Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/230

168 distance caused by a big bend in the river. Henceforth pack-ponies competed with coolies, and not far from the summit of the pass towards which we were climbing, an unwary animal with a load of copper lost his footing on the stone-paved track, which was rendered as slippery as ice by mist and rain, and crashed head foremost down the hillside. A descent on the far side, similar to the ascent, brought us back to the Ta-kuan river, and to the little hamlet of Tou-sha-kuan, where I spent the night. All round, grey-blue limestone rose in sharp fantastic peaks, closing in the valley and defying even a Chinaman to cultivate their slopes. There is, indeed, little to appeal to the casual traveller along this route, and for four more days I experienced the monotony of the barren defiles of the Ta-kuan river, halting for the nights at the villages of Chi-li-pu, Ta-wan-tzu, and Ta-kuan Ting.

About ten miles beyond Ta-kuan Ting we were confronted with a steep hillside, walling in the end of the valley, at the foot of which the river issued from a subterranean