APPENDIX A 



From Daphagang to Sadiya, route known. From Daphagang to Bishigaom, 

 residence of a Singpho chief, two to two and a half days' march (about 1 7 miles, 

 no village on the route). After leaving Bishi, good level road. 



From Bishigaom to Kagam, cir. 6 miles. Kagam to Mounan, 10 miles. 

 (At N'ling, half-way, route practicable for elephants.) 



From Nounan to Ninglou, cir. 18 miles (residence of principal Singpho chief). 

 Ninglou to Sadiya by water (Dihing and Brahmaputra), 8 hours. Sadiya, 

 residence of an Assistant Political Officer : first Hindu town and European post. 



OBSERVATION.S ON THE CLIMATE OF NORTH-WEST YUNNAN 

 AND OF THE UPPER BASIN OF THE IRAAVADI 



In Yunnan above the 26th lat. the two seasons (dry and rainy) are much 

 less marked than farther to the south. The upper valley of the Mekong (from 

 the 25th to the 27th lat.) is very dry ; it rarely rains there even in the summer. 

 In the region of Hsiao-Ouisi, Tsekou, and .Atentse (27° to 28° 30' N.) there are 

 two rainy seasons — one from July to the end of September, and the other (the 

 stronger) in February. The valley of the Salwen is covered with thick vegetation, 

 and must be damper than that of the Mekong. In the basin of the Irawadi, 

 which shares the climatic conditions of Indo-China, the two seasons are well 

 marked ; nevertheless, the foregoing tables show that in the height of the dry 

 season we had rain on fourteen days out of sixty-seven (from the ist of October 

 to the 7th of December). According to the natives, the summer rains are both 

 long and abundant, a fact which the e.xuberance of the vegetation strongly confirms. 



In all these regions (at any rate in the seasons when we traversed them) the winds 

 are rare and light in force. In the upper basin of the Irawadi a perpetual calm 

 reigns throughout the winter, the blasts from the north being stopped by the 

 lofty range which separates this basin from the high ground of Thibet. 



Except on a few crests (the summits of Likiang, Dokerla, Pemachou, etc.), 

 there are no perennial snows on the mountains of North-West Yunnan. But the 

 great chains which divide the Mekong from the Yang-tse-kiang, the Mekong from 

 the Salwen, the Salwen from the Poula Ho, and the Poula Ho from the Irawadi, are 

 covered with snow from December to May, and cannot (at least the three last) 

 then be crossed. In the winter it is impossible to pass from the Mekong to 

 the Salwen farther north than the col of Fev-long-kiao at Lao. 



[Supplementary c;eoi;kai'hic.\l Information. 



405 



