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 174 Ling-Nant.

etc. Among the trees are birds of gay plumage, not seen further down the river; small deer sometimes come down to the river’s brink, and the call of the partridge is heard incessantly on the hills. A mile or two more, and we are at Lung-so-t’am, noted for the three foaming waterfalls that pour over the north bank of the river at this point. Summer and winter'their melodious dashing never ceases, only they are increased to six or eight when the water is plentiful. The stream from which they come flows down a little ravine, over which the footpath leading to Lien-chow passes, On its banks are several incense mills, and near its source a village in a pic- turesque position high up on the hill.

Half a mile from Lung-so-t’am we enter the Yeung-tiu, or “Sheep Leap” Pass, the most remarkable and beautiful of all the passes on the river. It deserves a longer study than is usually given it in the hurried journey up or down the river. It is, perhaps, less than a mile in length, and through it the river flows in a narrow channel, obstructed in places by heaps of fallen rock, the sheer walls rising up a hundred feet and more. They are not merely perpendicular, but: overhang the water in many places, the sides converging, so that a mountain sheep bounding in full career might possibly clear the chasm ata leap.. The rocks of the sides are of a peculiar forma- tion, being in all’ sorts of fantastic shapes. The whole pass looks as if some subterranean cavern had been rent open, and all the strange shapes that we regard as the peculiar characteristics.of caves had been thrown open to the light of day. The formation is chiefly of caleife- vous rocks, and queer mushroom-shaped projections, over