tmas tree, blazing with tiny candles and surrounded by masses
of white cotton, through which shone red holly berries. Holly branches from
the forest and spruce boughs lined the tent and hung in green waves from
the ridge pole. At the base of the tree gifts which she had purchased in
Hongkong in the preceding August were laid out.

Heller mixed a fearful and wonderful cocktail from the Chinese wine and
orange juice, and we drank to each other and to those at home while sitting
on the ground and opening our packages. We had purchased two Tibetan rugs
in Li-chiang and Wei-hsi, as Christmas presents for Yvette. These rugs
usually are blue or red, with intricate designs in the center, and are well
woven and attractive.

To the servants and _mafus_ we gave money and cigarettes. When the
muleteers were brought to the tent to receive their gifts they evidently
thought our blazing tree represented an altar, for they kneeled down and
began to make the "chin, chin joss" which is always done before their
heathen gods.

Our Christmas dinner was a masterpiece. Four days previously I had shot a
pair of mallard ducks and they formed the _piece de resistance_. The dinner
consisted of soup, ducks stuffed with chestnuts, currant jelly, baked
squash, creamed carrots, chocolate cake, cheese and crackers, coffee and
cigarettes.

Christmas day we traveled, and in the late afternoon passed through a very
dirty Chinese town in a deep valley near some extensive salt wells. Red
clay dust lay thick over everything and the filth of the streets and houses
was indescribable. We camped in a cornfield a mile beyond the village, but
were greatly annoyed by the Chinese who insisted on swarming into camp.
Finally, unable longer to endure their insolent stares, I drove them with
stones to the top of the hill, where they sat in row upon row exactly as in
the "bleachers" at an American baseball game.

When we left the following day we passed dozens of caravans and groups of
men and women carrying great disks of salt. Each piece was stamped in red
with the official mark for salt is a government monopoly and only licensed
merchants are allowed to deal in it; moreover, the importation of salt from
foreign countries is forbidden. For the purposes of administration, China
is divided into seven or eight main circuits, each of which has its own
sources of production and the salt obtained in one district may not be sold
in another.

In Yuen-nan the salt of the