22 GEORGE D-S-DUNBAR ON 



be expected, the give of this kind of footway is appreciable (in places over a foot) and 

 it is necessary to put a considerable amount of weight on the upper cables, that 

 are grasped in either hand. Moreover the sway of these bridges is considerable at the 

 centre ; in windy weather it is so great as to make crossing such a bridge impos- 

 sible. 



The three beautiful photographs taken by Mr. Kemp admirably illustrate this 

 feat of Abor engineering, a feat that is repeated higher up the valley, where the river 

 is not usually quite so wide. The Siring cane bridge, 180 ft. long, is the best made I 

 have seen. It is quite taut and is provided with a woven cane foot-way ; 30 ft. 

 below the river foams in a series of cascades down to the Dihang which it joins, near 

 the head of a fine rapid, at an excellent spot for boka and mahseer. The Galongs 

 also build good tubular bridges and the Subansiri, so I am informed, is spanned by 

 bridges of similar construction in its upper reaches. The hill-men also construct, 

 where bamboos are plentiful, excellent single-span, or suspension, bridges with substan- 

 tial roadways over small rivers and streams. But the usual bridge is a felled 

 tree that stretches from bank to bank above the level of the highest spate. These 

 are often chipped, with infinite labour, into half trunks ; for the trees are not split 

 and saws are unknown to the hill tribes. 



Heavy traffic soon destroys the cane roadway of a tubular bridge, a process that is 

 made all the easier by the distance generally left between the main supporting hoops- 

 Abors when crossing these bridges always keep in step, singing as they go. By 

 breaking step a party avoids a considerable amount of swing, but it possibly puts an 

 undesirable strain on the bridge. Although these tubular cane bridges are frequently 

 thrown across the big tributaries of the Dihang they are not common over the main 

 river. They are short-lived structures. At Koiyu, in the Dobang country, the tubular 

 high level bridge is supplemented during the winter by a bamboo bridge just above 

 the water. 



The Tibetans use boats made of hides, according to both Kinthup L and the Kambas 

 recently interrogated. Tugden stated that at Nyango-tru, one day below Tse-tang, 

 there is an iron cable by which boats are pulled across the river. Kinthup mentions 

 that about 15 miles below where he states the falls of the Tsanpo exist and still well 

 within Tibetan territory (if this authority may be accepted), the Tsanpo is crossed 

 between Khing-Khing and Phuparong by a rope stretched from one bank to the other, 

 on which the traveller swings. This is said to be called a ' ' bring ' ' and is possibly 

 similar to the Mishmi method of crossing rivers as described to me by Captain Bethell 

 who saw this ' ' bridge ' ' up the Ichi valley. Three cane ropes are stretched across 

 the gorge and provided with two cane loops, one to sit in, the other as a support for the 

 neck. Having confided himself to this whilst on the platform thoughtfully provided 

 for the purpose, the traveller after the preliminary run down the sagging portion of the 

 rope laboriously works his passage over to the other side with his legs, which he throws 

 over the cane ropes. Loads can be fastened below the loop. The only thing that can 



Explorations on the Tsang-po in 1880-84 by Explorer Kinthup, Survey of India, 1911. 



