MEDICINE COLLECTORS 145 



and dreary chant, which described at length how 

 he had always worshipped the spirit of fire and 

 kow-towed to him. Then, for no reason which 

 we could discover, he embarked on an endless 

 dissertation concerning a little stick, represented 

 by a small red wand he held in his hand. How, 

 when he was a boy it was small, and he rode it 

 as a horse ; then, as he grew to manhood, the 

 stick grew until it was ten feet long. This, with 

 much pantomiming of hands, twiddlings and 

 jumpings. How he always carried it wherever 

 he went as his constant companion ; all the time 

 chanting in a continuous, dreary monotone. It 

 lasted about ten minutes, and was excessively 

 dull. 



On another occasion a band of medicine col- 

 lectors passed camp on their way over the moun- 

 tains. They were looking for rhubarb. These men 

 are always very badly paid by the medicine-buyers 

 at Minchow, where they take their wares. 



That same evening we experienced a bad thunder- 

 storm, just as we were turning in. The noise of 

 the hail on the tent was terrific, and at one time 

 we could not hear each other's voices, though but 

 a few feet apart. The boys had found some 

 phosphorescent wood, which shone quite brightly. 

 We heard in the morning that the cook had been 

 talking in his sleep, when he suddenly woke up 

 and saw this wood shining. He was very fright- 

 ened, and said to the doctor: "No wonder I 

 talked nonsense in my sleep. It must be dead 

 men's blood 1 " We never quite unravelled the 

 connection ! 



George one day killed a female musk-deer 



