FROM TONKIN TO INDIA 



There is another form of sport after vultures. The season 

 for this is the winter, during the snows, when the birds are rendered 

 tame by hunger. Baits are put out, and the first comers that 

 pitch attract others. The men are in hiding, and, as soon as a 

 sufficient number is on the ground, fling a net over the flock, 



often bagging as many 

 as ten or fifteen at a 

 single cast. The birds 

 are quickly despatched 

 with sticks. Their fat 

 is highly esteemed for 

 its healing properties 

 for wounds, and vulture 

 feathers command a 

 good price from the 

 military mandarins. 



The Lissous are 

 cunning snarers, and 

 use their art in captur- 

 ing the monkeys, which 

 do much damage to the 

 crops, especially the 

 maize. A hollow tree 

 trunk or bamboo is 

 placed near the grain patch with a potato or Iruit in it ; the 

 marauder inserts his hand, but cannot withdraw it when closed 

 upon the dainty, which, rather than abandon, he holds on to, 

 and is caught. So they say ; but, like many mighty hunters all 

 the world over, the natives do not let an exploit lose in the 



telling, and on the frontiers of Thibet a good story is not spoilt 



228 



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L 







Another Tsekuu Christian. 



