On the Plateau of Yunnan 17 
know one word of French, or at least I could not put my 
tongue toit! It is very curious how one may grope for the 
simplest words in a language never thoroughly mastered 
in the past when one is learning a second language and 
hearing it spoken daily. It was annoying to think that 
I could have answered his questions in Chinese, but not 
in French; while on the other hand had I answered in 
Chinese I should have been still further humiliated when he 
spoke in his own tongue. Certainly the greatest difficulty 
in acquiring a language is to have the words instantaneously 
ready for use, and this can be accomplished only after long 
practice amongst the natives, never from books. 
At last I resurrected a few half-dead words and at- 
tempted a remark, but it was a deplorable failure and he 
corrected me with a faultless accent. Never had I felt 
more ignorant of French! And then “Vous étes Anglais! 
Je ne parle pas Anglais”! he said apologetically, shaking 
his head, but I did not believe him and kept quiet. He 
might have corrected my English too had | spoken in a 
hurry. 
This man was a Catholic and had been taught French by 
the priest in Tali. I sometimes wish our own missionaries 
would take the trouble to teach their evangelists English. 
At Tali I obtained the services of two more men, Kin 
and Sung, Chinese both of them, who were destined to 
follow my fortunes for the rest of the year, Kin in particular 
doing excellent service. On April 7 the mules were to 
hand, and we started off again, journeying northwards. 
W. T. 2 
