Page:Ling-Nam; or, Interior views of southern China, including explorations in the hitherto untraversed island of Hainan (IA cu31924023225307).pdf/130

 126 * Ling-Nam.

the pass on the north, and turn to take a last look, a magnificent eagle of enormous proportions, with out- stretched wings, its head in the attitude of listening, appears on the mountains to the east. It is a striking likeness, but must be seen from a particular point to reveal the exact picture.

Above the Blind Boy’s Pass we enter a limestone region, where cliffs of most varied and striking shapes. appear on either hand. A new and richly variegated vegetation is seen, and remarkable caves in the rocks add to the charm of novelty, From the natives we hear of wonderful: caverns in some of the hills to the inland, as yet but partially explored. And marvellous stories are told of the experience of daring spirits who have at- tempted the task; of hidden treasures guarded by unseen spirits; of maidens changed to fairies as they entered these mysterious chambers; of secret granaries, which in time of famine pour forth, throngh crevices of the rock, supplies of grain for the starving people.

We can give but a hasty glance at the many attractive cliffs as we direct our steps toward the famous Pik-lok Tunnel, three miles back from the west bank of the stream. Beyond the bamboo groves that line the river, and the rice plain that intervenes with its little villages and houses closely packed together, over the rolling pasture land, where flocks of white goats and small cattle are feeding, we come to a remarkable natural bridge joining the rugged limestone cliffs. A perpendicular wall of whitish xock, five hundred feet high, glistens in the sun as we approach, at the base of which is the tunnel, about fifty feet wide and thirty in height at the eastern