Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 309 (Color Image)

0309	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

THE LAST TREK 225

the hills were more sloping and the trees more

in clusters. The scenery was beautiful. Ka-ka-

t'ang has thirteen Chinese families.

The Chinese occupied the villages in the valley

bottom. The Mosu and Tibetans (who about

here are called Lamas) live on the hill-sides ; and

the Lisu live behind in the higher ranges. Pereira

notes how the milder Lisu have been pushed back

at first by the more virile Mosu, who have

assimilated more with the Chinese ; and then

how the Mosu in their turn have had to give way

to the Chinese.

The Mekong was reached on the following day,

August 21. The road along the hill-side was very

narrow and wound up and down, sometimes well

above the Wei-si Ho and sometimes close to it.

There were beautiful views, and the hills were

higher and steeper than before. At 5i miles was

the little hamlet of A-nan-do-t'ang of ten hovels,

and at 81 miles a side stream is crossed by a

stone bridge. The road then leads down the

narrow and beautiful Alando gorge between high,

precipitous, rocky, wooded hills. And at 11 miles

the Mekong is reached. It is here at an elevation

of 5396 feet and is called the Lan-tsang Chiang

or Dza Chu.

A tributary had to be crossed by a single rope

bridge, which was a disagreeable operation, as

the body was underneath the rope and the legs

kicking up in the air. Beyond this the road

ascended the left bank of the Mekong, which was

here 150 to 250 yards wide. There were several

villages by the river and the crop grown was

mostly maize, but there was some rice. At 191

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books