'This time of the year, rains are' not at all common. so dust now and then necessitates slow driving. The nights at the high elevations (of mile 49 8500 feet) are likely to be: cool. The scenery is often grand. indeed, reminding one of travel in Yellowstone Park or parts of Switzetland. The hills and'mountains are often timbered, pines and hard woods of various sorts being noted. Graceful bamboo later appears. and. thick Jungle ig present on either side of the road in West Yunnan and in.
Burma. Jungle and forest fires were here and there doing considerable damage. but these were generally ender control. We crossed some 2.500 bridges and culverts during the journey, all of them in good repair. 'A total of about seven thousand men be carried. At the border town of Wanting. and from there onwards gasoline is readily obtained. and of course at lower rates than in China, For safe driving, and with a convoy of four trucks, as in this case. a speed fof not to exceed 20 kilometres an hour is wise for the steep climbs and descents. Watching for trucks yoing the opposite direction at too great speed is highly important, for the sharp hair-pin and "S" turns on the arrow road do not permit much Teeway, Brakes must be Kept in good condition. Just after crossing. the Salween River on the lately replaced suspension bridge. the brakes on one of our trucks failed to work well and we were slipping towards the edge. with the great river roaring Below in its rocky gorge—but the emergency brake held, and all was well.
Tribal People Interesting It there is time, some study of the tribes people here and there is re~ warding. Superficial observation, are readily made, for the Shans, the Chins. the Kachins, ete. The regions traversed are so sparsely settled one wonders where the labour is to come from for the projected improvements of the road. Certainly the great demand for transport calls for an improved roadbed. Contracts are already let for resurfacing the road from Kunming to the Burma border, This will result In a good "tarmac road~-a surfacing which is very satis factory on most of the Burma section of the road. When this-is complete this artery of transport will become all-the-year road, If foolish drivers yield to the temptation to speed, it Will simply mean more accidents. Better mechanics and drivers are needed, though the number of serious accidents is really low. for careful Griving is obviously called for.
One feels that eventually a' much greater population can find maintenance on the land, whether in Yunnan or Burma. Terraced rice fields show how industrious is the population. Some 80 to 100 terraces were count. fed, one above the other. on some of. the hillsides, likely the result of hard labour for several generations, However, much of the terrain isto rocky oF too sleep for agriculture. Goats are present. but there Is room and feed for many more.
At the crossing of the majestic Salween one may look up and note a point of road which he is to reach some three hours later after much twisting and turning and climbing, well as after much fine scenery, Here, the engineers evidently found that the mountains and slopes had been most: carefully "arranged" so that descent to the river. and ascent after crossing was fairly easy. A like observa-ion might be made for-the.terrain at. the crossing of the Mekong River, In both places. the engineers have indeed done well. and women were at work keeping he road in repair, and making improvements. Gasoline it is usually not easy 1o get. and sufficient to get trucks to the Burma border should portion. even though the rains had Rot begun—brilliant rhododendrons often ornamented the hillsides,—as also hibiscus, bougainvillea, and many
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.