FROM MONGTSE TO SSUMAO 



against the trunk ; the whole structure being thoroughly Laotian. 

 As I surveyed this mark of reverence to some woodland deity, my 

 thoughts reverted to a like worship paid by our ancestors, the Gauls, 

 to the eenii of the forests. It is not one of the least interesting 

 studies of the traveller to trace thus among the savage races of 

 to-day the past history of people now advanced in civilisation. By 

 self-same paths our forefathers set out. Here, separated by 

 thousands of years and hundreds of leagues, one could detect a 

 common starting-point for races of mankind dissimilar in manners 

 as in feature. Might we not look to find as we journeyed west- 

 ward away from China proper and penetrated the abodes of 

 men still more remote from the fringe of civilisation, — ^just as in 

 the islands north of Japan or in the higher latitudes of Siberia, — 

 habits and scenes from the iron epoch, nay, even from the age 

 of stone . . . ? 



A tedious gradual ascent and the crossing of a spur led us on 

 the 2nd (April) to the edge of the basin of the Mekong River. A 

 deep valley lay at our feet, but in the swathing mist it seemed to 

 our eyes one vast void. Our men showed an inclination to stop 

 short at a village on the pretext that there was not another for 

 twenty miles, but we made them proceed : a roof of stars was pre- 

 ferable to a grimy shelf It was not until 6.30 p.m. that we came 

 in touch of water, and by it pitched our tent. Later, Briffaud and 

 the " Doctor," as Roux had been dubbed at Tonkin, employed 

 themselves by the light of an opium lamp, which we used to 

 economise candles, in working out our longitude by an observation 

 of the moon and Jupiter. We had to-day accomplished three 

 hundred and twelve miles of exploration. We could not have 

 guessed at Manhao that we should reach Ssumao by an entirely 

 new route. Our journey had thus had unforeseen development, 



79 



