To the snows of Tibet through China . outsidethe town. My collectors had orders to leave a monthafter I had gone, bring all they had found with them,and meet me at Kia-ting-fu. I also sent two men to aplace called Ho-kow, ten daysjourney west of Ta-tsien-lu, on the road, and about half way to Litang, which issituated in a valley nearly surrounded by lofty plateaux,where I expected they would find some interesting andrare insects. Many of my boxes were covered with raw hide bythe Tibetans, who are very expert at this work. Theytake a hide from a freshly killed animal and fit and sewthis over th
To the snows of Tibet through China . outsidethe town. My collectors had orders to leave a monthafter I had gone, bring all they had found with them,and meet me at Kia-ting-fu. I also sent two men to aplace called Ho-kow, ten daysjourney west of Ta-tsien-lu, on the road, and about half way to Litang, which issituated in a valley nearly surrounded by lofty plateaux,where I expected they would find some interesting andrare insects. Many of my boxes were covered with raw hide bythe Tibetans, who are very expert at this work. Theytake a hide from a freshly killed animal and fit and sewthis over the boxes in a particularly neat way with thehair inside. When the hide dries, it shrinks andhardens, forming a splendid and almost indestructible•covering. July 21.—All being ready, I left Ta-tsien-lu afterTiaving thanked Mgr. Biet and the Fathers for theirkindness and said good-bye, and arrived at Wa-ssu-kouin the evening. July 22.—A village was passed to-day situated on theside of a valley near the banks of the Tung, which had. EFFECTS OF LANDSLIP 207 been nearly destroyed by a landslip, or, rather, mudslip,since my last journey through. Quite half the houses had])een utterly destroyed, and many of those remainingwere filled with a deposit of mud and stones. It mayseem difficult to understand how these houses are thusfilled with rubbish, because one would be apt to thinkthey would be thrown down ; but the Chinese build theirhouses in a different manner to what we are accustomedto see, for they first get uprights of timber fixed in theground, upon which plates are laid and the roof is builtupon them. Then the walls are built between theuprights, and are composed of stone, brick, or mud, ac-cording to the locality and the means of the a flood or a landslip occurs and reaches aliouse so built, the first thing to go is one of the walls,and if they are not all demolished, a large deposit takesplace, naturally, within the building. On my journeywestward a hill had
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectchinade, bookyear1892
