FROM TONKIN TO INDIA 



slippery ground went barefoot. As we threaded the upward 

 valley of the Mekong we passed through Tsedjrong, where our 

 friend the besse awaited us with a scraggy duck in his liand as 

 a present, nor was he above accepting a rupee in acknowledg- 

 ment. Beside the rice-fields which we traversed there grew a 

 plentiful crop of tares, the peasants professing that in addition 

 to their furnishing good feed for the cattle, by cultivating tlu-m 

 on the confines of their plots they prevent them overrLinning 

 the latter. 



At I 1.30 Fathers Soulie and Liard bade us adieu. Father 

 Dubernard continued with us a space longer. Clad in a velvet 

 vest and a large red hood, <! la C/iinoisc, and mounted on his 

 little white horse with red neck-tassels, the " Chief of T.sekou " 

 with his long white beard appeared like some patriarch of 

 bygone days, an object of veneration. At midday our men 

 made a halt of an hour and a half, much shorter than that of 

 our old caravan. None the less were the packs lifted off, a' 

 fire promptly lit, and the tea thrown into the pot to boil. The 

 beverage was then poured with some butter into a wooden 

 tube fitted with a strainer, and stirred with a long spoon. Each 

 man brought his porringer for his share, which, with a ration 

 of tsampa,^ kneaded into balls, constituted his simple repast. 



As we proceeded through the village of Regny the natives 

 that met us saluted us by clasping their hands, or more often 

 with palms u[)permost as if for an offering, and by inclining 

 their bodies. Among them was. pointed out to us one, a 

 hunter, who had committed several murders, but whom none 

 dared arrest. At a little distance from Fan-fou-pin superstition 

 marked the abode of a djin to which respectful perfumes are 



' Tsampa = millet (lour. 



