August 19.—The road from Lit'ang was said to be infested with robbers, and we were furnished with an escort of twelve Tibetan soldiers—the men who had come with us from Ho-K'ou leaving us. In accordance with what the people said was the custom of the place, it rained all the morning, as we marched over the low ridges thrown out into the plain from the mountains on the northern side. This plain is a favourite summer resort of the Tibetans, and numerous encampments of the black tents were dotted about. Immense herds of cattle and sheep were browsing around them, and the quiet was broken by the deep bay of the watch-dogs.

Four and a half miles from Lit'ang a spur runs out to the road, and on its summit, about a mile distant, there is a large Lamassery. Close to the road, on the crest of the same low spur, there is a building containing hot sulphur baths. The water from these runs in a natural, underground channel, whence gas bubbles up through the crevices of the sandstone; and at the end of the spur steam may be seen issuing from the ground.

The river Li-chŭ, which joins the Chin-Sha somewhere in the neighbourhood of Li-Kiang-Fu, is about forty yards wide, and is crossed by a bridge called Chi-zom-ka; this is in four spans, the piles being of loose stones encased in timber.