TSEKOU TO KHAMTI 



vivacity, notwithstanding his ill looks, corrugated brow, and pro- 

 jecting jaw. And we owed as much to Seran-Seli ("eternal 

 life") as to anyone in the company — the man to unravel a 

 knot if ever there was one, who spoke Lissou and even a little 

 Kioutse, and having been in the Kiou-kiang valley before in 

 search of gold, had experience of the inhabitants. His description 

 of the gold-washing (on a left-bank tributary of the Kiou-kiang) 

 showed it to be but rough. The large stones were turned over 

 and the silt sifted for grains of the precious metal. Occasionally 

 a nugget as large as a haricot bean was found. The gravel 

 and slush were then strained on wooden shutters and the gold 

 remained. A man may collect sometimes a tael weight ( i ;l oz. 

 adp.) in a week. Both here and on the Loutse-kiang the 

 search is unrestricted ; on the Mekono- it is taxed. 



After chota pipes were lighted. The manufacture of these 

 bamboo pipes was a great distraction during our enforced delays, 

 and we had become adepts in the art. Then tents were struck, 

 the modest kitchen range stowed with excessive caution by old 

 Nam, and loads assumed. Anio apportioned the labour, and 

 we never heard a complaint ; on the contrary, the sick or tired 

 were often relieved by their comrades. Once under way, each 

 man went his own gait. The van on reaching a plateau got a 

 welcome rest while awaitino; the rearg-uard. At the close of the 

 da)', after the Thibetans had lent a voluntary hand to our 

 Annamites in strewing our leaf mattresses, came the best hour 

 in the twenty-four : we sat round the hres, wrote up our log, 

 drank tea, smoked and chatted with the men. Most of them 

 spoke or understood a little Chinese, and by aid of signs or a 

 pat on the back and a pinch of tobacco we established an 



excellent good-fellowship. 



281 



