FROM TONKIN TO INDIA 



is of Loutse origin, and the Lissous will sit for hours amusing 

 themselves with it. 



On the 3rd (August) we stopped at Fong-Chouan. The 

 Mekong here is forced into a complete S by rice terraces, having 

 on the left bank another large village called Ouei-ten. The eye 

 hailed with pleasure the reappearance of green cultivation after 

 the dreary spell of gaunt mountains we had passed. At our 

 midday halt Sao and Joseph exercised themselves with some 

 cross-bow practice. The weapon is made of very tough wood, 

 with a notch cut on the haft, and discharges featherless arrows 

 with sufficient force to pierce a tree at forty paces. The point of 

 the arrow is of wood, filled just above the actual tip with a 

 virulent poison extracted from a geranium-leafed plant ; the arrow 

 head being easily detached to receive the unguent, breaks off in 

 the wound. The natives are never without this arm, even at 

 their work in the fields ; many likewise carrying a sword about 3^ 

 feet long, rectangular at the end, and as sharp as a razor. 



At Fong-Chouan I inquired of Joseph the meaning of the 

 images and designs of Chinese pattern that filled the pagoda in 

 which we slept. He expounded them thus: — "Against the wall 

 you observe a table or altar on which are three panels. The 

 left-hand one depicts the Water King : clothed in yellow, with a 

 sword in one hand and a red sphere in the other, one of his 

 feet rests upon the head of a marine monster ; beside him crouch 

 two devils. In the centre panel is the Mountain King, the 

 greatest of the three : his head and his body are white ; he has 

 two faces, each with three eyes. The mouths are open, and dis- 

 close one tooth on either side longer than the rest ; they are for 

 defence. Upon his brow are red flames ; around his neck are 



hung miniature human heads. He has six arms ; the two upper 



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