What a wealth of flowers was our portion, even though the rains had not begun—brilliant rhododendrons often ornamented the hillsides, as also hibiscus, bougainvillea, and many other flowers quite new to the writer. Cactus is here and there trained into effective fences, or used wall and house protection. Some was noted on the Paoshan city wall that must have been growing there for several generations. Till reaching Burma, temples and shrines are not numerous, Cattle are generally used as beasts of burden. and they seem efficient, "Malaria is "enemy number one" of these portions of Yunnan and Burma. Some progress is being made in the control of this disease. and. after all, there are often not so many mosquitoes of the dangerous varieties as is supposed. At Chefang. for example, we learned that though the authorities have found some seventy varieties of mosquitoes there, only the Anopheles minimus is causing malaria in that region. This greatly simplifies the problem of control.
Some three hundred trucks a day (half in each direction) were on a given section of the road, but this cannot be taken as a basis for determining the amount of business being done, for gasoline has to form a considerable part of each load. Goitre is very prevalent in West Yunnan. perhaps one out of every four (men and women) being afflicted with this disease. Almost nothing is being Gone in the way of prevention. but definite plans are mooted by the health authorities.
Our party elected to travel from Lashio to Rangoon by truck. though the train is rather quicker, as it travels by night as well as day. This wart of Burma is indeed flat—a very important rice-producing area. The thermometer went up to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, but it is a dry heat that is fairly tolerable.
Chungking to Rangoon in fifteen days did not seem long. though the stops in various cities doubled the time. With a week to spare we catch our boat to Hongkong and have faith of trust thata boat will be there waiting to take us to the United States. We are "out" of China once more, having been privileged to exit by this new front dcor—symbol of faith and courage in a new. and greater China that is in the making.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.