aki Becoling, are the head retues. worn by the women Foochow, "three formidable-lookin silver di the origin Mae Floyd many, legends. His own, favourite
were atten la pontile the Bay colors. The men of Foochow decimated. "But'the women rex fused to have anything to: do. with their conectorn and atate heme Selves with daggers for self-protec: for. Bury in'time, they reached the conclusion that's five, men another. race waa preferable. to 8 dead one of their "own and. they Sllowel themselves to be wooed and on, Bat they ni wetanee silver fong been ground to a razor edge fuplcates of the daggers. that
wore them in their hair, pet hhaps to remind their new husbands that they were not tobe tried perhaps, be pardoned in their enthusiasm, they exa gerate the true facts, but there are streams in central China far more Deautiful, as for example the Ching] iver which empties into the Yangtze just below Ichang.
The Yangtze Surpassed On the other hand this is in a measure made up for by the wonderfal country that one comes upon in some of the upper tributaries. Some 15 li short of Chi-Shi-Kai the river splits, one branch going on to Chungan while another turns south to the important tea market of! Chun-Shun Kai, and up this gorge! is some of' the most Te-markable geological formation. that it has ever been my. rood fortune to witness. The district is known as the Bohea Hills, snd the promontories that rise out of the water are, in fact, as far as concerns mere ' altitude, nothing, mote than hills, but for sheer wal towering crags, rushing waters and sudden twists and turns this region Weany Fnox ForLoWING "THIn BARNEN SEAS OF WANDERING FOAM op. THE MIN Riven, "AJAX" AND BIB FRIENDS TAKE 2 Convantinr nart—"Esploration in Pubien". surpasses anything that I tave ever seen and, in comparison, the Yang-{ze gorges fade into insignifeance, Te is most unfortun passed through this wwe were being deluged with rain and fany photography out of the question. I take a few still exposures with the Sept which give some iden of the extremely rugged geological forma. tion but fall far' short of doing justice to the extraordinary rugged ness of the country. The district is simply full of caves and an ex-[edition that could remain some time there would undoubtedly be able to secure" some most interesting} specimens of Chiroptera or the order of bats.
The Land of Bohea The whole industry of the upper: Min is tea, For several months in. tthe year the whole region is sparsely, settled by scattered mountaineers; who pass their time in hunting and] fishing. But when the tea leaves are prime, hoards of coolies come over; the mountain passes from Kiangsi and many of the hill sides are covered with busy pickers, while in the houses busy fingers are constantly; at work sorting and grading the ves for the market, ver towns become of trade where buyers from all over the country congregate to buy up the crop as it is brought down from, the mountains. The tea of Kuatun, and more especially from the Bohea! hills district is famous all. over China for its quality, and in the old days when the clipper ships used to ice home from Foochow with their: valuable cargoes of len hole crop from these districts was, reserved for the exclusive use of the royal family in Peking. Now, however, anyone with a long enough purse and a nice taste in tea may enjoy a cup of this priceless brew.
Too Much Weather In passing through any country one is usually impressed by some outstanding feature, and if there is fan outstanding feature to Fokien 1 should say that it is the weather. T have never seen so much unadulferated weather to the square inch any other part of the earth's surface and, if one travels in that country during any months but September, October or November, he should go well prepared with waterproof coats and blankets. 'The rai begins early in January and carries Tight through to the following September with scarcely an' i eruption. Such conditions are aisconcerting at any time, but wh one's particular busine: the taking of photographs collection of zoological specimens, it may well be imagined that. the language in camp was at times somewhat profane. It has but one savantage," which is that ther} should never be a lack for a topic of conversation and I dake it, that the two chief occupations of* tie Fokienese must be brigandage and 'a discussion of the weather.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.