188 4 Winter Journey amongst the Lutzu 
to a point a little north of Tsam-p‘u-t‘ong on the Salween. 
South of the last-named village there is no very high range 
between the Salween and the Irrawaddy, as I had looked 
clear over these snowless mountains from the low pass, 
and probably nothing effective between the latter river and 
the Bramaputra to prevent the rains sweeping right across 
from Assam. 
Proceeding in a south-westerly direction from Yang-tsa, 
therefore, we were approaching the jungle region of the 
Salween, and crossing the high spur which had previously 
hidden that river from view, we now beheld it towards 
sunset from a point a little south of Tsam-p‘u-t‘ong. 
Though the principal mountain chain receives a big 
rainfall, such is not the case with the low barrier ridges 
which flank it, blocked out by the parallelism of the 
tributary streams already referred to; and having crossed 
the deep valley which separated us from the last ridge, 
filled with magnificent forest trees amongst which some 
gigantic alders were conspicuous, besides a dense under- 
growth of /mpatzens, ferns, and so on, we climbed up again 
and so out on to the bare bracken-covered hill side, where 
gigantic pine trees in turn formed quite a feature. And 
there almost at our feet as it seemed, though two or three 
thousand feet below us, flowed the Salween river. 
To the west, backed by a long low bank of sullen purple 
clouds, opened the wide valley which forms an approach to 
India; a little higher up stream was visible the bare lime- 
stone cliff which marks the site of Tsam-p‘u-t‘ong, scarcely 
distinguishable in the gloom, and brooding over all rose 
the snow-clad peaks of Ke-ni-ch‘un-pu, looking weirdly 
pallid in the evening light. 
It was pitch dark before we reached Cho-ton, but the 
night air was now warm and balmy; the men soon gained 
admittance to a hut, and after a hasty supper I went to bed, 
delighted to sleep once more with only a few blankets as 
covering. 
Though it had been cloudy towards sunset, the full moon 
rose into a clear sky, and when I looked outside in the 
middle of the night, I saw a beautiful sight, the brilliantly 
lit pale cliffs behind Tsam-p‘u-t‘ong standing boldly out 
against the heavy black masses of vegetation, and the river, 
