coming, for the populace was out _en masse_ to greet us and
lined the streets three deep. It was a veritable triumphal entry and crowds
of men and children followed us for half a mile outside the town, running
beside our horses and staring with saucer-like eyes.

On the second day from Shih-tien we climbed a high mountain and wound down
a sharp descent for about 4,000 feet into a valley only 2,300 feet above
sea level. We had been cold all day on the ridges exposed to a biting wind
and had bundled ourselves into sweaters and coats over flannel shirts.
After going down about 1,000 feet we tied our coats to the saddle pockets,
on the second thousand stripped off the sweaters, and for the remainder of
the descent rode with sleeves rolled up and shirts open at the throat. We
had come from mid-winter into summer in two hours and the change was most
startling. It was as though we had suddenly ridden into an artificially
heated building like the rooms for tropical plants at botanical gardens.

Our camp was on a flat plain just above the river where we had a splendid
view of the wide valley which was like the bottom of a well with high
mountains rising abruptly on all sides. It was a place of strange
contrasts. The bushes and trees were in full green foliage but the grass
and paddy fields were dry and brown as in mid-winter. The thick trees at
the base of the hills were literally alive with doves but there were few
mammal runways and our traps yielded no results. That night a muntjac, the
first we had heard, barked hoarsely behind the tents.

The _yamen_ "soldier" who accompanied us from Shih-tien delivered his
official dispatch at the village (Ma-po-lo) which lies farther down the
valley. The magistrate, who proved to be a Shan native, arrived soon after
with ten or twelve men and we discovered that there was but one man in the
village who spoke Chinese.

The magistrate at Ma-po-lo by no means wished to have the responsibility of
our safety thrust upon him and consequently assured us that there were
neither game nor hunters in this village. Although his anxiety to be rid of
us was apparent, he was probably telling the truth, for the valley is so
highly cultivated (rice), and the cover on the mountain-sides so limited,
that it is doubtful if much game remains.

In the morning the entire valley was filled with a dense white fog but we
climbed out of it almost immediately, and by noon were back again in winter
on the summits