaks and, in the gray light, the colors were beautiful beyond
description. To the north we could see heavily wooded mountain slopes
interspersed with open parklike meadows--splendid wapiti country.

Our tents were pitche