FROM TONKIN TO INDIA 



in shape and size, to wliat are still found in the mines of Laurium, 

 the product of bygone Greek industry ; — another strange instance 

 of conformity between an ancient people of advanced civilisation 

 and a savage one of to-day. 



On the 1 8th (November) we stepped out freely along a shady, 

 sloping path, in which the hoof marks of buffalo became 

 increasingly frequent, and just as day was declining emerged all 

 at once upon a rolling sward of close-cropped grass. With cries 

 of astonishment, " Allais ! Allais ! " our men broke away, and 

 raced each other with their loads towards the camping ground. 



The cause of their boyish glee, — what they imprisoned in the 

 deep and narrow gorges of the Kiou-kiang had never in their 

 lives beheld, — what we ourselves had well-nigh forgotten for five 

 months in those pent-up valleys, — was — the level plain ! 



I'assing the Torrent of the Kiou-kiang. 



;o6 



