TSEKOU TO KHAMTI 



which we crossed the Salwen they styled themselves Anous ; a 

 little farther north, Melams ; and, advancing westward, at Tamalou, 

 Diasous. 



In the basin of the Kiou-kiang the mountaineers are termed 

 by the Chinese, Kioutses. They are closely akin to the Loutses, 

 possessing almost the same dialect. Their precise denominations 

 are successively Toulongs on the banks of the Kiou-kiang, 

 Tandsards by the river Telo, Reouans at Duma, and Louans at 

 Pangdam. The people of Khamti, that is to say the Thai's, know 

 them under the generic title ot Khanungs; and this is the name 

 marked on the English maps. The same Khamti Thais call the 

 Mishmis, Khamans. It is probable that the first syllable, Kha, is 

 identical with the name by which the Laotians describe the hill 

 tribes of Indo-China. Kha would mean a sort of domestic slave. 

 Finally, the Thibetans speak of the Loutses as Ngias (imbeciles). 

 The Loutse language differs entirely from the Lissou, and con- 

 tains but few Thibetan words. Its construction, too, is dissimilar. 



The Loutses relate their own origin thus : — There lived for- 

 merly on Pemachou (a mountain which we afterwards saw on 

 reaching the Kiou-kiang) a man and his wife who had nine 

 sons, each of whom in their turn married. One became king of 

 Thibet, and another king of Pekin. Then these two asked their 

 seven brothers for money. The latter refused, and proposed to 

 make war on them. But the mother interceded, saying, " I am 

 the mother of you all. Do not quarrel ; you seven ought to give 

 each a little to the two who are kings." Her counsel prevailed : 

 and that is how the seven, who peopled the district of the 

 Loutse-kiang and became the Loutses, came to render tribute 

 to China. 



Like the Lissous, the Loutses are not the owners of the soil. 



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