SSUMAO TO TALI 



We decided on a short stage, to keep going, as far as tlie Lolo 

 village of La -li- chin. Here, before night -fall, to our no small 

 relief, a search-party brought in poor old Nam, none the worse 

 for his wanderings and a night spent in a tree, save for the 

 terror of panthers and an empty stomach. For the following 

 day we stayed where we were, among an interesting set of 

 people. They said they were Lolos or Chiantines, settlers here 

 from the West two hundred years previous, but declared they 

 had no books, and were not of the same stock as the Lolos who 

 had. Little information, religious or other, could be got out of 

 them, save that to the west there were the Kawas, the lekawas, 

 who resembled the Pais. (These are, probably, Shans or Laotians 

 of Upper Burmah.) Wandering about their village, I gradually 

 overcame their shyness, and excited their interest in a picture- 

 book of the Abbe David. They also recognised the Lady 

 Amherst pheasant, which they pronounced common in the vicinity, 

 and showed me how they trapped quail by means of a decoy in 

 a wicker basket. The ground is utilised to the hilltops, and after 

 dark the clearing fires were visible creeping up the mountain-sides. 

 The women were weavers after a primitive fashion by means of 

 a shuttle and two wooden pedals for the woof; and all used the 

 familiar spinning-wheel of the country. 



At our request, the villagers consented to dance at night, 

 and acquitted themselves in more varied and original sets than 

 the Pais. Men and women joined in a circle round two musicians, 

 who gave time and tune upon their gourd instruments, while an 

 old man regulated the figures from without. The movements 

 were executed in complete harmony with the measure : swaying 

 now this way, now that, waving their arms, poising for a moment 

 on one leg, then, striking the ground in cadence all together, 



lOI 



