FROM TONKIN TO INDIA 



two mighty trees, a tight-rope dancer's line above the flood. A 

 wild-looking being was just about to step on to it, emerging from 

 I know not where. At sight of me he stopped short in startled 

 amazement ; then abruptly faced about, and, scrambling down the 

 left bank, plunged into the reeds and disappeared. The whole 

 scene called up before me descriptions I had read of travellers 

 in South America, and I pictured myself in for an adventure 

 with those ferocious savages of Aymard, who with snake-like 

 glide and stealthy bird-call creep upon you unawares. Putting 

 aside fancy, it seemed like enough we should make acquaintance 

 with savages. We were now in really undiscovered country: no 

 European had ever hitherto penetrated so far. 



It was near noon before we debouched upon the valley 

 proper of the Salwen, the gradients of the sides being less steep 

 than those of the Mekong. The Cheloung-kiang, Lou-kiang, 

 or Salwen, as it is variously called, flows at its base in an aver- 

 age breadth of 1 20 yards ; its waters are easily distinguished 

 from those of the Lan-tsang-kiang (Mekong), for while the latter 

 are reddish brown, the Salwen's are a dirty grey. At the point 

 where we struck it the current seemed less rapid than the 

 Mekong ; the temperature of the water was 66° Fahr. The 

 level of the Salwen is only 3,087 feet, or 1,625 ^^^^ lower than 

 the Mekong. Without admitting a shallower depth than is the 

 case, it is difficult to believe that so great a body of water can 

 issue from so short a course as that indicated by the latest 

 English map of Thibet, published in 1894. The impression we 

 derived was of a large river coming from far. 



We ascended the valley by a well-defined path to the neat 

 village of Loukou, built after the Chinese model. It was girt 

 with maize-fields guarded by palisades or mud walls. The 



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