At one point in to-day's journey the road led up an almost vertical ascent to a narrow ledge or spur at the summit, and then fell as steeply into the plain again.

It was a short-cut, that, as you would expect in China, required five times more physical effort to compass than did the longer but level road which it was intended to save.

So narrow is the ridge that the double row of open sheds leaves barely room for pack mules to pass.

The whole traffic on the caravan route to Burma passes by this spot.

The long bamboo sheds with their grass roofs are divided into stalls, where Shan women in their fantastic turbans, with silver bracelets and earrings, their lips and teeth stained with betel-juice, sit behind the counters of raised earth, and eagerly compete for the custom of travellers.