CHAPTER II 



FROM MONGTSE TO SSUMAO 



Departure from Mongtse — Descent to Manhao — Cross the Red River — Mafou Fears — 

 Exploration — On the Right Bank ; Ascent — Difficulties with our Men — The Hou- 

 Nis — At Fong-chen-lin — Hospitality of a Chinese Mandarin — Hydraulic Pestles — 

 The Liutindjous — Hou-Nis again — By the River Side — District of the Pais — First 

 Appearance of Lolos — New Natives of the Miaotse Tribe — A Few Words on the 

 Natives of Yiinnan — Pretty Country by the River — Isa ; Particulars of — Hou-Ni 

 Adventure — Souto ; Discovery of Lolo MSS. — Fresh Facts about the Hou-Nis and 

 the Pais — At Lou-tchou ; Lodge with a Lolo Chief; Information concerning the 

 Lolos — Our Followers — Frangois — The Urchin — Victims of a Theft — Our Prisoners 

 — Death of my Horse — Difficult Passage of the La-niou-ho — Renewed Trouble 

 with the Mafous — More Natives, the Hatous — Passage of the Black River — Fire ! — 

 Muong-le — Halt at Muong-le ; Tidings of M. Pavie — The Market ; Trade Statistics 

 — Scene among the Mafous — On the Road again ; a Hailstorm, and its Effects — 

 Worship of the Wood Deity — In the Basin of the Mekong — Forest Bivouac — 500th 

 Kilometre — Chantzeu and his Steed — Pretty Scenery — Arrival at Ssumao. 



We quitted Mongtse finally on the 27th February. What we 

 did not take with us we left in the care of the consul, to be 

 despatched by caravan to Yunnan-Sen and Tali. By the same 

 route we were to receive a chest of a thousand rupees and some 

 photograph plates which had not yet reached Mongtse. 



Our start was the sio^nal for the letting off of crackers and 

 muskets. All this uproar, which is a conventional attention in 

 China on the arrival or departure of travellers, was not at all to 

 the taste of our horses, and caused them to be restive. In a 

 couple of months you might have fired a field-piece without 

 making the same worn-out beasts twitch an ear 



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