236 The Last of the Mekong 
with them, have always been inclined to marry women of 
the tribe, at least temporarily; hence it must not be 
overlooked that the men frequently are Chinamen, and as 
to the children, the boys would be apt to follow their fathers 
in the matter of dress, the girls their mothers. But no 
doubt it is frequently a matter of convenience amongst the 
men, the women alone keeping to the national costume from 
motives of loyalty. 
Towards evening we reached a well-paved road at the 
head of the foot-hills, and continuing southwards, climbed up 
and down the endless succession of low spurs. It was an 
hour after dark when we eventually reached the Tussu 
yamen of Lien-ti, a mud house standing alone, with a few 
scattered huts in the immediate vicinity. 
Next day, December 10, we continued southwards down 
the Salween valley, our road winding on over the foot-hills 
some distance above the river, which, however, was 
frequently visible through the wide gaps where the streams 
broke through to the shelving platform below. In every dip 
and hollow nestled little Shan villages, while an occasional 
larger village, its houses built of mud bricks, its whitewashed 
temple flashing in the sunshine, told a story of prosperity. 
Though it was the dry season, the prevailing colour of the 
landscape was still green, only interrupted along the terraced 
slopes of the little valleys, where the stubble caught the 
sunshine and gleamed bright yellow. At mid-day we finally 
left the foot-hills and began the serious ascent of the 
watershed by one of the ridges, halting at a small house for 
the night. 
We were now some two thousand feet above the river, 
and as the sun sank down behind the towering cliffs above 
us, the valley was filled with a glow of such wonderful 
colour that no description of mine can convey any idea of 
its spell. While all was dark and gloomy in the depth of 
the valley, the setting sun caught the tops of the mountains 
across the river, and one forgot their bare brown slopes 
under the waves of crimson light which they reflected. 
Gradually a deep blue shadow crept up out of the valley and 
wrapped the hills in slumber, while a soft clinging mist 
seemed to precipitate itself from the atmosphere and spread 
over the rice-fields far below. Inthe gloaming the crimson 
