Over hills we jogged, and over rough and uneven ground we jolted. The scenery was enjoyable, with always the grand, lofty Ai-Shan in the foreground. Sometimes it was seen against the bright blue of the sky. Sometimes the plantations of young willows, with their slender stems and leafless boughs, formed a fairy screen to veil the mountain.

After about twenty miles of this road we suddenly descended into the almost dry bed of a mountain torrent. Acres and acres of land, swept over by the stream when in flood, were now dry sand, which the least breath of wind sent blowing about in clouds.

On the borders of this stream is a large tract of land where the lotus is grown in hot-water ponds. The water is so hot that during winter it does not freeze. This lotus is a water-lily. The root is ground into farina, and makes a very good kind of arrowroot, used by the natives. Lotus-growing is a large branch of industry, as this farina is in great demand, and is sold at four hundred cash per catty—that is, about two shillings per pound weight.

Passing the lotus ponds, we came to the village of Wun Shih Tang. In the east end of it is a building resembling a temple.