As we left the Chengtu plain, behind us, the folds became ever drier and parched again, and the crops Jooked entirely withered up, About hoor, we crossed by ferry at Mionyang, a branch of the Kialing River, enters the Yangtze at Chung-King. "From here on the road enters the mountains and sti! climbing begins again. We passed through the small town of Welcheng, a centre of the silk industry, as was apparent {from the number of large flat baskets with cocoons lying everywhere, even in the middle of the street from Where they had to be removed before the ear could proceed, Early in the afternoon we, climbed 0. the picturesque pass" of Chichukuan (Seven Windings Pass) "which is famous in Chinese history. The modern motor-road follows here the old strategical highway. between Shensi and Szechuen, and for the rest of the day the road ran for long stretches between avenues of beautl-{ul old cedars which ure said to have beer, planted in Ming times Somewhere up on' these heights, for the first and only time during' my trip, T nearly collided head-on. with lether vehicle, That is one of the minor excitements of hill-climbing on these roads; and considering the thousands of bends Thad rounded and the number of buses and lorries one meets on the road, T was lucky Between Chengtu and nanchang ing of remorse. Tt was their own fault, and anyhow I remembered Incident quite early on in my tri when T had tried to pass a bus on a wide road and had been purposely forced into the bank, We were now all, square.
About six in the evening we ar-relyed at the small walled town of Chienkou. It les immediately "on the motor-road, but steps led up to Its gates, so that there was no ques-lon of faking the car inside, There. was still another hour and a half of daylight, but I was very uncertain Jabout the road ahead and, on the principle of a "bird in the hand," de elded to make the best of the ope Platform in. front of the bus-station which "the bus people very "kindly Placed at my disposal. Chienkou, about 180 miles from. Chengtu and. ight stages by chair, must have been a very remote and inacegssible place In the old days, completely cut off from' the outside world. That no longer holds good to-day.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.