ling with the mail. We learned some weeks
later that the runner had been frightened by brigands and had turned back
long before he reached Meng-ting.

We had heard from our _mafus_ and other natives that black monkeys were to
be found on a mountain pass not far from the village of Ho-mu-shu, on the
main Yung-chang-Teng-yueh road and, as we were certain that they would
prove to be gibbons, we decided to make that our next hunting camp. It was
three stages from Lung-ling and, toward evening of the second day, we again
descended to the Salween River.

The valley at this point is several miles wide and is so dry that the few
shrubs and bushes seem to be parched and barely able to live. At the upper
end a picturesque village is set among extensive rice fields. Although a
few Chinese live there, its inhabitants are chiefly Shans who are in a
transitory state and are gradually adopting Chinese customs. The houses are
joined to each other in the Chinese way and are built of mud, thatched with
straw. In shape as well as in composition they are quite unlike the
dwellings of the southern Shans. The women wore cylindrical turbans, about
eighteen inches high, which at a distance looked like silk hats, and the
men were dressed in narrow trousers and jackets of Chinese blue. I believe
that some of the Shan women also had bound feet but of this I cannot be
certain.

We camped on a little knoll under an enormous tree at the far end of the
village street, and a short time after the tents were up we had a visit
from the Shan magistrate. He was a dapper energetic little fellow wearing
foreign dress and quite _au courant_ with foreign ways. He even owned a
breech-loading shotgun, and, before we left, sent to ask for shells. He
presented us with the usual chickens and I returned several tins of
cigarettes. He appeared to be quite a sportsman and directed us to a place
on the mountain above the village where he said monkeys were abundant.

We left early in the morning with a guide and, after a hard climb, arrived
at a little village near the forest to which the magistrate had directed
us. Not only did the natives assure us that they had never seen monkeys but
we discovered for ourselves that the only water was more than a mile away,
and that camping there was out of the question.

The next day, April 1, we went on to Ho-mu-shu. It is a tiny village built
into the mountain-side with hardly fifty yards of level ground about it,
but commandi