it would be. Of coma, it in a little dhppointing from the point of view of new epeciee, but I never expected many; and I can only nay, and I om eura he qrw with me, that ss every fact he haa discovered is perfectly new, rad a gain to ecisnoq so not a bit of his work haa been lost

Sir JAMES W a ~ a w ~ e : When Sir George Qoldie told me he w.a going to ulr me to nay a few words, I must own I wae somewhat alarmed ; but I remembered it WM ~wgarding my friend, Lieut. U d e r , who haa done euch good work, and to whom I owe a debt of gratitude. As I wrved for two yean in the Niger, I think I underatand more perhaps than many of those here the immense di5cultier Lieut. Alexander muat have gone through--sicknm, want of food, dew&, ranm-d yet he hss triumphed and looks well after it. The wuntry e& of Lake Chrd, when I was in Nina, was looked upon as a land that would n e w be seen in our days. Lieut. Alexander has proved to the contrary. I remember in h b t i he wss almp trying to find nomething new, b i or beaata, or wme parto of the country which the rest of ua could not get to, and he haa now found nomething that other people have not been able to find. So long ss Englend a n produce ouch sons and our army euch odoere, I do not think there ia any fear of England loaing its firat p h as a diecovering nation, and a nation that helps to civilize unknown lande.

The PBESLDENT: It only remaine for ne to give a hearty vote of thanks to the reader of the peper.

A JOURNEY FROM PUN-NAN TO ASSAM.* B y E. a. YouNo.

HE idea of investigating the country which liea between the elllpiree of India and China south of the Tibetan frontier is one which Iw long had a special attraction for geographen, and trevellem, both on aoootmt of the possibility of opening up a trade route betweep the two countriee, and more eepecially because of the oomparatively unknown nature of the interveniug district; and i t is with the object of oommunioating eome information oollected by the writer during a recent journey from Yun-nen to Aasam that this paper has been written.

I t wee in the autumn of lest year (1906) that, being fortunate enough to obtain leave for six months, I decided to carry into exeontion a long-cherished design of undertaking the journey I am about to desoribe. I decided, firstly, to take only two cornpione, Chinese servants of mine, who had been in my employ for eome yeete, and upon whom I knew I could thoroughly rely; and, secondly, to live almost entirely on the produce of the country I was to travel through, taking only a emall reserve of t imed stores for use in emergencies. T h e two servants were natives of Chih-li provinoe, and it ie not too muoh to my that but for their fidelity and pluck the journey ooald not have been accomplished. Our equipment end stores, eto., were limited to eome five hundredweight of baggage, including a fairly wmplete out&

Map, p. w.

of mm-g inrrtmmenta, and, thanks to the w e with whioh thia kit had been eeleated, i t proved almoet perfeat in every reepect.

On October 1,1906, we set out from Tientsin (North China), and after travelling by sea to Haifong, passed through Tongking by rail and steamer ee far ee Lao-kai, on the southern frontier of Ytin-nan, from whioh plaoe till we reached India aome five months later the whole of the journey wss aooompliehed on foot.

Leaving Lao-kai on Ootober 24, we travelled throngh the pioturesque and mountainous b i n of the river Nan-hei, following the line of the new French railway aa far as the treaty port of Mdng-tzil Heien, from which place aurvey operatione were oommenoed: We left Mdng-tail Heien on November 1, and travelled through Lin-an F u to Shih-p'ing Ohou, @g through an undulating oonntry with low rounded hille, whioh are covered with long g r w and eprinkled with eeplinga and small treea, and with innumerable limeatone boulders, whilst the valleye are popnloue and aoltivated. The villngm are solidly built, the honaee being ohiefly of a sort of rough wcre t e of earth and pebblm, rammed tightly 00 ss to form =lid walls about 2 feet thick. From Shih-p'ing Chou we turned northwards, end, after a march of about 20 miles, ascended a ateep pine-oled ridge, at the top of whioh we found ouraelvea in a rolling upland oountry some 6000 feet above sea-level, partially cultivated, and with n u m e m pine woods and omasionel villages. Here we enoountewd a dietinot type of native belonging to the aboriginal tribe of I-j6n. They epeak a language of their own ss well as Ohinese, and are a peaoeful and well-behaved people hereabate, and subjeot to the Chineee Qovernment. The men differ but little from Chineee in appearance, bnt their features are heavier and leee intelligent. The women, how- ever, are pleesant-looking people, with aquiline features, and their free independent beering in in atriking oontraet with the timid mannere and hobbling gait of the Chineee lady. They wear a epotted blue cloth over the head, and have pettiaoata of dark-blue ootton ; they aleo weer many ailver ornaments, large earringe, and neoklaw, eto. Leaving the I-jdn villagee, our route continued northwards through a hilly wooded oountry, with numerona pine treea aa well as crab apple, wild pear, h ip and ham, and berriee of different aorta P d g throngh the walled oity of Hain-heing Chou, whioh liea in a broad oultivated valley, we mwhed the village of Hain-kai, from whioh point we turned to the weetward.

The trend of the mountain system of this part of Ytin-nan is, generally epeeking, north and south, so that the traveller whose oonrse is in an eeet-and-weat direotion rune oounter .to the rang^, and experienoea a continual seriea of ups and dome, as when croseing the ridge I U I ~ farrow of a ploughed field. From Hain-kai we travereed n oompsratively l i t t l e - d path through a piotnreeque woodland district, till, aftem peesiag a village d e d Yang-being-chuang, we amended

154 A JOURNEY FBOM Y~N-NAN TO A88A&

what appeared to be quite a low range of hille, and were surprised to find, on reaching the areat, that we were looking down over a greet expanee of steep mountain-side which was chiefly aovered.in brush- wood. Far below there was a long cultivated valley running north and south, in which lay the town of Yi-m6n Heien, on the further side of which a lofty range of monntaine blocked the horizon to &- war&. I t was our first ridge and furrow.

We made a day's halt a t Yi-m6n Haien, a small walled town of about 2000 inhabitanb, and then tackled the next ridge whioh lay to west- ward. On leaving Yi-m@n Haien the road ascends almoet immediately, and within a few miles blimbe by a seriee of ridgea to a height of fiome 7800 feet. &om thie height a fine panorama of mountain soenery was obtained. The monntaine are flat topped, and the dopea are mffioiently gentle to admit of cnltivation, and they presented a patohwork of fields whioh bore evidenm of an indnetrious population. A few milee along the mountain-tops brought us to the edge of a gloomy rugged ravine between eteep and lofty hills, a t the foot of which a turbid atream of dark brown water tore its way down a shaly elope at an inclination of about 15 degrees toward8 Sen-chia-ch'ang, a small village of fiat- topped, brown-walled homes, nestling at the foot of a beetling cliff. Here we saw oopper smelting works of a primitive type, and the hori- wntal burrows into the aide of the cliff from whioh the ore is extraoted. Beyond San-chis-oh'ang we encountered a series of steep end often lofty hills, over which the path oscended and deeoended with monotonow regularity. The path was praotioally deserted, and the few people we saw appeared eickly and poverty etrioken. Many of them were stunted and deformed, and we saw numerous atwe of goitre and enlarged epleen, as well as what appeared to be berri-berri." In this rugged country cultivation was mantier and was chiefly oodned to the valleys, the hills being either pine clad or covered with coarm green. I t was the end of the harvest eeeeon, and threehing was going on. Sometimes thie is done with flail^, and eometimes by striking the paddy over the edge of a large circular sanoer-ehaped basket, so that the grain falls into the besket while the straw remains in the threeher's hande.

As we journeyed west the mountains increaeed in height, onltivation was lese frequent, and the country more thickly wooded, until we m h e d Nan-an Chon, from whioh point, turning northwords again, we p e d through a few miles of undulating pine-clad uplands, dewending into the valley of C'hu-hsiung Fu, where we halted.

The route from C'hu-hmung Fu to Ta-li Fu is so well known that I need not attempt any deerniption of i t here. The road was good* Chinese roads go-the weather perfect, and the scenery pictureeque and striking, and we enjoyed a rapid and intereating march of ilix daye between the two towns, aniving at Ta-li F n on November 25. A t Ta-li Fu we halted for a week, in order to make our final preparation8

for the advanoe into the unknown regions of the Salwin river. Mnles were now discarded, and loads were made np enitably for ooolie h s p o r t ; dollara, whioh had hitherto been our currenoy, were qow melted down and turned into tbe emall conical lumps of silver whioh u e known as " syoee ; far olothing wee puroheeed, and alao a supply of local provisions-hama, tea, sugar, eta.-whioh, together with our tinned Enmpean stoma, were estimated to laet ne for about a month. Whilst at Ta-li Fu I reoeived a letter from the British consnl a t Thg-yiieh 'Ping, the late Mr. Litton, warning me of the disturbed state of the tribes on the upper Mekong and in the neighbourhood of Wei-hsi T'ing, where a Tibetan raid had recently taken plaoe, during whioh four

V A L U P OF TW IWKONQ, LOOKING BOWH PROM NEAB FEI-LUNG-CHIRO. TIEBBICED BICE-FIELDS IN FOREGROUND.

Frenoh prieeta had been murdered, and the mission stations destroyed, whilst the repressive measures of the Chinese authorities had only eerved to agpavate the state of affairs.

We left Ta-li Fn on December 3, and proceeded northwards over a -ne-paved road dong the west side of the Erh Hai to Shang- hum-the apper a t o m s barrier on the approaches to Ta-li Fu- and then on to TBng-oh*uan Chon, whioh lies at the head of the lake. From Tbg-oh*uan Chou we turned west, and amended a paas in the low range of mountain8 at the foot of whioh Ta-li Fn lies. From the top of the pess we looked down into a long elanting valley, with the town of Fhg-yii below w. The hillside wae eo steep that the

156 A JOURNEY FROM YUN-NAN TO ABEAM.

valley appeared as though seen from a balloon. It wea o l d y oultivated, and the little banks which edge the fields and serve to regulate the irrigation water looked like the squarea of a oheeeboard, A atreem wound in a nilver streak from south to north, peasante were working in the fields, and numerow villagee were visible; but the height fnrm whioh we viewed it preoluded the sounde of rural life, and the soene wee a silent one. Deeoending into the valley, we rested at FBng-yii, and from there ascended the Lo-pin Sban, a mountain of 10,100 feet, whoee summit is said to be the 8b0de of evil spirite, who, however, have a virtuous objection to bad lengulrge and noise, so that travellaa muat be careful what they Bay when &g the psse, lest the spirits should aend foga or storms or other vieitatiom to punish them! A similar belief is oommon in other prte of Yiin-nen, and I ehall have to record the existenoe of kindred superetitione whioh we observed at a later stage of the journey.

From the summit of the Lo-pin Shan, looking westwarda, we saw ranges of thickly wooded mountains running north and south stret~h- ing to the horizon, but were relieved at the absence of any enowelad heighte in front of us, though behind us, to eastwards, the summit of the Tal-li Fu range wae powdered with snow, whilst to north aome glittering snow-clad p& near Li-chiang Fn were plainly visible. Deacending the paes, we now followed the oonree of a tributary of the Pang-pi Ho, and entered a thickly wooded but sparsely populated oountry, where for two days we marched through beautifulaautumn- tinted foreeb of oak and walnut and fir trees. O d o n a l l y we met oaravans of mulee and bullocks wrying firewood or salt, the latter commodity being in small oylindrid cakes about the ~ i z e and shape of a pint-pot, but with Chineee charactere moulded on the top. The foot-paseengere we enoountered were eaid to be Lolos, and werg almoet always goitrous and dirty. Generally they wore a skin over their shouldere, with the fur outside, and their legs were enoased in ragged knickere or drawere, with cotton putties wound l m l y round the lower part of the leg. Their unkempt loch were bundled away under a scanty turban or pnggri. The women we paeeed were dreeeed so muoh like the men that we had difficulty in distinguishing them, except by the jade earringa they wore, and by tbe fact that they were cleaner and of more pleasent featurea than the men. The few houses we saw were log cabins built of unshaped pine logs, and roofed either with pine shingles or thatch. As we oontinued our way weatward the average height of the mountains increased, though the Lo-Pin Shan w a ~ still the highest point we had croseed. We reached Yiing-lung Chou on December 9, and after a day's halt proceeded to Fei-lung-oh'b, on the Mekong, from which point survey operations, which had been dis- continued since Ch'u-hsiung Fn, were woommenced.

At Fei-lnng-oh'iao I was, unfortunately, not able to take a cross-

A JOURNEY FBOM Y~V-NAN TO A88AY. 167

d o n of the Mekong, but I observed that it was 235 feet wide at the bridge, and a m n d i n g taken from the bridge in mid-etream gave 26 feet M the depth at that point. The water was olear and of blueieh-grey oolour ; the current wae etrong, and rooks and rapids above and below the bridge rendered navigation impmticable. The farnone mepension bridge is a single epan bridge of 235 feet olear span, with a plank road- way 8 feet 3 inohee wide, supported by twelve ohains of I-inoh iron. Two similar ohnine form the top of the handrails, which are of wood. The chaine are in groups of three, then, being three double chains on each aide. The height of the roadway above the wabr-level at that time was 44 feet at either end, and 37 feet in the oentre.

I RIVEB BALWIH ABOVE LU-KU, UW)KINO DOWEIBTRBAM BOUTHWARDB. BAMBOO BaFP FEBaY m THE FORROROUHD.

F h m Fei-lung-oh'iao we amended the right bank of the Mekong for a few milee, and then ascended the lofty range which divides it from t h e Salwin, whioh at thie point is a oontinaous barrier rieing to a height of well over 10,000 feet; its elope6 are steep, but not precipi- tons, and are covered with pine woods. On reaching the summit of

I the pase we found a emall poet of three Chinese aoldiera, from whom we 1 learnt that the peee ie open prsotically all the year round, as there ia

nerer verg heavy enow on it. The midday temperature at that dats (December 12) waa 39' Fahr., and a high wind was blowing from the ' mt Thie ia the pms by which Prince Henry of Orleans o m a ~ d in

1 1895. On the mtern side of the range the slope up from tbe Mekong

ie a direot one, the river flowing past the foot of the main range; to weetward, however, one looks out over an expanee of partially wooded mountains, the general trend of which ia north and mth, though at thie point a atream flowing in a n w w valley cuts its way through them at right anglea The Selwin ie not visible a t thie point, and indeed ia three march- diatant. The route peeeee t h m g h this valley, and we followed it to Lu-kou, on the left bank of the Salwin. The population of the Salwin valley in thin neighbourhood ie ohiefly Lh, but there are also a few Minohian and Lolos near Lu-kou, aa well aa aome Chineee or Han-jbn. Theee different nroee are under t'nesu government M far north aa Haia-ku-ti (let. 26' 16'), beyond whioh p h there are independent tribes, pomibly of Tibetan origin, who refnee allegiance to any government; theee I ahall have to deal with later.

Tbe tlmm or ohiefa are of Chineee birth, and the oface ia an h e r d - tary one, baving originally been conferred on the family by the Chinese (3overnment for eervioea rendered in war time. The t'nsen role is patriarohal, and considerable latitude is allowed them; but that the Chineae authorities retain a etrong hold over the ohiefa ie evidenced by the faot that at the time we were a t Lu-kou, the t ' um of that place wee abeent in gaol, where he waa juat oompleting a term of ten years' irnprieonment, which had been impoeed on him by the Chineae Govern- ment for having taken the life of one of hie own mbjeota with hie own hand. A young relative waa in charge of the yamen a t the time ; but the convict chief wee r e 1 4 ehortly afterwards, and reoeived a bearty welcome home from the membern of the olan.

The Lieo, who are tbe predominant race hereabouts, have a dietinat language, which, an far an I could diecover, ie not writtan. They are of alight b d d , with light-brown skin and aquiline featurea reeembling the Red Indian type. Some of the younger men and women are die- tiactly pleasant featured, and am often graceful in figure and &. The 11 Len wrnr a ~ h o r t coat and looee kniokem of blue cotton, and ahort Inom piitties which nre wound round the lower part of the d and finkin ; instrs(1 of pl~ttiea, gaitera of coarse hempen cloth are often worn. Tho men shave their foreheads a t long intervals, and wear a short, unkempt pigtail, which is uenally tuoked up under the small pnggri whioh both Rex- wear. Every man and boy is armed, and they rarely tmvol hoyond the limits of their villages without weapons Thrse am a omsabow, with which poieoned arrow are need: a long,

I fit might, two-edged ~ w o d ; and uaually a amall dagger or cleephife. T h n women wear II long tunio and trouuera of blue ootton, with often I l~rnnd horizontal band of red, white, and black round the aleeve a t tl nlfmw. They also affect many ornaments of silver or h d a and

I 1111 [Is, ntrh RA p s m n g and necklaces; wealthy men aleo often weer a

. : T Y P ~ mrring in one ear.

' A JOWlOEP FROM *-NAN TO ASSAM. 169

Their h o w are built of wood, and are either thatohed with gram or pine ahinglee, or else roofed 6 t h large flexible mate of split bamboo, which are 6 or 7 feet wide, and long enough to maoh from the eavee on one side to t h w on the other, MI that two or three are eufficient to mof the whole houee. The floor is of planks ronghly shaped with an axe, and M raised eome 4 to 5 feet above the ground on poete, the eprrco rmd(~zp~.th being fenced in and used aa a oattleehed or pig-etye. In thin mountainom region villagee are often built an a steep elope, the space under the floor then being triangular in eeotion, one edge of the floor almost touching the ground, whilet the other is 6 or 6 feet

LIE80 VILLAGE OF TEA-XI-TI, XH THE BALWIH BASIN. TEE BCAFTOLD-LIKE ERECTION NBAB T H E EOUBB IH T E E FOREOBOUND 18 A PE&ME FOR DRYING TOBACCO LEAVEB. CULTIVATED FIELD8 BURROUND THlD BOUBEB.

above it. I n the centre of the floor there ie a square hearth of mud, pbter, or etone let into a wooden frame, and on thin the fh ie kindled, the smoke Gnding ita way out aa beet it may. The walls are of pine logs or elee of bamboo matting, there are no windows, and the door ia a rough construction of planka tied on with oane. No metal is ueed in the construction of the houees. The furniture oonmsta of a few wooden blocks, or ~ometimea bamboo stools, for aquatting on round the fire; a bed made of looee planks wpported by a couple of loge ; and occasionally a few roughly made cabinets or boxee entirely of wood, in whioh food in stored. Their utensils are an iron bowl or copper pot-the latter imported from Tbng-yiieh-ting and Yung-ch'ang Fn-and an iron tripod.

Pitahers of bamboo are need for drawing water and for &ring haney and rioe, eto. The Lieoe are huntem, but the aonntry haa been largely denuded of game, and they live ohiefly by agrionlture. They have COW

and pige and goata, and, very rarely, a few ponies are also to be wen. In oharaater the Liaos are reported to be fierce and warlike, but thongh this is trne when they are in their own territory and in strong numbere, my experience is that they are timid and nervous among atreage wr- ronndinga, and lacking in what we oall plnok. On the other hmd, they are oourteo~m and hoepitable, and have something of the Chinese for rank and authority.

During our paasage through the Lieo oountry, we noticed a oon- eiderable trade in a species of herb, aaUd Lu-tze by the natives, whioh grown in the patahes of jnngle found low down in the valleys. The plant ia a creeper, and growe on the trunka of large treee much like ivy d m ; ita etem is thiok and strong, and ita leaves, which p o w thickly all the way up the atem, are pearghaped, and resemble the l ~ n f n-l~ich the nativea of India nee for wrapping betel-nut in (called " Tan "1. I t has no fruit except a sort of bulbous pod, half berry ~ n d half Icnf, which constitutes the valnable part of the ~ l a n t . This uanallg grow8 high np on the trees, which the Liem climb by driving woodan p c g ~ in to tllr tmnk at intervals eo aa to form foot-rents. The her11 a pranzent aromatio taate like a mixture of ginger and orange-peel, rind is hicill?- esteemed ae a stomaahia As already ateted, there i s qni to a largo t mrlr

in this artiole, and we met Chineae merchants who neere brtying sll thcy could get hold of. It mlls from ten to twelve taei cents I3C or .M.) per pound.

At Lu-kou I took aareful meawrementa of the Salwin, and found i t to be of the dimensions shown in the croee-eection (me map) which gives an approximate dimharge of 23,000 oubic feet per second. The water waa olear and of a beautiful blue-green oolour ; the banks are strewn with huge boulders, ohiefly of granite, and there am occaeional strips of silver-grey eand, evidently of granitio formation ; tbe bed of the river ia rooky, and them are frequent rapida The river is evidently liable to a great riae a t certain seasons, aa its banks showed a water-mark fully 15 feet above water-level, and gram and atioks and other dkbriu were hanging in the branohm of trees on the banh high above our heads.

From Lu-kou there are two river-rout* one on either bank. That on the left bank had been followed by Prince Henry of Orleans during hie brief excursion to t-he Salwin in 1895, whilst that on the right bank waa said to have been used by Mr. Litton, of the extent of w h m explorn- tions in this diatriot I have not yet seen any amount. I choee the right bank, and started from Lu-kou on December 16. The Salwin valley ha8 long been notorious for the extraordinarily precipitous and mgged ohareoter of ita mountains and for ifa deadly olimate. The bed of

A JOURNEY FROM *-NAN TO A88AM. 161

the river, aa is well known, lies at an extremely low level relatively to the mmunding country, and I found that a t a point a few milee narth of Lu-kou i t waa only a b u t 3000 feet. The mountaina on either aide riae tq heighta varying from 10,000 to perhapa 15,000 feet, md their alopea are extraordinarily steep and preaipitoua At rare i n b e l a there are amall patchee of flat land in the fold8 a t the foot of the dopa , but, generally speaking, the &pea deeoend straight to the r a t e i s edge, exoept where they are sheered off oe i t were into v e r t i d c l i 5 of mok. Even to walk on theae slopes without artifioial means of support ia often extremely diffioult, and the only means of oommunim- tion are narrow footpaths whioh wind up and down and in and out of the deeply indented hillsidea. Theae paths are m a l l y high above the

LMGUB RO PIOE'TTl?O DBEEB. A RHIELD]OB BKIN I6 WOBN ON THSQ BACK, AND TIIEIR CB088-BOW6 ABE ON TEEIIL BHOULDER8, BUT THEY ARB NOT WEABINO TFfBIB BWOBDB AND BATOHEL8. THEBE MEN WEBE DIUeBBED BOB THE OCOA- 610N, U D ARE NOT BULLY EQUIPPED A8 T g E Y WOULD BE IF (tOI?dO ON AH EXPBDITION.

river, but eometimee they deeoend into ita bed, when the unfortunate traveller hea to drag himaelf over immenae boulders, and rooks of all nim from a few tens to aeveral thowands of oubio feet, and where he muat sometime8 orawl along the faoe of a vertical aliff literally hanging on by fingern and toee, or hes eometimee to olimb a preaipitoua wall of rock, where loeds, eto., have to be raieed or lowered by ropea; or, again, hse to croaa a deep smooth dope of bare rook where a slip would aend him to certain deetrnotion in the boiling torrent below. The hillaides lrre chiefly oovered with graaa or brushwood, having been largely denuded of fore&, but numerous pafahea remain, and one enoounters widely different type of vegetation as one aaoenda the ~~~ounteina, the lower h l a presenting all the features of aemi-tropid junglee, whilat pine and oak and other hardy treee are found on the upper alopee.

162 A JOURNEY FROM *-NAN TO A 8 U .

The d W y oharacter whioh the Ohineae attribute to the h a t e of the Salwin valley is well known, and many travellexu have alluded to the superetitiom that this h u given rise to, notably Mr. Colborne Baber, who givea a striking aooount of the Salwin valley in hie ' Notes on the Route of Mr. Qroevenor's W o n , ' where he says, "we then dis- covered the strenge fuot that thie valley is nninhabiteble during the summer montha on amount of the melari the natives retiring aa eoon as the fields are planted, and returning to reap them in the autumn." Thie must apply to the partioular distriot he travelled in (lat. 26' O'), as, in spite of repeated inquiries, I failed to find any looal belief in these deadly attributes, whilst there waa no evidence of any abnormal aio)mees or mortality in this region. Our visit wae made during the winter m n when the weather was oool and pleasant as a rule, the mean day temperature during the five wkks we spent thew averaging only 51' Fahr. The temperature+ of course, varied ooneiderably with the altitude, and the natives admitted that the low-lying villages suffered much from malaria, probably on m u n t of the stagnation of air in the deep land-looked valleys, and the semi-tropical vegetation found there ; similar statementa, however, had been made to ue at many places in YUUUUI, and quinine waa always in great demand.

l'he rugged and mountainons ohamter of this part of the Salwin valley, and the evil reputation ita climate hee been said to pocleees, a m not suggestive of a populone region, yet one of its striking featurea is the oomparative deneity of the population whioh finds a living there. Almoet every valley oontains one or more villages, and the hillsides, eteep though they be, are dotted with villages, whioh are built a t all elevations right up to the anow-line, on the tops of spurs, or wherever the formation affords a suffiaiently gentle slope to admit of buildinge being ereoted and land cultivated. Theae villagee are praotically mlf- oontained, and there is little or no trade between them. There are no markets and no shop, every family providing for ita own wsnta by the labours of ita membere. The soil is a fertile one, but, owing to the steepness of the lan!, only limited areaa are brought under cultivation. Some rice is grown in the Liso oountry, but this grain ia elmoet unproonrable further north. No ootton is grown, ootton goode being imported from T'Bng-yiieh Ting and Yung-oh'ang Fu, but a warn undyed hempen cloth is manufaotured locally by the women.

Travelling northwards from Lu-kou, the Wloultiem of the route oontinually inoreesed, and our rate of advanoe wae proportionately slaw, a whole day's hard work often reaulting in a net a d m o e of only 4 or 6 milea. I t wae not many days before i t beoame imposeible even for unladen animal^ to m m p a n y UE, and I hed to dimpoee of the two donkeys, whi l~ t the number of oooliea wee i n d to fourteen in order to lighten individual loads. On our way north we paaaed through Cheng-ka, reoently the soene of tiibal warfare.

A JOURNEY FROM ~ - N A N TO ASSAM. 163

A little beyond Term-ku-ti we left the Lieo oountry and entered that of the independent tribe& who at this point are called Ulu IAIPM. The ahsage of type WM sudden and complete, the dividing-line between the territory of the two tribe6 being o ateep and lofty epnr from the main ~nge. The Ulu Lamas are a tribe poeoibly of Tibetan origin, ea the name Lama impliea, Lama Ti (i.8. the ground or territory of the Lamae) being

VIEW W ] TBE BALWXN V U Y , UW)KIMG NOBTE, IN 7!EE ULU-LAMA COUtiTBY. THB POCK4TBEWN OBODlCD IN TEE POBEQBOUHD 18 TlLEP 0- WEXCE WE HAD M TBAVLL FOB TgBEE WHOLU DAY8.

the Ohinese neme for Tibet ; they inhabit the Salwin d e y north of kt. 26" 19', and are quite independent. They hare no form of govern- ment, not even vi l lqp headmen or ohiefi. They am lawlees and t m d w m q and it would seem that life ia held but oheaply among them; we were frequently &own the mine of a honee or hamlet and informed that the fonner oooapanta had been d i n in some quarrel. They are umed in the m e way ae the Lieoe, and, like them, am prtioakr to oerry their weapon8 wherever they go. In appranoe

1 64 A JOUBNEY FROM Y&-NJUV TO A S M .

they are quite dietinot from the Lieoe. They are ehort but sturdily built, and their features are heavy and brutal in appearanoe; they are exoeasively dirty, their ekin being coated with grime, and their whole appearanoe being euggestive of an absohte ignorance of the cleansing power of water. They wear their hair long, in shaggy looks, with a miniatare queue whioh is usually hidden under a ekull cap or turban. They told ae that they shave the forehead in Chinese fashion once a year, an operation which they desoribed aa a very painful one. The men'e dwee consists of short kniokera and a long gown or tunio of homespun hempen cloth, aeudly iu a ragged oondition. Their heads, aa already mentioned, are covered with either a turban or a doee-fitting skull oap, and they wear a band of eplit cane round the leg just below the knee. The women wear petticoats and a short ooat, and are fond of wearing bead neoklsoes, silver earring, etc. Clothing is scarce and in great request ; we were continually pestered with requests for present8 of clothee. The tribe eupporta itself by hunting and agriculture, but the latter is cxuried on in the moet haphaeerd and wasteful fashion. There is but little rice grown, and the ataple diet is Indian oorn. Their language appeara to be closely akin to the Liso, but is not identical. They have no written language, but transmit meesrtgea, etc., by notah- on a piece of wood. They are inhoepitable to etrangere, very few of whom ever enter their oountry, and they have a deeply rooted objeotion to work. The women do all the houehold work, beeides drawing water and bringing in firewood, etc. Their oountry oontaina iron and ailver, both of which we eew being worked, and we heard rnmoura of gold. In common with the Lieoe, they bury their dead, and have an aversion to either burning or diemembering the oorpee. They bury them in their gardens or anywhere adjoining their houses, the grave being marked by a wooden frame, from which are euupended the weapons of the d d in the o w of a man, or a cooking-pot and "houeewife" in the wae of a woman. They aleo make offering of food and dothing, eta, to the dead.

' I t wee on Deoember 23 that we entared the territory of them

wild people, and a week later, after a eeriea of. severe and toilsome marchea over the rock-strewn banks of the Salwin, we reaohed Lan- chis-ti, in le t 26' 29' N., where we were obliged to halt in order to oollect supplies. My traneport a t thb time oonsbted of fourteen coolies, eight of whom were Lieoe. The latter had shown evident w e of panic ever sinoe leaving their own country, and on halting at Len- chia-ti they took the opportunity to deeert in a body by night, leaving ue with only six Chinese coolies to carry fourteen loeda The attitude of the Ulu Lamae had so far been outwardly friendly, if not over-oivil. I t wes a festive seeeon, December 27 being their New Year'e Day, and they were oelebrating the occasion with feeeting and muoh drinking. They brought emall preaents to me, euoh as a lump of aalt, a oouple of

egge, or a slioe of pork-thinga of little value, but eignifioant of good will. be soon, however, aa they found we were left etranded by our coolies their attitude ohanged; they refaeed to supply either food or tmnaport, in epite of liberal offers of silver, and they ahowed by their manner that they quite understood the fix we were in. After abandon- ing everything we d d epare, we made mveral attempte over the most trying oountry to arose into the Irawadi baain. To my intense chagrin we were foroed to return to the Salwin by the oowardice of the oooliee, who absolutely refneed to go on. We now returned atill further south to Lu-ch'ang, from whioh p l m there ie a regular trade route aorose r oomperatively low paw, whioh ia open praotioally all the year round. Here we o r 4 without diaoulty, the enow being only knee-deep, and on January 21 we entered the baain of the Irawadi.

The change, both in the phyeioal oharaoteristioe or the oountry and the type of ita inhabitante, is moet striking : on the eastern side of the pam one is in China, on the weet one finds one'u eelf b what may be. described aa en exteneion of Burma, and when the qneation of frontier delimitation has to be deoided in thia looality, there is no doubt that the mountains of the Salwin-Irawadi divide ought to be accepted M the politid, ea they are the geographioal and ethnological, boundary of China.

Oru route from the Lu-oh'ang pam entered the valley of the H h o Chiang (emell river), ae the Chinese call the small river whioh ia marked on the map aa the Ngaw-ohang Hka, and we found onreelvee in a oountry whioh, though mountainous, waa obviodsly of a mnoh lower average level than the distriot we had just left No flat land wm visible, the mountains seemed jumbled in piotnreeque oonfueion, md were oovered in heavy jungle, in whioh bamboos, and planteine, m d ombide, and other of the smaller forms of tropioal vegetation miugled with gigantio trees of different kinds, whilet monkeys and parrota and other of the tropical fauna were frequently met with. Behind as the enow-olad range we had just oroesed stood up like an enonnoas wall, ehutting out the eastern horizon and towering above the lers-imponing heighta we were now in the mid& of. The La-oh'ang pam is the outlet of a reoognhd trade route between Lu-kou and T'Bng- yfieh T'ing, and we were informed that Mr. Litton had more than onae hml led this way. The TBng- y tieh T'ing road turns south from a point a little beyond Tawng-gaw, west of whioh the oommunioations are-exoept in the immediate vioinity of the villa-mere tracke through the jungle. hvelling due wed, we followed the oonree of the Heiao Chiang for mveral days, croseing i t more than onoe by the ingenioue bridgee in mi here. Them bridgee are muoh euperior to the single-rope bridgee of the 8elwin; they are made of canes and oreepenr-one rope forming the footway, and two othere the handrail4 with a network of emaller anem aonneoting them.

XO. II.-AuQusT, 1907.1 N

166 A JOURNEY FROM m-NAN TO A88AM.

The inhabitants of the region we now passed through are of two dietinot types, called by the Chineee Tse-shan-jBn and Langm-jBn respectively. The former inhabit the head of the valley of the Heieo Chiang, and at this point are said to be under the government of the T'usen of Tengan on the Salwin, though i t wlts admitfed that the government wae more in name than in fact. They have a distinct language or dialect of their own, but many of them speak Chin-. Their appearanoe is ugly, dirty, and forbidding, and they are classed by the Chineee es Yi-jdn, or wild men. They dreee much like the Lisos, with knickers, cloth gaitere, and shell+mbroidered shoulder-belt and satchel, but do not use the crossbow, being armed with the Burmese "dha," or short sword, or o d o n a l l y with a spear. They neither shave the head nor wear the queue, but tie their hair into a loose top knot which is bound ronud with a puggri. The men pieme the lobe of the ear and insert bamboo t u b , eta. ; whilet the women, who wear . voluminous petticoats, indulge in numerous large earrings of breee wire which are about 4 inches in diameter.

The Langsw are more akin to the Kachins or Singphos of North Burma; they inhabit the b i n of the Nmai ~ k a or Langsu-ta Chiang (called ale0 Puma Chiang or Puma Hka, i.e. the Puma or Burma river). The men wear the Burmese waistcloth and a ehort coat of Chinese pattern, and are armed with the dha; their hair ie usually out short a t the neck. The women wear a short o a t and a ootton cloth of many coloara wrapped round the breast, and, like the Tee*han women, indulge in many necklaces and earrings of portentone size. In oommon with the Taa-ahan-jBa, both sexes chew betel, and they exhibited an extraordinary craving for opium. One of our party had e little opium, tiny pellets of which he bartered for food, eta., and i t was evident that had we posseseed a stock of the drug, we oould bave lived for next to nothing, and should have met with a hearty meloome as traders. I was taken for an opium meruhant, and our baggage wee suppoeed to be fnll of that commodity; wherever we went the villagers peetered UE for opium, and would pursue ne for miles in vain attempte to obtain it. Silver was of little purchasing power, and we had the greateat difficulty in obtaining euppli~s, our preaenoe being regarded with more fear and suspicion than cordiality.

The type of house which theee people dwell in is one which, with very elight variations, extends throughout the Kachin or Singpho country right through into h m . They are long, low, onestoried buildings, and are often occupied by eeveral families, presumably of the same stock or olan, the interior being partitioned off into numerous receseee, besidea having two or more cubicla. The framework in of timber, and the floor is raised some 4 feet above the ground, eooess being obtained by a sloping log with notches out in it. The walls are of bamboo, and are only 3 or 4 feet high; the roof, which is of bamboo

A JOURNEY FROM YDN-NAN TO ASSAM. 167

thatohed with grsaa or palm leavee, being very high pitohed, and the eavem deeoending to floor-level. There are no windows, but small doom are out a t intervals in the low walls, whioh, when open, admit a very limited amount of light. At each end the roof is prolonged over a space whioh is fenced in and eervee both as a cattle-pen and as a plaoa for husking rim, weaving cloth, or other household ocoupations. The gables project beyond this spaoe, and the roof is underoat ao that the peak of the gable extenda far in front of the ewes. The post which

eupprta the gable at the front of the h o r n is deoorated with the horns of buffalo and oxen, the number of whioh ia an indication of the pros- perity or wealth of the reeidente. The floor is of bamboo-mat, with a hearth of mud plaatar to eaoh ~oompartment, the smoke of the fires finding an exit 8s best it may through the doom.

That part of the basin of the Nmai Hlta which we paaeed through m y be deecribed 8s rioh and fertile in spite of ite mountainone ohamter. We saw tea, indigo, ootton, tobaooo, oilseed, and ;other ueefnl plants,

H 2

168 A JOURNEY FBOM Y&T-NAN TO AS8AM.

the foregoing varieties often growing simultaneously in the mall patches of d t iva ted land adjoining the villages Bioe is also grown wherever the ground admits of it. The tea plant is indigenous to the district, growing wild in the jungle, and is not of the Chineae variety, but of a similar type to the Manipuri or indigenous plants of h m . The leaf is manufaotared by the inhabitants on a small male by drying i t in the sun, after which i t ie paaked into bamboo tubee. The olimate of thie region was hot, olose, and oppressive, and we mffered from attaoks of malaria A very poieonone variety of jungle fly also cauaed us mnoh trouble, and doubtless wes largely responsible for the malaria. Thi~ fly, whioh xwembles a small house fly in shape and size, is striped like the anophele moequito. I t inserta ita pmboeois into the ekin and draws blood; the bite does not hurt a t the time, bnt several hours afterwards the wound ewe& and h o m e s painful, and the imtation oontinues for s e v e d days, aooompanied by a watery diecharge.

After following the course of the Heicu, Chiang till it turned north- wards, we crowed the range which divides it from the Nmai Hba, whoee tributary it is, at a height of about 7200 feet, and reached the benb of the latter river on January 28, when the measurements were taken whioh are shown in the om-eeotion (see APpendix A). These meaaurementa give an approximate dieoharge of 28,000 oubio feet per seoond, i.8. more than 20 per cent. larger than that of the Salwin, and more than double that of its sister stream, the Mali Hire. The water of the river is of a different hue to that of the Selwin, being a dark olive-green; i t ie olear and free from silt. The bed of the river is strewn with rooks of granite and quartz, eta., and there are rapid0 which obetruot navigation. The banks of the river,ehow that i t is liable to a considerable rise in flood-time. The valley throngh which the river flows is at this point of peouliar eection. The lower slopea are extremely deep, but at a height of several hundred feet above the water they are comparatively gentle; the formation suggests that the river has out ita way down into ita present narrow channel through what was originally a b r a d and comparatively ehellow valley.

After crossing the river, we asoended the range which separated i t from the Mali Hka or western branoh of the Irmwadi. The range is a oomparatively low one, being only about 6000 feet where we o d i t ; ita summit is broad and undulating, and, though thickly oovered in heavy jungle, there is a fairly good path from hnng-pam on the east to Ning-ki on the west. After crossing the watershed, we turned north-west and shaped 8 direct oourse for the Msli Hka. The country we thus entered is in many respeots quite different to that we had recently pwed through. To south and eaet are mountain ranges, but to the north and west the country opens out, disclosing a wide view of low hills and undulating slopes. This dietriot is a populons and fertile one, and is well watered by numerous streams, whose placid

water8 and aandy beds bear little reeemblanm to those of the rooky torrential tributaries of the Balwin, the Mekong, and the Nmai Hka. There are numerous large villages whom inhabitante are evidently prosperone and in a far higher stage of aivilization than the wild tribes of the Chineee frontier. The land is chiefly covered in thick forest, but large areas adjoining the villagee are under adtivation ; quantities of rice are grown, aa well as sweet potatoea and other vegetables, and we saw magnificent rubber trees, enormous banians, and, in faot, practically all the luxuriant vegetation of the jungles of beem. Good roads have been made between the villagea, and the one by which we

I BIVEB mAI HKA : O W PABTY CB088ING M A " DUG-OUT " CANOE.

travelled waa evidently a main route, and, though of oourse not metalled, wae well kept and properly graded and drained, and we were now able to push on rapidly. No animal transport is used in this oountry, and there is no large tranmt trade, the villages being almost entirely self- sapporting and independent of imported goods.

The inhabitants of this region, which extends northwards aa far aa the boundaries of the Hkamti Long district, call themselves Pn-ma (i.e. Burma) men, but are in appearance, dreea, and customs, etc., identical with the Singphos of the Aaaarn frontier. We were, of courae, unable to converge with them people, but the few words of their language whioh we did acquire aerved us equally well among the

Singphos, and I believe that their language is the same. They are brown-skinned, of medium height, trnd slight build, with feature0 of the Burmese type. The men wear a straight waistcloth or kilt, and a short coat; their hair is either cut ehort at the neok or worn in a topknot, and they wear a broad-brimmed pelrn-leaf hat with a small wPid orown. They are armed with the " dha," but oocasionally carr~r apeare aa well, and we n o t i d a few flint-look tower musketa, one of which I obeerved was dated G . B 1815. The women wear a coloured cotton oloth similar to the Indian 'I sari," whioh they wind round them eo ar to form a dress. Their breeeta are bound tightly down by the oloth after the fashion of the Manipuri women ; but, like other natives of hot climatee, they are very free and eaey in their dreee, and dieplay their boeoms freely, often removing the cloth altogether above the waist. The clothing of both sexes is of local manufacture, aotton weaving being one of the moet important of the feminine duties. Women take a large and active part in the maintenance of the household; they spin yarn, weave oloth, cut gnrss for thatohing purposes, husk rim, and superintend the poultry yard, beeidea performing many of the lighter duties of the cultivator, such aa reaping and weeding, eto.

The honees of these people are similar to those of the Langsus, end, as with that tribe, each village hae a headman or ohief whose house is usually distinguished For its mperior size, and the number of buffalo- horns with which its portals are decorated, and by an arrangement of logs a short distance in front of i t somewhat like the letter W. Again, similarly to the Langsus, they burn their dead, the ashes of the oorpse being placed in an oblong wooden box, ahaped roughly like a mummy and approximately the size of the deed person's W y . This box is supported above the ground on bamboo treetlea, and is sheltered from the elementa by a roof of a more or less elaborate character according to the position the deoeaaed held ; thus the remaim of ordinary individuals are merely roofed over by a ma11 shed, whilst those of the headmen and their families are placed ineide large dome- shaped erectious of bamboos, thatched with palm leaves, and provided with a door through which the mourners can enter. The summit of the dome is decorated with a pair of buffalo-horns, or imitation one6 of wood. A small bamboo pedeatd i~ erected by the dde of the bier, and on this various offerings of food, eta., are plaoed, whilst tbe aln itself ie often wrapped in a blanket or other clothing as a protection against cold.

The reoeption we met with from these people was not altogether unfriendly, but they exhibited an extraordinary ohjeotion to d i n g as provisions, etc., and we often cnme near to a serious fracaa in our attempts to procure the neoeesariea of life. Their diet aonsista obiefly of rice, but they have poultry and eggs, fish, pork, eto., though they almost invariably denied the elietenoe of them artiolee, or produced

A JOURNEY FBOM YUN-XAX TO ASSAM. 171

them in euoh minute quantities as to be neelees to ue, whilet demanding ewrbitant prices; consequently we had to exist largely on rioe during our pessege through their country. They are not a trading people, and they had no wiah to deal with ue, whilat they undoubtedly looked on ua w i t h mpioion and feer. Here, ae amoogst the Langwe, them ie a greet demand for opium, and I have no doubt that one reason we p d without moleetation waa b u m of our reputed charaoter of opium dealers bound for Hkamti. In connection with this, i t ie intereating to note that the Chinae appear to have traded throughout thb oountry, even as far es the Hkamti Long distriot. We were told that thin was

=QE BCIKKE IN TBE V W Y OP THE NYAI HKA. HODBE ABD ZiATIVE8 ABE LbXOSU OB EIIblPB. THE MAXi WITH THE OWN I6 OrW OP YY CHINESE EEBFANTE.

I the case, and occamonally we oame aoroee men who knew one or two Chinese worde; the Chiwse mode of addreee " Lao-ban" wm often applied to my servantu, who were epoken of as Kuang-tung men (i.6. Untoneee).

The climate of thim region in January and February was warm and

! moint; the daily mean temperature waa only about 55" Fahr., but the humidity made the air very oppreeeive, and there were frequent thunderstorms.

! We came in eight of the Mali Hka on the morning of February 2, ' when we notioed a phenomenon whioh appears to be of frequent

i ocowence in this diatrict. Our route was at a coneiderable elevation above the valley of the river, and we looked out over a vast aea of

172 A JOURNEY FROM ~ K - N A N TO ASSAM.

dense milk-white mist, which completely screened the river and the low- lying ground before us, only the top of the hilla protruding above it like islands. Par away to no&h and west etretohed a high wall of wow- clad mountains-those of the Patkoi and Namkin rangee -forming a huge semicircle, as i t were, whioh barred the way to India and Tibet; above the miet all was clear and bright, and the snowy bamers on the horizon glittered in the morning sun, whilst below us all was hid from view by the miet. I t was a striking and curione sight. About 11 am. the mist slowly rolled away, and we now enjoyed a epeoious view of the valleys before us. These morning misb are of dense white vapour saturated with moieture, which falls pattering on the leavea of the trees like drops of heavy rain. They are probably of a mdarious charaoter, and some of our party suffered from that malady during our stay in this region. Similar miets are common in Aeeam during the cold weather, and I noticed a like phenomenon in some of the valleys of the Sigpho country on the borders of that provinoe.

The Mali Hka is very different in character to its deter stream, the Nmai Hka. I t is comparatively shallow, its maximum depth being only 20 feet, and i t is much broader, whilst its current is lean swift, and ita discharge is only some 13,000 cubic feet per second, or lees than half that of the Nmai Hka. Unlike the Nmai Hka, whioh is confined by steep and rooky banks, i t flows between low banka of earth, which are covered in dense jungle ; its waters are olear and of a dark olive-green hue, and they abound with h h . There are rooks and rapids which prevent navigation, but ita bed at this point (lat. 26' 21') is chiefly of sand and clay. The river is apparently not subject to any greet'riee in i d - time, its high-water murk being only eome 5 feet above the water-level.

Beyond the Mali Hka we turned northwards, following what is a main trade route from British Burma to the Hkamti Long dietriot. The jungle now became thicker, and olearings less frequent, whilst roads only existed in the immediate vioinity of villagee, the route otherwise being a mere jungle path which often loet itself in streams whose course it followed. At length, eome ten days later, after marohing for two days through an uninhabited belt of jungle, we emerged at Intew, in the Hkamti district, and a day's maroh farther we reaohed the town of Langnn, from whioh point I had determined to attempt the pawage of the Chaukan pass.

We now found ourselves in a country whioh, though in most respects similar to that we had just passed through, is populated by a distinct tribe or m e who boast of a king, whose capital at Putau is also called Hkamti. We were now on comparatively well-known ground, the kingdom of Hkamti having been explored. by a survey party from India in 1895, under Woodthorpe and Macgregor, of whom we found trsoee in Langnu, by Errol Qray in 1892, and by Prince Henry of Orleans in 1896.

A JOURNEY FROM YUN-NAI'J TO ASSAM. 173

Lsngnu is a town, or rather a oolleotion of four villagee, on the right benk of the Nam Kin, a tributary of the Mali Hka, and ie the head- quarter~ of the " Chowpa," or headman of the enrrounding distriot. On arrival there we were reoeived in R most oordial faahion; we were invited to atay in the Chowpa'e" honee, and were fumiehed with ample eoppliea AB eoon, however, aa it leaked out that we were bound for India, all sorts of di5ooltiea were pot in our way, and neither guide6 nor cooliee were forthcoming. The maye whioh I p o d showed two villagea on the Hkamti aide of the Chaukan pess, and the Hkamtie furnished me with the names of ten etagee on the route, whioh seemed to imply that i t waa inhabited. Accordingly, after spending a day in fmitleae efforta to obtain tranapurt, we etarted

EOU8E OR THE HEADMU4 OR "OHOWPA" O P LANONU, IH THE HKAWl'l DISTBIOT.

b

for the pem without guides, osrrying a eupply of rioe eofaoient for a week.

A few milee from Langnn the route entered an enormoue traot of jungle, whioh extends without interruption from thia point, eoross the Namkiu and Patkoi mountains hr down the valley of the Dihing rirer, with only a solitary break necu Kumki. We mamhed weatwards, groping our way through d e m , gloomy, and uninhabited foreat, where we followed the traolce of rhinooeroe, elephant, buffalo, tiger, and other wild beaate, and where our only guides were the oompaea and the faint trail o r " b h " with whioh the treee were marked at intervals. It rained the whole time, and we were attaoked by inoredible quantities of leeahen and poiaonons inaede. At night we oemped, or built ouraelvea shelters of bamboo, and kept firea alight to ward off the wild besets. h r five b y e we failed to aee any aigoa of the villages marked on the map, whilnt the irtagea mentioned by the 5 t i s proved to be the

174 A JOURNEY FROM Y~N-NAN TO ASSAM.

sites of long-extinot villagee, now distinguishable only by the remains of graveyards deeply buried in the forest, which showed no sigm of ancient clearings or cultivation. Food waa now running ehort, and it beoame nemmary to give up the attempt.' We returned by foroed marches and on very short rations, and with difficulty succeeded in regaining Langnu just ss our supplies gave out.

The coolies were so erhaaeted and footsore after this experience that we had to halt for a week a t Langnn. Provisions were oolleoted, and, by means of the bribe of a gun, guides were obtained, and on Moroh 2 we set out on a w a n d attempt to orom the Chaukan. Again we entered the jungle, but after another period of wandering the guides proved incapable and unable to find the route over the pessee, so that, in spite of having ample supplies, we were at length obliged to return once more. Thia time, however, we did not reaah Langnn, aa before emerging from the jungle we enoountered a party of Hkamtis who were setting out on a journey to Aseem to bring back an elephant for one of the 1-1 headmen, and, after some palaver, we arranged to attaoh oumlvee to their party and travel in company. Some of the oooliee were too weak to go on, and we had to allow them to return to Langnu, which meant that their loads had to be thrown away, as we were already laden to the utmost.

This third attempt proved suooemful, and at length, on Maroh 15, we crossed the watershed of the Dihing and entered what is, geo- graphidly speaking, Assam. We found that the villages of Mokosbat and Galut no longer exiat, though we camped on their dtea, and that the route over the Chaukan paw is now d i e d in favour of one whioh oroases the neighboaring height of the Songsan Bum, whioh, though somewhat longer, is said to be eaaier. We followed the climbed route, and had to frequently cut our way through the thiokly growing bamboos and fallen trees, eto., ao that our progrees wae neoeeserily very slow, especially as the natives themselves had the greateet dii%onlty in find- ing the traok, and frequently lost their way. Altogether we were nineteen days from the time we left Langnu on our aeoond venture until reaching the first village on the weetern side of the pees, end during most of that time we had to travel on short rations, whilet the rain fell almoet continually. Frequently there were heavy thunder- storm~, and on the heights we experienced heil, and sometimes even mow.

Our oompanions, the Hkamtis, travelled in the moet leienrely fashion, and observed eeveral curions customs, some of which were doubtless based on praot id experience as well es on superstition. Thns they prohibited us from burning bamboos until they had been split or notched, so es to allow the air and water to a p e , as the loud reports which they would otherwise make were said to be infallible rain-producers-an idea whioh, considering we were among the doode, and H an extremely rainy locality, was probably not devoid of reaeon.

A JOUBNEY FBOiM TUN-XAN TO ABEAM. 176

They alao forbade ua to speak above a whieper on the mountaim, es they said that if we made a noiae we should certainly have rain. Later on, however, when we had d m n d e d to lower levela, theee. prohibition8 were withdrawn. On the eummita of mountains, or after epeoially difficult undertakinge, euch ae the paeeage of rivere, etc., prayere and offeringe were made, the latter being placed on emall bamboo pedeetab, md consisting of a little rice or eome leaves or p e a .

The long eojourn in the jungle and oontinued ehort oommone told severely on our Liao ooolies, who became terribly weak and sickly and dispirited, and it wae a greet relief when we at length emerged auddenly from the foreat and found ouraelves in a long grase-grown valley, with low hille to the south, and a lofty range of enow-clad monntaine to

BIVEB SCENE NEAB LAXOIU, IN TE& HKAMTI DISTBIOT.

I

1 north of ua. The route now followed the b a n k rod often the bed, of the Dihing, and we eoon reached Knmki. Kumki ie a village of eome 200 to 300 inhabitante on the left bank of the Dihing ; ita inhabitante am Singphos, a tribe which ie ao identical with that whioh I have already described as inhabiting tLe baain of the Mali Hka, th t there is no need for further description. Our reoeption by them was not pleasent, and we had to nee threats in order to obtain food. Five day8 more of jungle travelling, aooompanied by the umal amount of rain and leeohee, eta , brought ns to the Dihing again, where, owing to the river b e i i in flood, i t wae impoeeible to ford it, and we were thua in

, meaawable dieten- of etarvation, as our supplies were almoet ex- hoW, and there were no villages on our aide of the river. Fortu- I

1 nately, a band of ?tlishmia who we encounbred were in the r m e plight, and conetrnoted a rope bridge by which we were enabled to or088 to the 1 other bank.

The method of oonstruction wan interesting. First a thin atring of split cane about $ inch in width was prepared, and a round pebble lrecarely feetened to one end of it. Then the experts of the party exeraised their &.ill in hurling it aoroes the river. The Dihing a t this point wae about 100 yards aoraae, ao that the operation wae not easy.

176 A JOURNEY FROM Y~N-NAX TO ASSAM.

The thrower whirled the stone round and round by a edc ien t length of etring, end then, when it had aoqnired enough momentum, hurled i t with all hie foroe aoroea the river, where i t waa made feet by some oompetriota who had come to the aseistanoe of the party. Then three ropee of whole cane, about 9 inch in diameter, were hauled eoroea by meana of the etring and made faat to tree-trunks on either bank, eo ae to form a triple rope of adequate strength. The bridge was now ready, and loops of oane were made and tied over the rope. The peeeenger mts in the loop, and k u l e himeelf aorose baokwards (i.e. head h t ) by his hands, propelling himself by hie feet a t the aame time. When women have to o m , they are trussed on to the rope m that they annot fall off, and then have to haul themeelvee acroee by the arms only, their feet being tied on the rope. The Miehmia an>esed b t , and accolopliehed the feat ekilfully enough ; but i t is not eaey for an amate- eepeoially when there is a boiling torrent mme 20 feet below one, and we found i t difficult and exhausting work.

Aorosa the river our troubles were nearly over, but i t wee etill a day'e mamh to the first village, and between us lay the Daphapani river, where we again found oureelvee out off by the swollen etream from the food we required. Fortunately, before matters h m e deeperate, we were relieved by a band of friendly Singphoa, who provided ua with food, and raftad us aoroee the river ee m n as the waters had subsided mmewhat. We were now on Britieh territory, the Daphapeni being the limit of effeotive British rule in thie direction, and from thia point we descended the Dihing without difficulty, and a week later reaohed Sadiya, and once more oame in oonteot with civilizetion

The d t a of the journey I have deeoribed oan only be gauged by e x p t geographers, and I am well aware that, in oomparieon with the time occupied and the distance oovered, they are inaigniiicest; never- thelees,.some new areaa have been explored, and the existence or p d - ability of a direct trade route from China to India demonetreted. The c o r n of trade, like water, follows the line of leaet reeietenoe, and our diffioulties in the Balwin valley were largely due to our attempta to explore a region in whioh no trade exists. When following the trade route aoross the Pien-ma pees through the beein of the Nmai Hka, we encountered no nerioue diffioulties, exoept thoee due to our ignoranoe of the language and the di~trnetful attitude of the nativee-the latter, I believe, being largely due to the former awe, thongh, doubtlem, ebo based on a well-founded fear of foreign invasion end interferenoe. Our passage t h m g h the 8ingpho oountry and into the Hkamti dietriot was aleo a main t d e route, whioh, as already pointed out, has been used by Chinese traders ae well as by the inhabitants of the oountry. Thh die- triot is both fertile and populons, and the phyeioal charaoterietioe of the country render i t suitable for the oonstrnation of linea of oommunioation, euoh aa railways and r d e .

A JOUBHEY FROM NAN TO AS8AM. 177

The ohief otmtaole on the route to India ie undoubtedly the vaet tract of uninhabited jungle between Hkamti and h m ; yet it is to be noted that a trade route exieted here at one time, aa is ehown by the remaine of the old villagee which are% be wen on the present traok, whiht even now there is a mall trickle of trade (passing chiefly by the Songsan route), which might poeeibly be enlarged. The actual trade ia of the amalleat, for the reason that any one making the journey haa to carry rnich a large stook of proviaiona ae to preolude the possibility

THE " CHCWPA " 08 READYIN OF LANQHU, IN THB HKAXTI DIBTBICT.

of carrying much merchandim - though I found that Indian tea, blanketa, and matohee were known and need in Hkamti-but parties of natives are in the habit of paaaing through to haam and back from

I time to time. The ohief difilonlties of thie forest traok are the laok of roede and

mppliee, and the heavy rainfall, whilet the lofty rangea of mountains ntrictly limit the number of possible mtee. I head of two other routee beaides the one I travelled by, viz. one over the Songean Bum, and one

1 through Manm and down the valley of the Daphapni river, the latter I being that followed by Prinoe Henry of Orleans. Weat of Kumki the

eonfiguration of the oountry ie not exceptionally difficult, and I believe

178' A JOUBBEY FROM *-NAB TO AS8AX

i t would be quite feeeible to conetract a railway up to the Dihing valley to a point near Kurnki, and then though the Patkoi hills, and down the valley of the Sinan Hka.

Although, as I have shown,. I travelled by what ia probably the eaaiest and moet direat route from Pun-nan to Aesam, yet it should not be suppoeed that snoh a journey is an easy one. bs in any expedition of this kind, our ohief difficulties were those of commisseriat and transport, for thongh in China we found no diffioulty in obtaining suppliee and the means of oarrying them, and in faot were m i v e d with cordiality and treated with reepect and hospitality, yet almost every- where west of the Salwin the reverae was the cam, and, thongh in a land of plenty, i t wee often only poeeible to obtaiu food by high- handed methods whioh only neoeeeity could warrant, whilst i t waa fre- quently impossible to recruit Coolies for transport purpoees. I, of c o w , paid liberally for all suppliee, but more than once we had to " oommendeer " rice, eto., in spite of tbe obviody falee statements of the villagere that no kind of provisions were to be obtained.

Many of our difficultiee aroee from ignorance of the language, as, although I speak Chineae and Hiudaetani, neither of those languages were of uee much beyond the frontiers of the two empirea On the other hand, I believe that i t was the emallness end insignificance of my party which enabled us to travel m freely through the districts where white men had never been awn, and where hie preeenoe ia regarded with the greateat suspicion. That we never enoountered active hoetility ie creditable to the natives, and elso, I think, in eome degree to the various members of my party, and in cmncluaion I must again record the admiration I feel for the pluck and fidelity of my two Chinese servants.

A JOURNEY FROM YUN-NAN TO ABEAM.

APPENDIX A.

The accompanying crow-sections were all taken in the following manner : (1) The width of the river wan trhgulated from a meaeured base. (2) The aoundinge w e n tmken with a me& rope, marked at every 6 feet, and weighted with a ~~; the interoak between mundinge King judged m as to be as equal aa p08- aia (3) The sections were taken on a etraight reach of the river not in the immsdi&e vicinity of the rapids. (4) The epeed of the current was measured with a bamboo float about 10 feet long, weighted at one end to keep it upright and i m m e d abont 6 feet below water. Thia 0oet waa placed in the water from a bmt or raft at the approximate point of maximum velocity, and its epeed wae timed between stakes on the bsnk 300 feet apart.

RIVER MEASUREMENTS -.- I IorixonUl and rerrical sa le Iinch-150frrt

Dews In fee&

8ALWlN Spud or wrr.nr - 2 5 feet p r ucond L n e o f cress secrton -10.293 q. Ceer

. . . dl6 I.!&. . . . w y V w L b n b D I S LO 7 I S

NMAl HKA Speed o f current - 2 6 CeeL p r scan6 Are. of cra.r ..c~oon - 0.454 so fee^

MALI HKA or r v ~ n m r - 1.8 q e a per u c o n d

AM. .-t ere., secruon -1.030 $9 h e r ... .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .,,Or..L- . . . W N . 1 I..."'...........: - I( U m m ma m LDI mL m M ISh I 1 1 , U ---

C _ - 14 and elor k d

T h e methods are, of conrse, only rough and approsim8te, and it would &aslore be uselew to make very elaborate calculations of the diecharge of the river. h m d n g , however, that the velocity obeerved waa the maximum, the mmn velodty, .s gim by occopted fomulle and codrmed by local exprimce, WM be about 0-8 of the maximum; and adopting thin ratio for the Nmei Hka

.

lad Mali Hka, we get approximate diecharges of 28,000 and 13,000 cubic feet per Moond nspectivdy. In the case of the Salwin, the section of the bed hi ao W w and deep, and the current consequently eo uniform, that I have talcen 0.9 u a probeble ratio, which gives a diecharge of 23,000 cubio feet per w n d .

A JOURNEY FROM YBN-NAN TO ASSAM.

APPENDIX B.

14 ! Do. r5 1 Near Meng-oh 16 Lw-Yang-Ka 17 At B.Ma-li-Khe

1 Meng-be-hien 2 , Mien-Tien

Do. : Yunplung-a0 6 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 I S

-- -

Do. Fei-lung-0bi.o La-he

Do. Lo-kou

Do. Moheo

Do. Lanohie-ti

Fair. Good. Good. Fair. Fair. Good. Donbtfd. Ctood. Good. Doubtful, rLy hmq. Feir. Doabtfol. Doubtful, rky very

bsy. (food. Glood. Moderate. Qood.

Ex-meridian dtr. of Polaria Meridian dt. of Formalhsut Ex-meridian P~J. of Polarie Meridian mlt. of Shim Ex-meridian mlta of Polorin Meridian mlt. of Sun Ex-meridian alt~. of Polaria Meridian alt. of Bigel

MGdian i t . of ~ l b h e Ex-meridian mlta. of Polaria Meridian elt. of Bigel Meridhn rlt. of Sun

n n n

~ & d i a n Zt of sigel Meridian alt. of Sun

-- The above obervations were made with a 7-inch sextant (by Stanley & Ca)

and a mercurial artificial horizon, timw being noted by a Benson'e half ohronometer Field * watoh.

O I I

25 16 1 23 56 5!! 23 38 12 2548 9 W 48 48 25 47 20 25 51 40 25 50 22 25 50 46 25 52 35 26 5 8 26 2 W 26 29 42

26 29 19 26 2 9 26 12 50 26 21 10

APPENDIX C.

No. I SWlon.

1 I Fei-lungshiu, 2 I%-ha 8 Lu-Kon 4 Do. 5 Lan-ohia-ti

7 Right bank of Ma-li-Kha ' in lat 26O 21' 10"

SunE. 9 9 1 0 1 2 Star E. 99 8 39 Star W. 98 54 52 , Sun E. 98 55 5 1 sun E. , 99 10 33 ,

Sun E. 97 57 43

Ohaervation good. ,, rn n 9s

0~4;vBtion ;;ood, but e m r of watoh doabtfnl ; rejeot.

O h m t i o n P and enor of watoh etermined ap- adcnlating

c e ; l i % c e d , Observation good, but d t

probably too high.

The above obeermtiolls were made with a 7-inch eextmt (by Stsnley & Oo.) and a mercurial horizon. The method used was tpet of chronometric differentxi of time, G.M.T. being kept on a Benaon's half chronometer "Field" watch. In the caue of the sun, the mean waa taken of six obeervntionn of the upper and lower limb at ten-aecond intervals of arc; and in the case of bra, the mern of mven o k a t i o n e at t e n - w n d intervals of w was taken. Unfortunately, the wetch proved eo mmptible to changes of temperature, in epita of ita being fitted with a Brt?guet spring and other improvement+ that ite rate was emtic, and as I was not able to rate it at d c i e n t l y short intervals, the longitudw I obtained oan only be considered as roughly approximate.