moon—brings together a motley crowd, an epitome of the border peoples of these regions as far as the highlands of Tibet. According to official proclamation, "myriads of merchants from the four quarters of the globe collect together dense as the clouds"; but the author of this document has made use of poetic licence to an unwarrantable degree, 5000 being about the number who now attend the fair.
Tali itself does not appear to have much trade. I found one or two shops stocking foreign goods, and was told on inquiry that some cotton goods bearing the name of Steel & Co. came viâ Mêng-tzŭ. Nevertheless, there is little doubt but that western Yün-nan, with Tali as its centre, is on the whole considerably more populous than the part of Yün-nan served by the Red river route. This was the opinion of Consul Litton, whose personal acquaintance with the province was perhaps unique, and he mentions the Ho Ch'ing valley as an example of possibilities of the western half of the province. "The Ho Ch'ing valley," he says, "may be recommended to the attention of those who would have us believe that Yün-nan is a
