into on if i could have stayed but i cannot live longer without your letters and they alas are at mr low kindly expresses regret at my going and says he has got quite used to my being here and added you never speak at the wrong time when men are visiting me they never know when to be quiet but bother one in the middle of business this is most amusing for it would be usually said women never know when to be quiet mr one day said that when men were with him he could get nothing done for their clatter i wished to start at a m to morrow to get the coolness before sunrise but there are so many about just now in the through which the road passes that it is not considered prudent for me to leave before six when they will have retired to their i l b letter xxii a pleasant xxii british february i am once again on this hill watching the purple cloud shadows sail over the level expanse of tree tops and having accomplished in about four hours the journey which took nearly twelve in going up the sun was not up when i left the at this morning i rode a capital pony on mr low s english saddle a orderly on horseback me and the royal elephant carried my luggage it was absurd to see this huge beast lie down merely to receive my little and canvas roll with a small of teeth and claws and an elephant s the whole not weighing mr low was already at his work writing and nursing at the same time the wild sitting on a beam looking on i left wishing i were coming instead of going and had a delightful ride of eighteen miles the little horse walked very fast and easily how peaceful is now to allow of a lady riding so far through the with only an attendant major m writes the ordinary native is a simple courteous being who with an intense love of liberty a great affection for his simple home and its and i quite believe him stories of running treachery revenge poisoned and the golden letter have been made very much of and any crime or slight disturbance in the native states throws the into a panic it must have been under the influence of one of these that such a large sea and land force was sent to three years ago crime in the districts in these states is so rare that were it not for the chinese a few would be all the force that would be needed the village system the old system with its and village officials though formerly abused seems under the new to work well and by it the have been long accustomed to a species of self government and to the maintenance of law and order i notice that all the european who speak their language and act towards them like them very much and this says much in their favour i met with no adventures on the journey i had a delightful of several miles before the sun was above the tree tops the morning mists rose flushed rolled away and just as i reached the beautiful pass of the were their morning hymn and the forests rang with the joyous and songs of birds all thy works praise thee lord there were gorgeous among them i noticed one with the upper part of its body and the upper side of its wings of jet black velvet and the lower half of its body and the under side of its wings of blue velvet spotted another of the same make but with gold instead of blue and a third with the upper part of the body and wings of black velvet with spots the lower part of the body and the under side of the wings white with spots all these measured fully five inches across their expanded wings in one opening only i counted thirty seven varieties of these brilliant creatures not in hundreds but in thou letter the pass of sands mixed up with blue and crimson flies and flies all joyous in the sunshine the loud stream of crystal water was very full and through the deep and among the great gray granite it flung its broad of foam rejoicing in its strength and every green thing lovingly towards it or stooped to touch it and all exquisite things which love damp all tender and all shade loving and flourish round it in beauty while high above in the sunshine amidst birds and the graceful palm struggles with the for precarious on rocky and of rose crimson blossoms and dark green of and all the leafy wealth bom of moisture and sunshine cling about it tenderly and lower down the great forest trees arch over it and the through them and dance in many a quiet pool turning the far down sands to gold brightening majestic tree and shining on the fragile which to the branches of the graceful on a beautiful which the uncouth trunk of an on glossy and trailing on and and on gigantic which climbing to the tops of the trees descend in vast many of them with orange and scarlet flowers and passing from tree to tree and the forest with a living while and and and the rocks in green along with scarcely from little flash out in foam among the dark foliage and mingle their musical with the deep bass of the torrent and there are twilight depths of leafy shade into which the sunshine never damp and cool in which the music of the water is all the golden too sweet and the loveliness too creating that sadness hardly akin to pain which is latent in all intense enjoyment the twelve hundred feet in nearly perpendicular height showed all its brilliancy of colour and 