fall of between 5000 and 6000 feet in sixteen miles. Moreover, rising in rugged defiance in front of us was another range, the lowest point in which touched upwards of 7000 feet. "Talk of railways by this route," ejaculated Sir Alexander Hosie when he reached the valley of the Niu-lan twenty years before; "as well talk of railways to the moon "—and I felt moved to agree with him.
At the summit of the pass looking down upon the Niu-lan river, where two or three miserable hovels stood huddled together, were posted imperial proclamations, in accordance with the Chifu Agreement arising out of the murder of Mr Margary in 1875, adjuring the people to be civil and friendly to foreigners. The people of Chiang-ti, the village on the precipitous banks of the Niu-lan at which I was to halt for the night, showed their friendship for me by refusing the messenger, whom I had sent on, accommodation, and intimating that they wished to have no truck with the "foreign devil." The official at Chao-t'ung Fu, either by accident or by design, had omitted to send me the customary escort, and with-
