Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/231

Rh passage. At the summit of this natural barrier we were at last clear of the prison valley of the Ta-kuan Ho, and on the rim of the great central plateau of Yün-nan. The sun shone from a clear sky, and behind and below us we looked back upon the grey pall of cloud which broods over the lower regions of Ssŭch'uan. We were, in all truth, at last in Yün-nan—the land "south of the clouds." Two miles over a flat, peaty, grass-covered tableland, hedged in between ranges of mountains, brought us to the tiny village of Wu-chai, 6000 feet above the sea. From here, a march of about twenty-two miles over a level plain, except for one mountain-ridge of no very great height, brought me on the morrow to Chao-t'ung Fu, a moderate-sized town situated in the centre of an agricultural plain. I made the distance from Sui Fu 160 miles—but 160 miles of gaping chasm and frowning precipice, which it had taken us twelve days to cover. Here I was hospitably entertained by Dr and Mrs Savin of the Bible Christian Mission, and right glad I was to find myself