SSUMAO TO TALI 



anything to break the tedious monotony. At midday on the 

 24th (April) the " Doctor " again left us, with one attendant, for 

 Mong-pan and Mong-ka, down on the right bank of the Mekong. 

 This few days' digression would enable him to settle several 

 points in the course of the river. 



On descending from some higher spurs we reached a gently 



■^^/^T- 



^ ^-''^7 



Roiix at Work. 



sloping tableland, and the road became more frequented. First 



we met a caravan of cotton, then some rice grinders, and a 



soldier carrying his sword in bandolier, and on his shoulder in 



place of a gun a bamboo, from the end of which dangled a green 



paroquet in a hoop. The plateau was enclosed by hills and 



bordered by two ravines, and resembled in its formation a glacier 



with its moraines. At the farther extremity the big village of 



10; 



