258 
MESSRS. A. ROSE AND J. COGGIN BROWN ON 
There seems little doubt that the Tisu came originally from the south-east corner 
of Thibet, following the Salween River, and the tribe still 
butionof h tHbe. and pr ' SLnt dlstn ~ stretches along the Salween Valley from Ratitude 27 0 -40' 
to I y at. 25 0 . The “ Black ’’ or independent Risu inhabit 
the reaches between Ratitudes 27 ^o' and 26°-i5'. They are found along the river 
below this point as far south as Rat. 25 °, but gradually becoming more touched with 
Chinese influence in their southerly advance. In the confused mass of mountains 
between the Burma-China frontier and the Salween they are scattered in isolated 
villages over a large tract. The late Mr. G. Ritton found them lying between the 
Yangtse and the Mekong in Rats. 2j°-28° ; Mr. R. F. Johnston met them on the 
Ssuchuan-Yunnan border at Yung-ning Hsien ; they have also been found near 
Yangpei Ting, as far east as Wu-ting Chou and as far south as Keng-tung in the 
British Shan States. Major H. R. Davies believes that the Che-ti in French Raos 
(Rat. 20°-55 / and Rong. ioi°-45') belong to the same race. 
Accounts of earlier travellers report that the Risu came from Nanking in Central 
China, but the evidence scarcely appears to warrant this conclusion, for the more 
southern communities are those most touched by Chinese influence, whilst the wilder 
and purer Risu are found in the northern reaches of the Salween. We have found the 
Risu convinced of an early home ‘ ‘ by the head waters of the great River, where rice 
is unknown and mountain-goats abound,” and strongly opposed to any exodus from 
Eastern China. In this connexion, however, it is interesting to notice that such tribes- 
men as are at all affected by Chinese blood and influence, persistently ascribe their 
origin to the eastern provinces of China, whence their new Chinese relations have doubt- 
less come within the last few centuries or even generations. 
Both men and women are stoutly built and of average height, though it is not 
unusual to find them tall and cleanly built especially 
among those of purer blood. They have sepia skins, hair 
which is coarse and practically black, and features cut more cleanly than the Chinese, 
their noses often being aquiline, their eyes straight and their chin well-pointed. In 
every branch of the tribe, even among the independent Risu, the men shave the front 
of their head and leave a queue. In the Tengyueh and Kuyung Kai districts of Yunnan 
the women shave their heads, leaving only a lock at the back, which is plaited into a 
tail, but their heads are covered and their tonsure concealed by a drooping hood of 
many colours. Among the independent Risu, and even in some communities near 
Tengyueh, the women’s heads are not shaved, their hair being plaited in two tails, 
with a fillet bound across the front. 
The distinctive dress of the Risu is a long, undyed hempen coat reaching to the 
Dress of Men knees and open in front, short breeches and a pair of leg- 
gings hanging loosely at the ankles without shoes or socks. 
A broad hempen turban usually covers the head, though a Tam-o-Shan ter is occasion- 
ally seen, also of hemp, whilst the wilder Risu often wear a hat of deer-skin, which acts 
as a helmet and is sufficient to guard against an arrow wound. Among those who 
have been affected by Chinese influence and who attend the Chinese markets, the hem- 
Physical Characteristics. 
