FROM TONKIN TO INDIA 



noted : she was bronzed, with a projecting brow and arched 

 eyebrows. Her eyes, instead of being lustreless, were deep-set 

 and straight, and the underHd was fuller than those of the 

 Chinese. Her nose was short, and wide at the base, and her 

 face broad at the temples and tapering to a pronounced chin. 

 Her whole countenance denoted greater sensibility and vivacity 

 than the Chinese, and was nearer in its general aspect to the 

 European type, reminding me of gipsies I had seen in Russia. 

 She was a Lissou. 



The toussou gave us particulars about other routes. Accord- 

 ing to him, there existed a path by the right bank of the 

 Salwen, which traversed first a large watercourse known as the 

 Long-Song-kiang, then the My-le-kiang, and ended in the Long- 

 Tchouan-kiang. It was difficult to identify these rivers. This 

 route was peopled by the Lansous, noted for the beauty of their 

 women, and the Pou-Mans, who live not by agriculture but by 

 hunting. We employed our rest in questioning the guide as to 

 the tribe to which he belonged. I studied the Lissou dialect, 

 which resembled that of the Lochais and the Lolos. By his 

 account, the Lissous came here four(.'') generations ago from 

 Nang-king, which accorded with a similar tradition among the 

 Lolos. Farther on we were to learn that the Lissous themselves 

 spoke of a country where they had formerly lived, where there 

 were elephants. They must, then, have come from the south. 



Our mules being all collected by the 4th (July), and our men 



rested, on the morning of that date we again moved forward. 



For the whole of that day we were in the Salwen valley ; now 



above, now beside the river. Few people were to be seen, and 



little cultivation ; rice, maize, and cotton in flower, which must 



be annual, as the plants were little more than a foot high. In 



160 



