About 3 a.m. I awoke to see what looked like a moon-
beam across my bed, though I had seen the moon set quite
early, and stepping out on to the roof I saw a planet of
wonderful brilliance, presumably Venus, rising in the east.
So bright was the light that I could have seen to read
large print by it.
After leaving Yie-rii-gong we continued up the Yang-tze
for another half-day's march and then struck up a ravine to
the west in order to recross the mountains and reach Tsa-lei
on the Batang road. An alternative route was to continue
up the Yang-tze to the mouth of the Garthok river, and so
to the Batang road where it joins that stream. This indeed
was what the men wished to do, as they maintained that
the pass to Tsa-lei was too difficult. However by paying
them their own price (certainly not an exorbitant one) we
persuaded them to try it, for there was nothing to be gained
by continuing up the arid Yang-tze valley.
