LI-FAN TING TO TSA-KU-LAO
The sixty _li_ from Li-fan Ting to Tsa-ku-lao (spelled by Mr. von
Rosthorn of the Imperial Customs in a letter to me Tsaku-nao) have much
the same characteristics as those of the day before. The scenery is
magnificent, and even more fantastic. Nitrate of soda, sulphur, and iron
ore abound. Sandstone has disappeared, giving place to limestone,
conglomerate, schistaceous rock, grey and pink granite, basalt, and
mica. The Siao Ho, still a full-watered and vigorous stream,
occasionally narrowed to forty feet, plunges over pink granite ledges in
a series of cataracts as the canyon opens out, and there are smooth,
green lawns, with much wealth of dwarf, crimson roses, and much gloom,
in many graves and dismal remains of Man-tze houses partially destroyed.
Some of the potholes in the river are remarkable for their size, and
still contain the smoothly-rounded stones by the action of which they
have been formed. Pine woods appeared on hill crests and on the northern
slopes of mountains.
Many Man-tze villages, now deserted, are ready for occupation, and
others in romantic situations, now occupied by Chinese, are very
striking architecturally, each with a Man-tze feudal castle piled on a
rock above it. These villages were always built at the mouths of gorges
where lateral torrents joining the Siao Ho formed alluvial fans with
arable soil enough to support small populations. The picturesque stone
houses, more like fortifications than dwellings, straggling up these
gorges, perched on ledges of rock, harmonised most artistically with the
wildness of the landscape, but it was impossible to photograph them
owing to the tremendous wind.
Four hours after leaving Li-fan we halted at the large village of
Wei-gua, with a very large lama-serai, said to contain two hundred
lamas, cresting the rock above it, and a fine castle in a dominant
position. The illustration gives the lower and unpicturesque fragment of
the village grouped round the remains of a large square tower. There we
were overtaken by two _chai-jen_, the Li-fan officials having thought
better of it, and an hour later by a third on horseback! This tardy
courtesy roused my suspicions, and Mr. Kay and his servant went on ahead
to obtain accommodation and make inquiries at Tsa-ku-lao, little
thinking that the astute Li-fan officials had sent on a messenger in the
morning to the local magistrate ordering that accommodation and
transport should be refused! To this hour I am unaware of “the reason
why.”
After Mr. Kay went on, and the horseman arrived, I endeavoured to
circumvent the _chai-jen_, for I had seen them, with much mystery, slip
a letter into his hand, after which he tried to get in front of me. I
jumped out of the chair, and set up my tripod on the narrow road, which
he could not pass, and after a long attempt at photography, baffled by
the wind, told him and the others to keep behind, and not to leave me.
The horseman kept trying to get in front, but as the path is very narrow
and mostly on the edge of a precipice, I managed to dodge him the whole
way by holding a large umbrella first on one side, and then on the
other!
A few miles from Tsa-ku-lao the _chai-jen_ managed to pass me, and began
to run towards a short cut, impassable for a chair. I sent Be-dien to
stop them, and to my surprise he outran them, collared them, and held
them till I came up, when I again ordered them behind the chair. Mr. Kay
met me, saying that neither inn nor house would give us shelter, and
that he had found that it would not do to make any inquiries about the
farther route. However, we were received by a very good inn, where the
people were very civil, and where I had an excellent room, with a large
window looking on a mountain across a clean grassed space.
[Illustration: VILLAGE OF WEI-GUA.]
Soon after I got in difficulties began. Two officials arrived, and
politely told many lies. They said that there were no places to sleep in
on the road, that the snow on the passes was forty feet deep, and
crevassed, that the tribes were fighting each other, that they were
robbers and would rob us of everything, and repeated the Li-fan lie that
the route is not in China, and that they could give us no protection. I
produced a Chinese official map, and showed them that it lay far within
the limits of the jurisdiction of the Viceroy of SZE CHUAN, and, being
fairly roused, and determined to proceed at least to Somo, I produced my
passport, telling them that it had been granted on an application made
by the English Tsung-li _yamen_ at the request of the Grand Secretary
(the Premier), and that they could see for themselves that it gave me
rank, and enjoined on all mandarins not only not to put any obstructions
in my way, but that, whether by land or water, every aid was to be
given.
I further said that if this obstruction were persisted in, I should
write a formal statement of the case to the British Consul at Chungking,
to be officially forwarded by him to the highest quarter, and that they
knew what that would mean. On the top of all, I produced the Viceroy’s
letter to the _kuans_ of Pi Hsien and Kuan Hsien. They were quite
quenched, and said they would repeat this to the mandarin, and I should
have his decision in an hour, and they bowed themselves out, taking my
passport with them.
They returned in half an hour, saying that the mandarin would send
soldiers with us to the limits of his jurisdiction, but that then we
should be among the “Barbarians.” This seemed like a victory, yet I felt
by no means sure that we should not be prevented from hiring mules, and
be delayed into returning. The next day a last effort was made to hinder
my westward progress, with a vehemence which was almost piteous,
entreaties being resorted to when threats failed, but all collapsed on a
special clause in my passport being again pointed out to these
secretaries.
Tsa-ku-lao, the outpost of Chinese officialism, is gloriously situated
at an altitude of about 6210 feet,[49] where the mountains swing apart,
and at an abrupt bend of the river there are branching valleys and
unencumbered heights. There are poplars and willows about the little
town of 400 people, and a great Man-tze tower looks through them like an
English church tower. One long, clean, narrow, and highly picturesque
street, lined with shops vending gaily-coloured articles of Chinese
manufacture, cuts the town in twain. Above it, where the houses are
piled on ledges of rock in most artistic disorder, is a very large
lama-serai, with a very quaint pagoda temple on a height above it. The
houses in the street are two and three storeys high, with carved
projecting upper rooms, and peaked roofs with deep eaves, from which
depend carved wooden drops.
At the western exit the road drops abruptly down through the picturesque
gateway seen in the illustration by 500 feet of steep stone steps to a
bridge, which connects the trading with the official town. In the latter
the _yamen_ is an interesting-looking building in pure Tibetan style,
with a Man-tze tower sixty feet high adjoining it. The population of
Tsa-ku-lao is a mixed one, and many of the children show an agreeable
departure from the Chinese physiognomy. The red woollen habits and
peaked hats of the red lamas, the varied costumes of the tribesmen who
were in the town for purposes of trade, and the thirteen differing
styles of hats, the most interesting being made of a species of lichen,
were a very pleasant variety.
An agreeable variety it was, too, that the curiosity of the people for
the first time in a journey of two years was tempered by politeness, for
each batch of would-be sightseers, always women, sent in advance to know
if I would receive them, and they always left after visits of
conventional length, remarking that I must be tired!
We spent two nights there, because the coolies heard such tales of the
road that they engaged mules to carry their loads, the bamboo over the
shoulder with its dependent burdens being unsuited to the exigencies of
mountain climbing, and the mules were away on the mountain. During that
day, in which I visited the quaint official town, and photographed the
gateway amidst a crowd of red and yellow lamas, tribesmen, and Chinese,
who fell back when they were asked to do so, I received about fifty
visitors, so that their supposition that I was tired was not far wrong.
Of this number three, obviously of the Tsa-ku-lao “upper ten,” had been
in Kuan Hsien, a few had been in Weichou, but none had been in Matang or
Somo, and they said that there were very high mountains to cross, and
that the snow was very deep. No woman could get to Somo they thought.
They had never seen a foreign woman, and Russia was the only foreign
country that they knew by name.
[Illustration: STREET OF TSA-KU-LAO.]
Fine, strong, comely, healthy-looking women they were, with pleasant
faces and manners, and minds narrowed to the interests of Tsa-ku-lao.
Some of their children were really pretty. The court of the inn was
always full of red and yellow lamas, muleteers in picturesque jackets
and leggings, and hats like _sombreros_, Tibetans in sheepskins, and
tribesmen whose physiognomies showed a complete departure from the
Mongolian type. It was altogether exciting, and the keen air was bracing
and stimulating. The picturesqueness of the little outpost town in the
brilliant sunshine and under the clear blue sky was fascinating, and the
friendliness and politeness of the people created a new atmosphere which
it was pleasant to breathe. The sun went down in glory and colour, there
was a perfect blaze of stars in the purple sky, and the mercury fell to
the freezing point. The “Beyond” beckoned, and though I knew that the
travelling arrangements must break down from their inherent
unsuitability, I fell asleep prepared to follow.