ter a few hours walking and riding downstream we reached the confluence with the Yalungchiang, the same river that we had crossed by boat at Hokou, the same deeply in cised stream cutting an immense gorge with very steep walls, little vegetation, and a yellowish-brown in colour with an almost pea-soup con: sistency—true daughter of the turbid Yangtze. The Yalung was followed upstream for a few miles, a halt was made for lunch and, a few li from there the valley widened and on broad terraces was much cultivation and a couple of fairly large settlements. Here we had our first experience of crossing a raging torrent in a circular yak-skin boat, or coracle. The horses were forced to swim across, being pelted with stones when they hesitated, but we enjoyed being whirled down and across stream at a good 20 miles an hour to Mahsii.
The next day we passed up the steepest tributary valley we had so far encountered, leading out of the Yalung gorge. Soon we struck woodland, gay with wild roses, elderberry, wild cherry and countless varieties of -wild flowers. At the head of this valley we passed through a forest of matted and tangled scrub oak, whose branches supported great hanging masses of grey-green moss. It was like an enchanted wood from the brush of Arthur Rackham. And so we reached the high grasslands once again, but not without the loss of a mule that hence forward wai incapable of carrying a load, like the aged white horse that has exhausted itself a few days out from Tachienlu, and still followed us, riderless, with dropping head and sad eyes.
It seemed that we should never cease climbing, but the splendid view. we enjoyed the higher we went made the climb less exhausting, That night we camped at a height that must have been near 17,000 ft., the highest figure we were to reach for a camp during the whole trip. I have not yet reduced my enormous numbers of aneroid values, and so as yet it is not possible to give the true height. In the valley below great herds of yak were pasturing, looking, as they moved, and from a distance, for all the world like a battalion of strange beetles.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.