FROM TONKIN TO INDIA 



Eulocjy on our interpreter would be premature here ; his merits 

 will appear in the course of our travel. Suffice it to say that 

 Joseph proved himself a man of sterling principle, integrity, and 

 courage, and that as each day advanced he became not only our 

 devoted servant but our friend. 



All being- then ready, on the afternoon of the 14th (June) we 

 set forth. Our course was still west by a road leading to the 

 Mekong. Once on the banks of the river we should have to 

 seek a way up the valley. The actual start was a lengthy pro- 

 ceeding ; each of our men had a last word to say to a parent or 

 friend. But at length we got away. 



Five hours later we parted from the Fathers, who convoyed 

 us so far on our way. It was not without real regret that we 

 said good-bye to these brave fellow-countrymen, whom we should 

 in all human probability never set eyes on again. The pang 

 was a mutual one. We might hope to see our country within a 

 few months; they, never. It must have needed some fortitude 

 to face that word — above all, in China. 



We proceeded along a paved causeway between the moun- 

 tains of Tsang-Chang and the lake, and we did not emerge from 

 the hollow during the first day, which closed on us in a clean 

 little Minchia village. On the next we continued to skirt the 

 lake, which narrowed towards the north, until it ended in a mere 

 reed-bordered channel, up which some boats were being poled. 

 The swamps stretched farther, diversified with hummocks ; it 

 seemed as if the lake proper, the basin of which was clearly 

 defined by the hills, must once have been more extensive. The 

 alluvial land of its bed, scarcely above the level of the water, 

 was cultivated with rice ; and many a hamlet and clump of trees 



appeared from the verdant surface ; the vista recalled some 



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