The Chienchang valley forms the main avenue between Szechuan and Yunnan. There is considerable traffic along this highway and much of the produce exchanged between the two provinces travels along this well-known road. The Chienchang valley itself is quite famous for iron, copper and wood. Geographically, the valley forms a veritable deathtrap to harmless, unsuspecting Chinese. You would imagine that the Tung, flowing south, would continue to do so and travel down this valley, but no, like the Yalung and the Yangtze, the Tung, after flowing south, heads east for Shanghai. Physically and geographically, you would imagine that these great rivers would continue down through Yunnan to the sea, but no, east is east, so east they go. The Chien-chang valley, therefore, ig without the influence of this important. river.
The attraction of this valley to the Chinese is the fact that it will grow rice, produce iron and supply vegetables. The dangers are ignored and the constant inroads made by the Lolos are soon forgotten. During the present year, 23 villages have been burned down aid.1,700 Chinese have been carried away captive by the Lolos. Dr, Smith, the Swedish botanist, travelled along this road and he said the sight of burned, pillaged and depopulated villages was simply deplorable. He passed village after village that had boom looted and the inhabitants carried of en musso to the mountains to be slaves and' sarvants to the wealthy Lolos.
The Chienchang valley is bounded on the west by the high, rugged mountains of Tibet, and on the East by the inaccessible mountains of the Lolo. That the Chinese wil] persist in inhabitating and repopulating this wild and dangerous valley shows indeed their wonderful powers of patience and endurance. It is simply marvellous how these villages are built up again by the Chinese and business goes on as before. The courage, virility and perseverance of the inhabitants is really amazing. The story is told of the Lolos stealthily approaching a lonely Chinese dwelling. The parents were working in the fields and only the children were in the home. As the Lolos approached the doorway of the house, two of the trumpets and the Lolo, thinking Trumpet thinkii that Chinese soldiers must be in the place made, good their escape. Unfortunately, this only happens every time you hear about it. The general rule is plunder, fire and cap-The Lolos, through their ceedingly wealthy and the Chinese lo in opium, are becoming ex-
captives, we hear, are well treated.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.