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Show 334 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE W# J^%$P^*UZ Talifu-a WTurngchwarip * *5f! % ' Jj /KWBICHtiWJ |Y^l) ^ X A / i y i V ' %'.. V '%• v YLinrLarifir i £ " ""-Authors route *il..r. V.V^ ' ft O JO IO0 150 2QO STATUTE MILES Drawn by C E. Riddiford A SKETCH MAP OF THE AUTHOR'S ROUTE The trip described by Dr. Rock began at Tungchwan, north of Yiinnanfu, and bore northward to. Choni, from which base the explorer hopes to encircle the main peaks of the Amne Machin Range. He expects to return to Tao-chow in November or December. our besiegers were still outside but no shot had been fired. At dawn there was not a bandit to be seen! They had vanished. The people of Yichehsun begged me not to leave, saying that if I departed with the soldiers the robbers would come and burn the village the next night. I replied that I could not remain indefinitely, and that my presence was only an incentive for an attack. We had come to the conclusion that the people of Yicheh-siin intended to turn me and my caravan over to the brigands as a sort of peace offering on condition that the latter would leave the village alone. As day broke the order to proceed was given. The people said, "Oh, the bandits went ahead to a terrible mountain pass called Yakoutang and there they will intercept you!" This I had feared myself, but, save for a rear attack by a band of robbers on that day's march, we reached Chaotung without further molestation. The mandarin of Chaotung, in the meantime, having heard that I was surrounded by brigands, had immediately dispatched 250 soldiers to the rescue. They came too late to be of assistance; we met them one day out of Chaotung. WOLVES RAID A GRAVE AT THE AUTHOR'S DOOR In Chaotung I was ill, and also delayed by blizzards which lasted 11 days and made travel impossible. I camped in an ancient temple outside the city walls. It was a lonely place, my only neighbors being the occupants of a few graves just beyond the temple walls. It was bitterly cold and I had to pitch my tent in the one long room in the temple proper among the idols; the roof was defective and the snow came through. It was, indeed, a miserable place. Charcoal was impossible to get, as the people from the outlying villages did not come in, owing to the heavy snow. A few days before my arrival a burial had taken place near my temple, and there was a new grave just beyond the wall. One moonlight night wolves came to the temple door and howled for hours. I was afraid that they might jump over the low walls and attack us. but they contented themselves with digging up the newly buried man and devouring him. All we found the next morning were a few blue rags and the open coffin. I was glad to resume my journey. For days we waded through snow, and the mules had great difficulty going over narrow, icy trails which led through terrific canyons. BRIGAND CHIEF PROVES TO BE IDEAL ESCORT I had a peculiar military escort from Chaotung on. My soldiers were former bandits, whose chief, a famous brigand, had accepted employment with the Yunnan Government and undertook to escort parties through territory infested by robbers |