Page:Ling-Nam; or, Interior views of southern China, including explorations in the hitherto untraversed island of Hainan (IA cu31924023225307).pdf/166

 162 Ling-Nam.

hang quantities of the most delicate maiden-hair ferns. Crossing the rivér, we find in the side of a massive cliff another eave with a high stone wall obstructing the entrance. These mementoes of troublous times are full of pathetic interest. The poor people, whose life is but a struggle for existence at best, must have suffered fear- fal hardships when pursued and robbed by the desperate bands that ravaged the valley.

From the “ Fortified Cliffs” it is but a short distance to the market town of Tsing-lin, a place of several thou- sand people, and the centre of a considerable trade. A stream from the north, navigable by small boats, joins the river here. From this point our course turns almost directly south. On the right extends a ridge of iron- grey cliffs inaccessible from the river side. One is con- spicuous among the others on account. of its peculiar shape, resembling a giant thumb, extending above the line of a closed fist. On the left. a series of tower-like cliffs appear one after the other, most of them covered from base to summit with evergreen shrubs. After going six miles in a southerly direction, our course turns again to the north-west, and at the bend in its stream the river receives the waters of a small tributary from the south, the Tsat-kung creek.

A market town called Shui-hau is situated at the junction of the two streams, Following up this little stream for a short distance, we come into a district of the most varied and interesting scenery one ean find anywhere. Rocky cliffs of every shape rise cut of the plain. There are towers, and cones, and pinnacles, square and oblong pillars, rising one behind the other, their