ze," by Major H.R. Davies, 1909, p.
389.] They are great wanderers and over a very large part of Yuen-nan form
the bulk of the hill population, being the most numerous of all the
non-Chinese tribes in the province.

Like almost every race which has been conquered by the Chinese or has come
into continual contact with them for a few generations, the Lolos of
Yuen-nan, where they are in isolated villages, are being absorbed by the
Chinese. We found, as did Major Davies, that in some instances they were
giving up their language and beginning to talk Chinese even among
themselves. The women already had begun to tie up their feet in the Chinese
fashion and even disliked to be called Lolos.

Those whom we employed were living entirely by hunting and, although we
found them amiable enough, they were exceedingly independent. They
preferred to hunt alone, although they recognized what an increased chance
for game our high-power rifles gave them, and eventually left us while I
was away on a short trip, even though we still owed them considerable
money.

The Lolos are only one of the non-Chinese tribes of Yuen-nan. Major Davies
has considered this question in his valuable book to which I have already
referred, and I cannot do better than quote his remarks here.

The numerous non-Chinese tribes that the traveler encounters in western
China, form perhaps one of the most interesting features of travel in
that country. It is safe to assert that in hardly any other part of the
world is there such a large variety of languages and dialects, as are
to be heard in the country which lies between Assam and the eastern
border of Yuen-nan and in the Indo-Chinese countries to the south of
this region.

The reason of this is not hard to find. It lies in the physical
characteristics of the country. It is the high mountain ranges and the
deep swift-flowing rivers that have brought about the differences in
customs and language, and the innumerable tribal distinctions, which
are so perplexing to the enquirer into Indo-Chinese ethnology.

A tribe has entered Yuen-nan from their original Himalayan or Tibetan
home, and after increasing in numbers have found the land they have
settled on not equal to their wants. The natural result has been the
emigration of part of the colony. The emigrants, having surmounted
pathless mountains and crossed unbridged rivers on extemporized rafts,