The nights however were delightful. My tent was
always pitched near some thundering torrent, which was
music to me, and lying in bed I would watch the brilliant
arc of the new moon set over the mountains. I was
travelling with an ula passport obtained from the yamen,
my men commandeering from each village in turn the
requisite number of animals and porters, who were bound
to take me as far as the next village, the rate of pay
being fixed by the yamen. This system of relay transport
obtains on the main road across Tibet and in the Tibetan
Marches for the convenience of Chinese officials travelling
on business — the Tibetans, nominally in return for grants
of land, agreeing to keep in readiness a certain number of
transport animals at fixed posts. As far as cheapness and
certainty of transport are concerned, the system has its
advantages, but from other points of view it is often very
unsatisfactory, an hour or two being sometimes wasted
changing animals when others are not immediately avail-
able. When this happens several times a day, it becomes
exasperating.
In the Mekong and Salween valleys the loads were
generally carried by women and boys, and in all my



Plate XIII











' ^'" ._J£rHT' *V










My Caravan coming through the Mekong gorges on the way
to the Salween



A Journey to the Salween 67

journeys, when travelling with ula, I found that the people
were more ready to carry the loads themselves than to find
the necessary animals ; probably because the country is so
poor and offers so little grazing land near by, that transport
animals are scarce. Cattle, it must be remembered, are,
with the sheep, taken up to the high alps for the summer.
