Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 279 (Color Image)

0279	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

RETURN TO CHINA 199

the same stock as the Tibetans round Jye-kundo,

and perhaps, Pereira adds, of the same origin as

the Red Indians. The Nosu, like the Tibetans,

wear big ear-rings in the left ear.

In the afternoon, with four soldiers as an escort,

Pereira made an adventurous trip across the

Yangtze into Nosuland. He went down the river

3 miles to the north-east of the ferry. The village

at the ferry, Kan-t'ien-pa, had some twenty

Chinese families, who seemed to be fearless of raids

and had not even protective towers. The Yangtze

was here 80 yards wide, very muddy and running

with a strong current. On the far side he stood

on a rock, but though there was a farm with a

tower just above him he did not see a single

inhabitant ; but there were glorious views up and

down the gorges. Having accomplished his am-

bition to set foot in Nosuland (Lololand) he

returned. He realised that even if everything had

been arranged satisfactorily, the country of the

Nosus would have been too steep for him to

venture in with his bad leg.

Pereira heard from the chief Chinese merchant

at Ta-ching-pa that a French priest used to come

there and also that a Frenchman (Audemard) had

gone down the river by boat. He was also positive

that three Englishmen crossed Nosuland about

1905, coming from Chicu-ch'ang in the centre of

the Nosu country to Ho-k'ou and on to Ta-ching-

pa. Pereira thought that this was probably a

French party.

The Chinese in these parts are miserably poor,

living mostly in wretched hovels.

On April 10 Pereira set out on his return to

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