neighborhood the traveler
will be perplexed at finding here and there a fine specimen of an
upstanding Chinese, with clean-cut face, straight of feature and
straight of limb, with a peculiar Mongol look about him. He will be one
of the surviving specimens of a race of people, the Nou-su, whose
forgotten historical records would do much to clear up the doubt
attaching to Indo-China and Tibet-Burma ethnology.

The first Nou-su chieftain to come to Chao-t'ong, a man who was renowned
as a tryannical brute, was one Ien Tsang-fu, who frequently gouged out
the eyes of those who disobeyed his commands; and his descendants are
said to have inherited a good many of this tyrant's vices. The landlords
prey upon their weaker brethren, and at last, with infinite sagacity,
the Chinese Government steps in to stop the quarrels, confiscates the
whole of the property, and thus reduces the Nou-su land to immediate
control of Chinese authorities.

"The Nou-su are, of course, entirely dependent upon the land for their
living. They till the soil and rear cattle, and the greatest calamity
that can come upon any family is that their land shall be taken from
them. To be landless involves degradation as well as poverty, and very
severe hardship is the lot of men who have been deprived of this means
of subsistence. For those who own no land, but who are merely tenants of
the Tu-muh,[S] there seems to be no security of tenure; but still, if
the wishes and demands of the landlords are complied with, one family
may till the same farm for many successive generations. The terms on
which land is held are peculiar. The rental agreed upon is nominal.
Large tracts of country are rented for a pig or a sheep or a fowl, with
a little corn per year. Beside this nominal rent, the landlord has the
right to make levies on his tenants on all special occasions, such as
funerals, weddings, or for any other extraordinary expenses. He can also
require his tenants with their cattle to render services. This system
necessarily leads to much oppression and injustice. It is also said that
if a family is hard pressed by a Tu-muh and reduced to extreme poverty,
they will make themselves over to him on condition that a portion of his
land be given them to cultivate. Such people are called caught slaves,
as distinguished from hereditary, and the eldest children become the
absolute property of the landlord and are generally given as attendants
upon his wife and daughters.

"