We started late next morning, and only got as far as the end of the village when two Japanese officers, who seemed to be superintending the building of a house, stopped us and inquired our destination. They went into long explanations in writing on the ground with Mr. Chiao. They said there was a much better road than the one we were on, and that by it the distance was only 80 li. They spoke a few words of English, and we hoped that they had no ulterior object in sending us the other way, as it proved an execrable road and at least 110 li as to distance. We soon found ourselves going up another pass, but not nearly so long and arduous as the last. The flowers were not so numerous, and we found nothing much of fresh interest. Swallow-tails and butterflies of various colours flitted about the path, and the panoramic view as we gained the summit was fine, showing what a land of hills this is. As we descended into the valleys we found them scantily populated and cultivated, but the singular number of streams and brooks kept many grinding-mills at work. The commonest kind of mill is worked by a runnel of water discharging itself into a wooden cradle; when this is full it descends and empties itself, then rises again, bringing down its other end, as a hammer on the grain beneath. The hammer is inside a little round hut with a pointed roof thatched with straw. Others of the mills are worked by wheels, and there is a constant sound of groaning and hammering in every valley. Ploughing and sowing go on simultaneously, and this requires a gang of from four to six men; they work on a cooperative system, and one man treads along the newly-turned furrow, with bare feet, widening it out, and dropping in the grain and fertiliser mixed, while another follows to cover it with soil, and it is finally stamped down by yet another man. The birds have a poor chance of getting any grain. Some fresh ground was being brought under cultivation by having the brushwood on it burnt and then being ploughed, but to judge from appearances there is no little ground still left waste, which would be cultivated if, for example, it were in Chinese hands. The Koreans take life much more easily, and there is none of the elaborate care and use of materials which are such a striking feature of Chinese industry.