The Liklang mountains form no small part of the picturesque beauty of distant Yunnan, which were topped for the first time recently by a. party the Ford tri-mot for plane Kunming. closely related to the Tibetans who call them Jung. Since the close of the Han Dynasty about 24 A.D. they have dwelt in these regions where they later created a kingdom known as Yiehhsichao, and which during! the Tang Dynasty, 618-906 A.D., formed the sixth of the confer ate kingdom of Nanchao or the southern Kingdom, then independent of China proper. ' For many centuries. this tribe was ruled by Ils own kings, who after they were conquered by Kublai Khan in 1253 A.D, were recognized the Mongol, as well as Ming and Tsing Dynasties as the Tuszu or native chiefs of the virile, sturdy tribe, Voluntarily they gave up their independence in 1723 A.D, and invited the Chinese to rule them.
It was rhy privilege to explore this region for plants and to study this friendly and interesting tribe since! 1922. "They followed me to the far distant 'Kokonor on foot from Yan-' nan actes Szechuen and Kansu to' the very borders of Chinese Turkestan. Always I returned to Likiang for the region as a head~ Quarter was unsurpassed, From here we could branch out, explore Tsarong in southeastern Tibet, the mighty gorges of the Yalung River, the Lama Kingdom of Mull, and the Tibetan bandit territory of Konkaling to the north of the Likiang snow range.
Tt was in 1928, while exploring for the National Geographic Society of Washington, D.C, that we twier circumambulated "the three mighty' peaks 22,000 feet in height, and known'
the peaks of Konkaling. They are situated far to the north of the Yangtze loop, and are surrounded by swift rivers such as the Shouchu, or Iron River, lowing in terrific gorges at their feet, Far to the northeast of these peaks is the now famous Minyagkonka range with its many mighty crags above, there lay eternal snow and ice.
Mlness befell. me and 1 had to turn to the civilized world, Partly restored I returned again to Ygnnan to write the frst volumes of my studies which are about to be published by the French Book store of Peiping. They are entirely devoted to this region and comprise th? history and geography of the ancient Nekhi kingdom. This task completed vented once more to visit my old haunin so eopeually the snow vanes and the mighty Yangtze gorge. Physical conditions "did not permit me to journey forth as in my younger days, when to reach Likiang it took twenty days on horseback, and thence fo and through the gorge another nine days not reckoning the return journey to Likiang.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.