584 ANNUAL, REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 



like the Chinese, used colza or other oil for illumination; we use that, 

 and also pine cones held in the hand or fastened to something as you 

 have seen." 



I then called attention to the fact that coal, so abundant in these 

 regions, is little used by the Lolos. In the clan of Vou Ka they have 

 used it for only the past 40 years. In the different districts that I 

 traversed, places far from the centers and inhabited by various 

 tribes, I never saw them make anything but wood fires. 



The chapter on religion is short, but Vou Ka declares that the 

 tribes have no poussahs (grotesque religious images) such as the 

 Chinese have. They never pray in his clan nor in others elsewhere. 

 His god is his tuft of hair rolled up in his turban. This is his "corne." 

 "Is the god represented by the tuft itself, or does he dwell there as an 

 immaterial being?" I could not make my meaning clearer, yet Vou 

 Ka appeared not to understand it; such fine distinctions were beyond 

 his comprehension. When they make an offering, there is nothing 

 religious or sacred about it; they drink some brandy mixed with 

 blood, the blood of a dog that has been sacrificed. 



Loutze Ming and others had given me some information upon the 

 penalties or crime in the tribes or clans and I wished to hear them 

 confirmed by Vou Ka. He explained them clearly, summing up as 

 follows the common law — there is no written law: 



He who has killed should die. If there should be any attenuating circumstances 

 they permit the criminal to execute himself either by water or by the rope, but if 

 he hesitates they drown him at once in the mountain torrent or else hang him. There 

 are no such horrible tortures as one finds among the Chinese. 



Vou Ka confided to me that his people have none of the loose 

 manners of the Chinese, and it is true. The Lolo has a very high 

 idea of that sentiment which we call modesty. 



This modesty is so real, so deeply rooted in the intelligence of 

 these primitive people, that it is the depth of disgrace to a woman 

 and to all her clan likewise if she should expose her naked body. I 

 can cite a curious striking instance of this characteristic, really grand, 

 all that a genuine sacrifice involves. 



When two tribal enemies have long been in strife, so that frequent 

 and deadly encounters cause desolation and ruin among families, 

 with no hope of reconciliation, the wife of the chief of one of the 

 tribes resolves to sacrifice her female modesty, in order to bring to 

 an end the dreadful feud. Her decision made, she hastens by devious 

 paths, on the day fixed for the encounter between the two bands of 

 warriors, in order to reach the place before the fight begins. 



Quickly, then, none daring to hold her back, she casts herself 

 between the hostile ranks and in a becoming manner, in simple words, 

 beseeches the fighters to put an end to a carnage which has lasted 

 too long, which has threatened the annihilation of the brave and 



