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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



shots from my Winchester repeater over 

 his head at a boulder on the other side of 

 the river. The effect of > seeing the bul- 

 lets smash against the stone at such a 

 distance was immediate, and then, 

 through our interpreters, we told the man 

 and his friends that if the}^ made a show 

 of stringing their bows again the next 

 bullet would find a resting-place in some 

 of their carcasses. They had little, if 

 any, idea of firearms, and they at once 

 subsided into an awe-struck silence ; but 

 still we had to stand on guard, and at 

 intervals give exhibitions of our marks- 

 manship and the power of our weapons, 

 till all our party had been safely hauled 

 across the rope to a sand bank on the 

 opposite side, where we pitched camp, 

 together with our friends from Lo-ma-di, 

 who expatiated on the savagery of the 

 low people who lived on the right bank, 

 congratulated us on the manner in which 

 they had been suppressed, and promised 

 us a hearty reception at their own village 

 next day. 



Early the next morning we ascended 

 steeply from the river through carefully 

 cultivated patches of maize, millet, and 

 buckwheat to 6,500 feet, when we came 

 in sight of Lo-ma-di. Our friends of the 

 previous day and a number of their 

 friends were now with us, and, though 

 all armed to the teeth, were most amiable 

 and childishly delighted with our fire- 

 arms, our clothes, and the pointer dog. 



What was most interesting to us was 

 an extensive view we obtained from that 

 point looking straight north up the fun- 

 nel-like valley of the Salwin. As far as 

 the eye could reach we could trace the 

 almost direct north-and-south course of 

 the river, and the succession of ridges 

 falling down from the high ranges to the 

 river from the east and west divides in 

 a manner so regular as to suggest the ribs 

 of a huge skeleton. 



We found Lo-ma-di the largest, clean- 

 est, and best built Lissoo village we had yet 

 seen : some 90 households were scattered 

 along a broad slope at an altitude of 

 6,500 feet, looking down on the Salwin 

 more than 2,000 feet below. Groves of 

 pine and fruit trees gave grateful shade. 



and the small garden plots were divided 

 by neat bamboo fences. The picturesque 

 inhabitants, with their beads, cowries,, 

 silver ornaments, and long hempen gar- 

 ments, came out en masse to welcome us, 

 and several of the village elders brought 

 trays of rice, eggs, vegetables, etc., which 

 they offered on their knees. We met 

 several Chinese-Minchia traders from the 

 Mekong; they bring cotton cloth, opium, 

 salt, and goats, which they exchange for 

 local produce, the staple being a varnish 

 produced by tapping a varnish tree simi- 

 lar to one which is known in the province 

 of Kwei-chou. Beeswax, some drugs, 

 and a small supply of gold dust are also 

 exchanged. Trade with the Lissoo, we 

 were told, is a profitable but risky matter, 

 as there is no sort of government in the 

 country, and even the comparatively 

 civilized tribes on the left bank of the 

 Salwin are continuously fighting among 

 themselves. 



The attentions of the Lo-ma-di crowd 

 became so embarrassing that we resolved 

 to push on into the mountains. March- 

 ing southeast by an excellent path 

 through oak scrub, we halted for the 

 midday meal at the hamlet of Ji-Ji, situ- 

 ated at 7,200 feet on an open, wide ridge 

 commanding extensive views down the 

 mountain ranges to the south. 



AN ARMY CORPS OF CROSSBOW WARRIORS 



The men of Ji-Ji were at war with 

 the people of a neighboring village higher 

 up the hill, and we had the pleasure of 

 watching the progress of the fight during 

 our tiffin. The cause of the trouble 

 was the theft of some maize, and a 

 whole army corps, consisting of some 

 fifty warriors, had been mobilized. These 

 fellows, with their grotesque ornaments 

 of silver, deers' horns, pebbles and cow- 

 ries, their blackened faces, their flowing 

 hempen robes, their war-bows 5 feet 

 broad, their war-swords 5 feet long, and 

 their broad ox-hide shields 5 feet high, 

 moving in a line be3'ond their village, 

 presented an image of the "pomp and 

 pride and circumstance" of war. The 

 enemy occupied a position higher up the 

 hill and a fierce bombardment of oppro- 



