Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/227

Rh schemes for land communication from Burma cheerfully and without due consideration of all the circumstances against the natural inlet into Western China provided by the Yang-tsze, take note of this.

On the fourth day we crossed the boundary between the two provinces. The Ta-kuan river bored its way through crumpled gorges, cultivation appeared only in tiny patches, and steep slopes of cactus and rank grass took the place of the terraced hillsides of Ssŭch'uan. The district was said to be infested by robbers, who find this wild borderland of three provinces—Ssŭch'uan, Yün-nan and Kuei-chow—a convenient field for carrying on their predatory occupation. And as if to confirm the rumours with which we were regaled, there in front of us, on rounding a corner, appeared three brigands in the flesh, heavily chained and travelling under escort of three rugged soldiers to the little town of Ta-kuan, where, so we were informed, several executions had already taken place.

Lao-wa-t'an consists simply of a long straggling street, at the end of which the