74 A Journey to the Salween 
which the leaves are eaten, and several edible toadstools, 
besides aconite used to poison their arrows. 
In the evening two Lutzus, who were crossing the 
mountains to Tsu-kou, arrived at the hut and joined my 
men round the fire. They had with them several voles 
(Microtus Wardz) which they had trapped higher up, and 
these they proceeded to skin and fry for supper. I ate one 
myself, and must admit it was not at all bad. Gan-ton told 
me that the Lutzus make special bamboo traps for these 
voles, of which they catch and eat a great many. I saw one 
of the traps later, an ingenious contrivance, on the principle 
of the pheasant-trap already described, the vole crawling 
out of his hole and putting his head into a noose, which is 
immediately drawn tight by the springing up of a bamboo. 
Next morning we climbed straight up out of the valley 
over the western ridge, passing through dense groves of 
bamboo brake, and higher up through spruce and rhodo- 
dendron forest. From the pass (water boiled at 87°C. 
giving an approximate height of 13,000 feet) we had a 
clear view westwards right across the deep Salween valley 
to the Salween-Irrawaddy watershed beyond, but unfortu- 
nately it was extremely cloudy. What we did see, however, 
was this. 
A range of snow-clad mountains stretching from south 
to north rose above the cloud-banks, and high above all 
one peak stood out conspicuously, its snow-fields and 
glaciers seen distinctly through the moisture-laden atmo- 
sphere. This is the mountain known to the Tibetans as 
Ké-ni-ch‘un-pu, which rises right above the village of 
T‘sam-p‘u-t‘ong on the Salween. Beyond this range we 
come to the Nmai-kha or eastern branch of the Irrawaddy, 
where reside the Ch‘utzu, a little known tribe who, I was 
told, tattoo their faces, though I do not remember that 
Prince Henri remarks on this in his book, Arom Tonking 
to India, and no one else, unless it be Captain Bailey, has 
been amongst them. 
Judging by the views I obtained of this range in 
November from another pass, it does not appear to be 
covered with eternal snow for any great distance either 
north or south of the main peak, though it evidently 
receives the full force of the south-west monsoon blowing 
