FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   >>  
grow, the purple wistaria spreads itself over the mass of vegetation which covers the precipitous hills from base to summit. Bamboos of many kinds wave among the trees or grow in masses by themselves, and climbing geranium and ferns mount from one foothold to another over tree-trunks or rocks, rooting as they go. Nests of wasps and weaver birds hang from the canes. Jungle-fowl and pheasant, snipe and partridge, are there to provide the traveller with food, and often, flying heavily from tree to tree, a peacock offers a welcome addition to your larder. The forest is dense, and in places almost impenetrable, and as you ride or cut your way through the thick undergrowth, monkeys of large size follow you through the tree-tops, scolding and chattering at your intrusion; and lemurs, fear overcome by curiosity, approach you closely, as though to see what kind of creature is this that penetrates these wilds. Wildness best describes these leafy solitudes in which roads are almost unknown, and which the larger beasts as well as men appear to shun. Along the river-bank, however, are many little hamlets, where in dug-out canoes the natives fish the rivers, using many ingenious nets and traps, or weirs which stretch from bank to bank. Carts are never used here, and such traffic as is carried on must be done by means of pack-ponies, whose loads are so contrived that, should they stumble on their rugged path, they can easily free themselves of their burden. We are now near to the Chinese frontier, and many straggling groups of Chinese, Shans, and Shan-tilok (which is a mixture of the two) may be met bearing bales or baskets of produce on their backs to some distant settlement; or occasionally a family party, bent upon some pilgrimage or journey, carry their household goods and young children in baskets slung from bamboo poles, which cross their shoulders. On the lower levels, where paths are more frequent, little bridges of picturesque design cross the streams, from which rise warm miasmic mists. In the early morning dense fogs fill the valleys, often accompanied by frost; but as the sun gains power and the mists are sucked up, the heat is intense; and these extremes of heat and cold, combined with the smell of rotting vegetation and exhalations from the ground, render this region a perfect fever-den, in which no white man can safely live. Though the general character of the country consists of lofty mountains a
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   >>  



Top keywords:
baskets
 

Chinese

 

vegetation

 
spreads
 

settlement

 
distant
 

bearing

 

occasionally

 

produce

 

children


bamboo

 
household
 

pilgrimage

 

journey

 

family

 

contrived

 

stumble

 

rugged

 

ponies

 
easily

groups

 

straggling

 
wistaria
 

frontier

 

burden

 

mixture

 

ground

 
exhalations
 

render

 
region

perfect

 

rotting

 

intense

 

extremes

 
combined
 

country

 

character

 
consists
 

mountains

 

general


Though

 
safely
 

sucked

 

design

 

picturesque

 

streams

 

bridges

 

frequent

 

covers

 

levels