t appeared to them that it would be an opportune time
to extort an increase of wages. They announced, therefore, that unless
extra money was given them at once they would untie the loads and leave us.

They were hardly prepared for what followed, however. Taking his Mannlicher
rifle, Roy called the _mafus_ together and told them that if any man
touched a load he would begin to shoot the mules and that if they made the
slightest resistance the gun would be turned on them. A _mafus_' mules
represent all his property and they did not relish the turn affairs had
taken. They subsided at once, but we had the loads guarded during the
night. In the morning the _mafus_ were exceedingly surprised when they
learned that we were going to Ma-li-pa and their change of front was
laughable; they were as humble and anxious to please as they had been
belligerent the night before.

The trail led over the same treeless rolling hills through which we had
passed on the previous afternoon. There was only one village, but it was
surrounded by poppy fields in full blossom. It must be a rather difficult
matter for a native living in China near the border to understand why he
should not be allowed to produce the lucrative opium while only a few yards
away, over an imaginary line, it can be planted without restriction.
Poppies seem to grow on hillsides better than on level ground. The plants
begin to blossom in late February and the petals, when about to fall, are
collected for the purpose of making "leaves" with which to cover the balls
of opium. The seed pods which are left after the petals drop off are
scarified vertically, at intervals of two or three days, by means of a
sharp cutting instrument. The operation is usually performed about four
o'clock in the afternoon, and the opium, in the form of dried juice, is
collected the next morning. When China, in 1906, forbade the consumption of
opium and the growing of poppies, it was estimated that there were from
twenty-five to thirty millions of smokers in the Empire.

We reached Ma-li-pa about one o'clock in the afternoon and found it to be a
straggling village built on two sides of a deep ravine, with a mixed
population of Shans and Chinese. It happened to be the weekly market day
and the "bazaar" was crowded. A number of Indian soldiers in khaki were
standing about, and I called out to Roy, "I wonder if any of them speak
English." Instantly a little fellow approached, with cap in hand, and said,