182 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
therefrom, and in each he has an appeal to higher 
authority than man, which is of infinite value to the 
suffering and distressed; but the Buddhist would 
seem to be self-centred in his preparations for the 
next step on his long journey to absorption in the 
infinite. He gives the impression of standing alone 
in his struggle for the future happiness of rest ; yet 
surely he often must feel the need for assistance, 
and surely, too, the women who prostrate them- 
selves in the shrines of the founder of their faith 
present many a petition to an unknown god, although 
they have the assurance that it is useless. 
Anchoring at Bhdémo, we left the launch with strict 
injunctions to the crew to watch the river, which in 
falling water may run off six or more feet in a night, 
and leave you stranded till an opportune rise that 
may be deferred for months. Then we enjoyed the 
varied interesting sights of this most cosmopolitan 
city. British troops no longer occupied the fort, 
Indian police battalions holding this frontier of the 
Empire. In the streets, Chinamen, Sikhs, Pathans, ~ 
Burmans, Jews, Parsis, Kachins, and many other 
nationalities, good-temperedly jostled each other, and 
many were the quaint trifles that could be picked 
up by the curiosity-hunter, or bought in actual wear 
on the wild visitors from a distance. At a distance 
of some twenty miles from Bhdmo the Chinese 
frontier begins, and at Sinlum Kabar is a British 
outpost, some 6,000 feet above the sea-level, in a 
bleak, disforested country. Here the caravans of 
mules pass in from China with their rough drivers, 
professing the Mohammedan religion, but paying 
slight attention to its precepts; and here one may 
