But free and unrestrained in their manners as are the
Mosos, taking photographs of them is quite another thing,
and they are not easily persuaded to stand up to the
camera, at least not in the city under the scoffing eye of
the Chinaman. I believe the little minxes know they are
good-looking and realised that I was trying to put the fact
on record, for with laughing eyes they sedulously avoided



Up the Mekong Valley 37

me when I went into the city with my camera, while the
children positively ran. Not so the Tibetans however,
reckless fellows ; they would always face the camera for
the sheer adventure of the thing, nudging each other and
screaming with laughter, and for a few cash they would
even dance to the accompaniment of their squeaky bamboo
fiddles.
We left Wei-hsi on April 22, and marching down
stream, camped for the night below Ka-ka-t'ang. The
hill sides became still more dry and bare as we descended,
a good deal of purple shale being exposed. Small bushy
oaks, very prone to attack by a curious mistletoe ( Viscum
articulatum), with pines and rhododendrons, made up the
bulk of the flora, and the ride was uninteresting, though
the small arched bridges of stone, pointed rather than
rounded, which spanned the tributary torrents such as the
Ka-ka-t'ang stream, were quaint.
Continuing next day down a narrow path high above
the torrent, we caught sight of the Mekong-Salween water-
shed, still covered with winter snow, framed in the mouth
of the gorge, and shortly afterwards we descended to the
Mekong itself.
