36 Up the Mekong Valley 
the ankle would obviously be inconvenient to an active 
people like the Moso, who cultivate steep hillsides, and 
carry heavy loads a long distance to market—always a 
woman’s job. 
The women, as remarked above, adhere loyally to the 
tribal customs, particularly in the matter of attire, but the 
men, as is so often the case, have adopted Chinese dress, 
no doubt largely as a measure of convenience; and all the 
Mosos one meets with, along the main road at any rate, 
speak Chinese better than most other tribesmen who profess 
to do so. This is the case both with men and women, 
though usually while the men of a tribe can speak Chinese 
more or less, their women folk cannot. This is particularly 
true of the Tibetans in many places. 
The Mosos are a medium-sized race, the women being 
bigger and more healthy-looking than Chinese women; but 
though sturdy of limb—on the return journey I had several 
Moso girls as porters, carrying their loads by means of a 
strap passing round the forehead—their figures were never- 
theless trim. They may be of Tibetan origin, as is generally 
accepted, though the fact is by no means obvious from a 
superficial acquaintance. Personally I believe them to 
have come across the mountains from the west, and to be 
much more closely allied to the Lutzu and Lissu tribes than 
to the Tibetans; they appear to me to have attained high- 
water mark in the evolution of an emigrating jungle tribe, 
though it is well known they have been in their present 
home for several centuries. On the other hand they possess 
a written language akin I believe to Tibetan, and to some 
extent, particularly in the matter of dress and jewellery, 
resemble the Tibetans of the Pang-tsi-la region, though 
this may be simply owing to contact in the Yang-tze valley, 
unless indeed the so-called Tibetans of Pang-tsi-la are 
really Mosos. 
But free and unrestrained in their manners as are the 
Mosos, taking photographs of them is quite another thing, 
and they are not easily persuaded to stand up to the 
camera, at least not in the city under the scoffing eye of 
the Chinaman. I believe the little minxes know they are 
good-looking and realised that I was trying to put the fact 
on record, for with laughing eyes they sedulously avoided 
