FROM TONKIN TO INDIA 



centre a small wable like a bonnet, that allowed light to enter 

 and smoke to escape. At one extremity of the building was an 

 open platform under the eaves, which admitted more light hori- 

 zontally. Each dwelling ran from 80 to 130 feet in length, and 

 was erected on piles which formed commodious pens underneath 

 for the live stock. The whole village was arranged on a system 

 of parallels. From one point of view, with screens hiding the 

 foundation posts, the place seemed a conglomeration of circular 

 huts or big molehills as one sees in Africa. With their thiitch 

 they gave me the illusion at a distance of some herd of hairy 

 mammoths, arrested in their course by a sudden paralysis of 

 nature. 



The palace dominated the rest of the village, and was sur- 

 rounded by small gardens within a paling. Save in point of 

 size, it was very similar to the other domiciles, but had a second 

 roof with two dragons carved in wood at the corners. We were 

 ushered into a spacious hall beside the terrace. Tall wooden 

 columns 27 feet high ran up to the roof, and the chamber was 

 shut off from the rest of the house by a bamboo partition, on 

 which were hung black Hindu bucklers studded with gold, and 

 some lances. The beams were decorated with figures of tigers 

 and monkeys painted red, and on the lower parts of the pillars 

 were fastened horns of animals draped with strips of calico of 

 bright hues. In rear of this fringe stood the royal throne. It 

 was made of a long chest, on the front panel of which was 

 depicted a cavalcade of gods or warriors mounted on strange 

 beasts, evidently of Hindu design. On either side of its base 

 twin serpents reared their heads slightly in advance of a grotesque 

 squatting wooden effigy, in whose hands were a sword and a lance. 



Behind, a trophy of tiint- and match-locks was arranged. 



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