nese to emigrate into Tibet and consequently they never are there in
sufficient numbers to influence the Tibetans around them. A similar cause
has preserved some of the low-lying Shan states from absorption, the heat
in this case being the reason that the Chinese do not settle there.

CHAPTER XXIII

WESTWARD TO THE MEKONG RIVER

During the night of December 4, there was a heavy fall of snow and in the
morning we awoke to find ourselves in fairyland. We were living in a great
white palace, with ceiling and walls of filmy glittering webs. The long,
delicate strands of gray moss which draped themselves from tree to tree and
branch to branch were each one converted into threads of crystal, forming a
filigree lacework, infinitely beautiful.

It was hard to break camp and leave that silver palace, for every vista
through the forest seemed more lovely than the one before, but we knew that
another fall of snow would block the passes and shut us out from the Mekong
valley. The _mafus_ even refused to try the direct route across the
mountains to Wei-hsi and insisted on going southward to the Shih-ku ferry
and up the Yangtze River on the main caravan route.

It was a long trip and we looked forward with no pleasure to eight days of
hard riding. The difficulty in obtaining hunters since leaving the Snow
Mountain had made our big game collecting negligible although we had
traveled through some excellent country. The Mekong valley might not be
better but it was an unknown quantity and, whether or not it yielded
specimens, the results from a survey of the mammal distribution would be
none the less important, and we felt that it must be done; otherwise we
should have turned our backs on the north and returned to Ta-li Fu.

As we rode down the mountain trail we passed caravan after caravan of
Tibetans with heavily loaded horses, all bound for that land of mystery
beyond the snow-capped barriers. Often we tried to stop some of the
red-skinned natives and persuade them to pose for a color photograph, but
usually they only shook their heads stubbornly and hurried past with
averted faces. We finally waylaid a Chinese and a Tibetan who were walking
together. The Chinaman was an amiable fellow and by giving each of them a
glass jam tumbler they halted a moment. As soon as the photograph had been
taken the Chinese indicated that he expected us to produce one and was
thoroughly disgusted when we showed him that it was impossible.