The Chinese authorities on the border show themselves most friendly to these expeditions and are quite prepared to help when that is neces sary. This expedition comes on to the frontier with the benediction of Gen.
Shang and with the help and sympathy of the local authorities. And without these very little could be done, The caravan is at present in the hands of the wild Washus, oF
Washe nomadic tribe, with its headquarters at Litang, Ah-den is a not fable gute on one side of Litang and Drale Guncho is a notorious figure on the other. However, trilbys and Searfs and field glasses' will see the expedition safely through the boulder country and when in times of extreme Sanger the party is quite pre pared to fight its way through.
"The last word from Mandeville and Roubin was from Yachow. After a journey full of discouragement and. adventure they abandoned the Nightmare at a small village called Lenchi on the Tung. The Nightmare was launched at Wa-si-kow, twenty miles below Tachienlu, and from there the two Shanghai men sailed her part of the way to the bridge at Luting. Once, when lowering her down a rapid, she nearly got loose, Roubin shouted "Thank God" while Mandeville used quite different terms. After a journey full of excitement and adventure the Nightmare was pulled ashore at the bridge where the {wo travellers were kindly entertained by the local inhabitants, At the bridge Mandeville and Roubin were informed that. the river was impossible and that the attempt to reach Shanghai by water should be given up. This, how= ever, they were not prepared to do. Roubin had put his fare to Shanghai into the Nightmare and he was prepared, if possible, 10 get it out Two days rest at Luting saw the Nightmare once more in the waters of the Tung. But the-skin boat was now beginning to show sings of wear and tear. Serious scratches on the back of the yak when the skin was alive was a different proposition to the scratches now Feceived on the rough rocks the bed of the Tung. An ulterior paten was no Use as it kept one man at the Dumps while the other avoided more scratches. Against the love and affection of the people of Luting, the Nightmare was put in the river and the adventure continued as far as Lenchi. There is a French priest at Luting and one at Lenchi, Pere Valour gave them his help and advice at Luting, but Roubin and 'Mandeville were on their way to Shanghai, 'At' Lenchi, however, the Tung spoke "in very strong languai forcing the two boys to reconsider their adventure. Letting in con siderable water, the seventeen feet takin boat was not all it was cracked to be, Bruises and scratches and Dumps, too, had left serious marks on the poor yak hide. What was to be done? Shanghai was more than 2,000 miles away and that was quite long distance to carry a skin boat and $00 catties of Tibetan curios. A consultation took place. Roubin was eputed to examine the road while Mandeville surveyed the river below Lenchi. Unanimity determined the two men to. abandon the friendly Nightmare and proceed on their own legs to Yachow and Kiating.
"Good-bye" to Companion Affection is a peculiar thing and the cremation of Sam McGee was no less pathetic than the burial of the Nightmare. Affectionately she was carried to the cliff above the Tung known as Fu-er-ngai and there "Good-bye" was said to the faithful companion. She plunged over the lift, bruising herself on the way Gown, making a desperate splash in the waters of the Tung. The two Shanghai men watched her settle down and as darkness covered the scene the last they saw of the Nightmare she wag Gilling with water and slowly drifting down the 'Mandeville's discovery was that the Tung below Lenchi' was simply impassable, the river at one point falling about 100 feet in 200 yards, and immense boulders sticking up at dangerous points. To have adventured below Lenchi in the present high state of the river would have been sheer folly and the two men acted wisely in avoiding the river
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.