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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



SCENK IN TIBETAN FOREST, ON THE EASTERN FLANK OF THE MEKONG-SAEWIN 

 DIVIDE : ALTITUDE, IO,500 FEET 



REMARKS ON THE LISSOO TRIBE OF THE 

 UPPER SALWIN 



The Lissoo race, if not powerful or 

 very numerous, occupies a large tract of 

 territory. The tribe is undoubtedly an 

 offshoot from the southeast of Tibet, 

 probably before the introduction of Bud- 

 dhism into Tibet. None of the Lissoo, 

 even those who live among or near Tibe- 

 tans, shows the least trace of Buddhist 

 influence or belief. Their religious prac- 

 tices closely resemble those of the 

 Kachins, who believe in numerous "nats" 

 or spirits which cause various calamities, 

 such as sickness, failure of crops, etc., 

 unless propitiated in the most suitable 

 manner. The most important spirit is 

 the ancestral ghost. Lissoo graves are 

 generally in the fields near the villages ; 

 over them is put the cross-bow, rice-bags, 

 and other articles used by the deceased. 

 It is probably from foundations such as 

 these that the fabric of Chinese ancestor 

 worship was constructed. Food is also 

 placed on the grave for many days. The 



upper part of the structure is a roughly 

 hewn board, of the shape but larger than 

 a coffin-lid, to protect the articles hang- 

 ing on the upright post from the weather. 



The Lissoo may be said to form prac- 

 tically the whole population of the Sal- 

 win Valley from 2,y° 30' to 26° north. 

 They have spread in considerable num- 

 bers along the mountains between the 

 Shweli and the Irrawadi, and in isolated 

 groups far away down the Burmese 

 frontier and, I am told, into the Shan 

 States. 



In parts of Burma, under British rule 

 they have been found readily amenable 

 to civilization and are more docile than 

 the Kachins. But those whom we saw 

 on the upper Salwin were utter savages. 



Most of the villages have not even a 

 regular head-man ; nearly every village, 

 too, speaks a different dialect, and two 

 Lissoo sepoys from the Burmese frontier 

 below Tengyueh, whom we had with us, 

 could not make themselves understood 

 beyond 26° 30' north. There are also 



