FROM TONKIN TO INDIA 



The usual road to Ssumao and the West was by way of 

 Yuenkiang and Ta-lan ; so, when we turned our faces again 

 towards Manhao, Francois officiously was for setting us right. 

 But we purposely adopted this slightly longer route, which, though 

 known, is not marked on the maps. As we retraversed the plain, 

 strewn with iron-ore, we saw tlocks of grey cranes with black 

 heads, looking in the distance like peasants at work. With the 

 approach to the mountains the flora changed ; I found gna- 

 phalium, asters, pretty pink primroses, and by the side of these 

 plants of high altitudes some small crimson azaleas such as are 

 met with on the banks of the Black River. The weather, which 

 had promised well, suddenly changed, and we were caught in 

 a storm of hail. At once the songs ceased ; silently we plodded 

 in Indian file, the horses slipping and falling continually. It was 

 the beginning of our troubles. I dropped behind, and lost the 

 way. Rou.x came back and sought me in the dark ; we could 

 not see where to place our feet, and it was with difficulty and 

 many tumbles that we at length gained our camp. Rarely had 

 a cup of tea seemed so refreshing. 



The ne.xt day we were back again among the quaint Cone 

 Hills. Not far from here I noticed in a field a bier covered with 

 hay and surrounded with thorn branches ; the dead body awaited 

 transport over the mountain for burial in consecrated ground. 

 We shared our sleeping quarters that night with a caravan of tin. 

 At all the inns they feed the animals on chopped straw, so that 

 the sound of the cutter was going pretty nearly all night. As 

 the stage had been a short one, we had tasted the charm of 

 arriving early, and it was pleasant at sundown to get into the 

 open country far from the din of the caravan and the chatter of 

 the Chinese. I seated myself on a mound above the path, and 



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