FROM TONKIN TO INDIA 



Tachin - lao hung upon the edge of a precipitous gorge. 

 Tachin-lao was surrounded by a rectangular enceinte of mud 

 walls, lo feet to 15 feet high, loopholed but not embattled. 

 Within, the houses were spacious and built of one storey on a 

 bamboo framework. As the majority of the population was 

 Chinese, we were not a little surprised that they held aloof and 

 left us in peace in our Buddha-daubed pagoda. The government 

 was in the joint hands of a mandarin, who was a Ting, and a 

 toussou for the Lochais. 



We heard that a few days before our arrival an Englishman 

 had been here, travelling from Ava in Burmah towards Mong- 

 pan and Mong-ka. He was engaged in marking the mountains 

 and rivers like ourselves, and had been seeking information. 

 This must have been the same that was at Ssumao before us. 

 Here he only crossed our path, and our route to the north was 

 still, as we hoped, untouched. Before leaving in the morning 

 two little mandarins dismounted at our pagoda and entered. An 

 attendant placed scented joss-sticks before the three altars and 

 spread carpets for his masters, who proceeded to prostrate them- 

 selves and kneel, while a third personage recited some prayers 

 in a loud voice. This ceremony lasted several minutes, after 

 which the mandarins turned their backs on their gods and 

 settled themselves to the enjoyment of their water pipes with 

 the air of men who had done their duty. 



From the heiohts which we now followed we obtained a good 



view of the features of the landscape about this part of the Mekong. 



We looked across a gorge so deep and abrupt that its bottom 



was not immediately visible, and over the top of the opposite 



ridge on to a succession of large valleys and chains running in 



parallel tiers to the glen at our feet. The aspect of the country 



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