FROM TALI TO TSEKOU 



anyone of the district to follow us farther in a westerly direction. 

 One of our other mafous prepared himself for all eventualities by 

 ofiering to the gods in the pagoda where we were, rice, tchaotiou, 

 and pork, and by burning candles before the two altars with 

 repeated prostrations. 



From Yiin-long the route ascended over a low shoulder into 

 a wooded and turfy country, in which we passed through a 

 Lolo and Minchia village of long arched dwellings. Straw was 

 drying in the yards stacked on horizontal bars in layers to 

 a height of 19 feet, and covered by a small pent-roof. As the 

 village was crowded with another caravan, we encamped beyond 

 in a fir-grove hard by a torrent, and enjoyed the seclusion and 

 magnificent prospect at a height of 7,800 feet. This enjoyment 

 would have been more generally shared by the rest of our troop 

 could they have divested themselves of some foreboding for the 

 future. Only that morning, in conversation with Joseph, I had 

 learned of a road which branched northward from the bridge over 

 the Mekong. "But," said he, "we must not think of taking 

 it, because there's sickness in the district ; because the mountains 

 are stupendous ; because, in a word, the Lissous are there ! 

 I was content to abide the i.ssue, and let them talk. 



The 26th (June) was very hot, and the glare from the 

 slaty rock trying ; but in the afternoon we came in sight of 

 the muddy Mekong, and presently joining its course, turned up 

 the left bank. The volume of its waters that came tumbling 

 down with tumult and in waves shouldering each other as it panic- 

 driven strengthened our previous conception of its force. We 

 found the bridge a little farther ; it was merely a footway on 

 chains between two stone piers such as we had seen before, 

 with the river forming a boiling rapid underneath. The bridge 



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