TSEKOU TO KHAMTI 



an injunction from Tsarong against allowing us to enter Thibet, 



but he sent us by two of his Lamas gifts of tchang, flour, and 



butter, as well as other provisions for sale. These holy emissaries 



took frequent pinches of snuff from a little horn. In return I 



charged them with chromolithographs for their chief, and astonished 



them by exhibiting photographs of their Grand Lama at Lhaca. 



It was politic that they should take with them the tale that the 



French were evidently on good terms with them of Thibet. 



On the 23rd and 24th (September) we continued down the 



Salwen by a good road. As is the case lower, the valley is 



greener than that of the Mekong, with t^ora almost approaching 



that of warm countries. The trees were literally decked with 



tufts of orchids, whose jellow and brown spotted blooms hung in 



odoriferous clusters : this might appropriately have been named 



the Orchid Valley, a paradise for amateurs. Creepers abounded, 



one in especial with thick leaves and scented white waxen flowers, 



which 1 have seen in conservatories at home. Another shrub, 



too, I noted for its fruit, like the arbutus, but containing a 



delicious , cream. Djewan was our stage, and here we gleaned 



a few meagre particulars about the Kiou-kiang. Mention was 



also made ot a larger and further stream called the Nimer. The 



people told us that the son of the chief of Ngaihoa, whom we 



had seen as we passed through that district, had been seized by 



Lissous while trafficking on the Kiou-kiang. He had saved his 



life, but lost his merchandise. Most of the inhabitants of Djewan 



were Lissous, but pacific — at least towards us. Our host was a 



Chinese trader of Setchuen. He collected chiefly drugs, amongst 



others a large tuber found in the root of rotten pines called fouline, 



which is held in much estimation in Chinese pharmacy. 



After Djewan we worked westward again, and for two days 



265 



