FROM MONGTSE TO SSUMAO 



nated by the Chinese mandarin at Yuenkiang, and dependent for 

 his pay on farming the taxes of the district. In the dialect of 

 this part the Lolos are called Nesous — a name met with by the 

 traveller Bourne in other parts of Yunnan and Setchuen, and by 

 ourselves much farther on. Hence Nesou should be taken as a 

 subdivision of the general designation Lolo among the peoples of 

 China. These Nesous were established about five hundred years 

 ago, under Ming- la (at the end of the Ming dynasty), from Tiang- 

 Neu (Nang-king). This coming of the Lolos from the East was 

 confirmed to us later. On the other hand, we met with universal 

 testimony that when they first came to Yunnan they found the 

 Hou-Nis already settled there. Nowhere did I hear any other 

 place of origin assigned to the latter than Yunnan. Wishing to 

 affirm that they were the aborigines of Yunnan, the toussou 

 told me that the Hou-Nis had been in this province for over 

 three thousand years. He divided them into — 



Hei- Hou-Nis, 



D^-Hou-Nis, 



Lami-Hou-Nis, 



Bana-Hou-Nis, 



the last two not being found in this region. Polygamy is 



prevalent among the Lolos, but divorce is not admitted. The 



custom noted by Rocher, according to which the married woman 



quits her husband for several months after first cohabitation, was 



not in force here. Marriage is solemnised by drums and 



trumpets and killing of fowls, but there is no religious ceremony. 



Particulars as to creeds were always hard to obtain, especially 



with a bad interpreter like ours. But I gathered that the 



Lolos believed in spirits, in one more powerful than all, in 



heaven and hell, and in the existence and transmigration of 



6i 



