We ascended the steep incline opposite, and passed the likin barrier, but at a turn in the road, higher still in the mountain, a woman emerged from her cottage and blocked our path.

Nor could the chair pass till my foremost bearer had reluctantly given her a string of cash.
"With money you can move the gods," say the Chinese; "without it you can't move a man." For miles we mounted upwards.

We were now in Yunnan, "south of the clouds"-- in Szechuen we were always under the clouds--the sun was warm, the air dry and crisp.

Ponies passed us in long droves; often there were eighty ponies in a single drove.

All were heavily laden with copper and lead, were nozzled to keep them off the grass, and picked their way down the rocky path of steps with the agility and sureness of foot of mountain goats.