Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/525

Rh some two hundred feet into the rocky bed of the rushing stream, up whose course we were wending our way in search of a cool haven from the heat of the plains. As we journeyed, the sun rose, the cool of the morning gave way to the heat of the on-coming day, and we earned our ascent, if not our bread, by the sweat not only of our brow, but of back and thigh as well.

The toilsome ascent proved too much to allow the journey to be continued without a rest at Killing, and we succumbed to the sleep-inducing effects of the mountain air of central China. Killing is a long valley, with three side valleys, running about northwest and southeast,

and from the eastern slope, through the gap at the upper end and over the backs of the gigantic elephant-like hills that form the western slope, magnificent sunsets are to be seen. Here a concession has been granted so that foreign residents may have a retreat from the summer heat of the lower land, and some eight hundred people of various nationalities annually find refreshment in this valley. The bungalows are all simple, yet comfortable, one-story affairs, most of them of hewn stone taken from the adjacent hills which stand bare to view, the only attempt at covering being stubby foliage of no great beauty and of little height. While resting here we made a half clay's excursion along one spur of the Lü Shan, down to where several water-driven incense mills were