The Last of the Mekong 229 
It was already dusk when we again set forth, and there 
being no moon for some hours it soon grew black as ink 
under the trees. The path too was very bad, and the one- 
eyed porter, unable to judge distances accurately, was 
continually putting his foot over the edge of the cliff and 
tumbling in a heap to the ground, on one occasion at least 
very nearly falling over into the river. Under these circum- 
stances progress became slower than ever, and as it was 
obvious that we could not possibly reach Lu-k‘ou before 
midnight, we decided to halt at a hut perched up on the 
hill side in front of us, the fire-light of which shone out 
brightly through the open door. We reached this retreat 
about ten o'clock, just as the moonlight flooded into the 
valley, turning night into day, and. found a number of 
men lying round the fire, for it was bitterly cold now. 
Two boards were soon procured, laid across two tubs, 
and my bed made up, but the hut, though well thatched 
and eminently capable of keeping out the rain, had not 
been built with a view to keeping out the cold. It was, 
indeed, more like a rude stockade than a house, the walls 
consisting simply of tree-trunks in the rough, planted 
vertically in the ground and held together by occasional 
cross-pieces. Consequently not only were there big gaps 
in the walls, but the eaves at either end from the top of the 
wall to the ridge-pole were entirely open, and sleeping right 
up against this airy partition, | awoke at an early hour half 
frozen. 
People now began to rise in every direction, and I found 
that there were altogether fourteen of us asleep in the one 
room of that hut, our own party contributing but four. 
However, this fact caused no inconvenience whatever, for 
the hut was of ample dimensions and, as already stated, 
extremely well ventilated. 
I was particularly impressed with the manner in which 
the women folk of the family, who were allotted the other 
end of the room, contrived their nocturnal arrangements ; 
for they were packed into their bed, or to be more precise, 
under their quilt, with the skill we are accustomed to 
associate with the fitting of sardines into a box just too 
small for them. That is to say, the mother had one end of 
the quilt all to herself, as befitted her position, while from 
