A Journey to the Salween 67 
journeys, when travelling with za, I found that the people 
were more ready to carry the loads themselves than to find 
the necessary animals; probably because the country is so 
poor and offers so little grazing land near by, that transport 
animals are scarce. Cattle, it must be remembered, are, 
with the sheep, taken up to the high alps for the summer. 
Mules are little used in S.E. Tibet; ponies are few even 
in large villages like A-tun-tsi; and donkeys, chiefly used 
by the big lama caravans making pilgrimages to Lhasa, are 
difficult to procure. 
At Yang-tsa I saw the woman whom I had doctored on 
the way up; she was now quite recovered from her fever, 
and greeted me in the most friendly fashion, inviting me to 
lunch in the large dark kitchen, where I saw a new method 
of warming tea. Several flat stones, each with a hole bored 
through the centre, were placed in the fire till they were 
red hot, when they were hooked out and dropped one by 
one into the wooden tea-churn, in which we could hear the 
tea bubbling merrily. 
One night I camped to leeward of a magnificent 
Asclepias tree in full bloom, which perfumed the night 
air. The cicadas were chirping all round, the Mekong 
could be heard thudding over the rocks below the village, 
and so brilliant was the moonlight that I was able to write 
my diary in the open air. Andi sitting there, I heard above 
the voice of nature yet another sound, the sound of drums 
being wildly beaten. Presently there came into view a 
procession of villagers headed by priests, carrying fragrant 
torches of pine-wood, sticks of smouldering incense, drums, 
gongs, and red sign-boards on which various Chinese 
characters were depicted. Outside the tiny village temple 
an altar had been erected, and a fire crackled lustily at 
the entrance, sending a dense column of smoke up into 
the air. On the altar were trivial offerings of grain to 
the gods, and no doubt many paper prayers were burned 
and wafted to them on the breeze. Then the procession 
marched round and round the altar, and passed into the 
fields, waving the torches madly, while the noise grew 
louder. They were praying for rain. The whole ceremony 
Was a strange mixture of Chinese and tribal customs, for 
there was more than a hint of /Va¢ propitiation in it. 
5—2 
