TSEKOU TO KHAMTI 



" Realm of Rain," here would be the spot to study it. At length 

 we ran the stream to its source in a swamp. This was the col, 

 12,350 feet, and the limit of the basin of the Mekong, which we 

 were about to quit. The col marks a depression in the chain ; 

 above it and 

 around, the sum- 

 mits are of great 

 height. To our 

 left rose, grim 

 and grey, a for- 

 midable array of 

 fanged ridges, 

 presenting a 

 confusion of pin- 

 nacles like the 

 spires of some 

 Gothic monu- 

 ment. To the 

 highest of these 

 we grave the 

 name of Francis 

 Garnier Peak, in 

 memory of the ,, 



famed explorer 



I- , i\ T 1 Francis Gamier Teak. 



01 the Mekong. 



On the other side of this neck, and about 600 feet lower, 



we landed in a wide morass, impossible of circumvention, and 



had no choice but to plunge boldly through. The deep baying 



of a dog now betrayed the vicinity of a little hut, whence we were 



greeted with the Thibetan alarm-cry, "Hihihi!" However, the 

 R 257 



