570 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 



capable of nourishing large herds of horses, mules, sheep, and goats. 

 In the mountains there still exist some beautiful forests, where oaks, 

 birches, and pines nourish, as well as the silver fir which covers the 

 summits. Up to 11,500 feet altitude there is a marvelous under- 

 growth of slender bamboos and rhododendrons, where hide a great 

 variety of animals — bears, wild boars, wild goats, antelopes, and deer. 



These people are chiefly hunters and herders. They have learned 

 agriculture from the Sifan and the Chinese, but spend no more time 

 and effort at it than is actually necessary for subsistence. What 

 they love most is constantly to roam in pursuit of wild animals. 



This beautiful mountain region is favored with an exceptional 

 climate. For a great part of the year, particularly in autumn and 

 winter, the sky is of a rare purity and clearness. Summer is very- 

 hot and the thermometer is said to go as high as 40° C. (104° F.), 

 both in the valleys and on the mountains up to a height of 5,600 

 feet, but the humidity is low. Winter, in the districts below 6,500 

 feet, is never severe, but, on the contrary, though at night the 

 thermometer may fall below the freezing point, it will rise dur- 

 ing the day to 15° or even 20° C. (59° or 68° F.) before sunset. In 

 February I registered temperatures of 25° C. (77° F.) in the shade 

 between noon and 2 p. m., but early in the morning it was less than 

 — 2° C. (28.4° F.). We may therefore class the climate as subject to 

 extremes of temperature, but at the same time decidedly dry, even 

 too dry in the valleys below 5,000 feet. 



In his daily life the Lolo mountaineer leads a simple and frugal 

 existence, content with his primitive shelter made of interlaced bam- 

 boo strips. The houses, made of rammed earth covered with fir 

 planks, seen in certain districts, are copied from the Chinese style 

 of construction, plainly deviating from the primitive huts. 



The chief feature of the Lolo hut is the hearth, located in the 

 center of the room, made of three triangular-shaped stones inclosing 

 a hole from 10 to 12 inches in diameter and 4 inches deep. At the 

 side, one often sees an elevation of three steps made of clay that look 

 like shelves; but it is more than that. It is a sort of altar on which 

 certain religious rites are performed, is the very sanctuary of the 

 hearth, the sacred s}nnbolic spot, after the fashion of the Greeks and 

 Romans, the consecrated place in the poor man's house where genera- 

 tions of ancestors have found their moral and physical being strength- 

 ened. 



Around this hearth the Lolo eats his buckwheat or oaten cakes, 

 boiled maize, or else some stewed meat that he eats when half cooked. 

 He also cooks the maize in cakes under the cinders. Oatmeal is his 

 principal food, that which he takes with him by choice when he goes 

 forth as a warrior or to engage in a feud. He fills a little bag of 



