p with much effort and
sawn into boards which are in great request for the ponderous Chinese
coffins. It would seem as though the supply must be inexhaustible, for
when Sir Alexander Hosie came this way, a generation ago, he noted the
same traffic and received the same explanation. With the prohibition of
the poppy, the region has for the moment little export trade, while the
imports seem to consist mainly of military supplies for the Chien-ch'ang
garrisons. However, the road is in unusually good condition, for the
whole way from Teng-hsiang-ying to Yueeh-hsi, our next stop, a distance
of perhaps thirty-five miles, is well paved with broad flags. As we drew
near to the town the valley opened a little, affording a glimpse of a
snow peak to the north, while toward the southeast we look up a narrow
gorge into Lololand, the border being but some fifteen miles away. This
is almost the only break in the flanking hills that wall in the
Forbidden Land. Yueeh-hsi itself lies in the centre of a rock-strewn
plain broken by a few rice-and maize-fields, and is important as a
military post guarding the trade route against this easy way of attack.
The best room of the inn smelt to heaven, but on investigation I found
an open loft which proved very possible after ejecting a few fowls.

The following day our march led us through a narrow valley bare of
people and cultivation. Following this was a welcome change to steep
climbs over grass-covered slopes broken by picturesque ravines. I tried
to get a picture of a coolie, bearing a huge nine-foot-long coffin
plank, whom we overtook on the trail. A handful of cash and cigarettes
won his consent, but in spite of my men's efforts to calm his fears,
the poor fellow cringed and trembled so, as I got my camera into
position, that I gave it up. I felt as I might feel if I kicked a dumb
animal.

Our night's stop was at Pao-an-ying,--like so many other hamlets of this
region, little more than a camp-village, and showing its origin in the
termination "ying" or "jin," meaning regiment. My room at the inn looked
out directly on the street, and there was neither quiet nor privacy to
be had, so I went out for a walk, escorted by a soldier and a coolie.
Discovering a secluded screened place in a graveyard, I fell asleep on
the top of a tomb, and my men near by did the same; but presently I was
awakened by Jack's barking, to find myself the centre of a crowd of some
fifty men silently watching me, and d