FROM TONKIN TO INDIA 



palm grove. Down on the level the sun struck bright on the 

 streams that watered the rice-fields and bananas, and the butter- 

 Hies and birds of gaudy hues reminded us that we were not in 

 northern latitudes. Muong-le proved to be a small town of less 

 importance than Isa, wholly Chinese, and built on a slight hill in 

 the centre of a plain, with the usual characteristics of wood or 

 plastered houses. We found good quarters in a sufficiently clean 

 granary belonging to an inn. The inhabitants lost no time in 

 telling us that two Frenchmen had been here only a few months 

 before, coming from Lai-chau. It was not difficult from their 

 description to identify one of these as Pavie, even had they not 

 held his name in remembrance ; the other was mentioned as 

 wearing epaulettes, and was known to the Chinese as Ma. Here, 

 as everywhere in my travels where I crossed his track, I was 

 struck by the admirable impression Pavie had left on the people 

 with whom he came in contact. The French cause in Indo- 

 China has reason to be grateful to this pioneer for the esteem in 

 which the name of France is held. It was always a matter of 

 regret to me that I did not meet his expedition, to shake hands 

 with fellow-workers in our common aim. We congratulated our- 

 selves on the intersection of our respective routes, however, so that 

 each in his research would fill in many blanks on the map of the 

 region extending from the Chinese Song-Coi' to the Mekong. 



During our thirty-six hours' stay at Muong-le our relations 

 with the inhabitants and the mandarin were excellent. We ex- 

 changed visits of courtesy and presents with the military com- 

 mandant, "litajen." Nor did the crowd incommode us as at Isa. 

 As the 29th was market-day we were able to gain much insight 

 into the trade of the district. Skins of panthers, at one tael 

 apiece, were common, also of the wild cat and ant-eater. I 



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