d two hundred yards from the Chung-tien road just
within the edge of a stately, moss-draped forest. That night we celebrated
with harmless bombs from the huge fires of bamboo stalks which exploded as
they filled with steam and echoed among the trees like pistol shots. Marco
Polo speaks of the same phenomenon which he first witnessed in this region
over six hundred and thirty years ago.

About nine o'clock in the evening we ran our traps with a lantern and
besides several mice (_Apodemus_) found two rare shrews and a new mole
(_Blarina_). I went out with the hunters at dawn but saw nothing except an
old wapiti track and a little sign. All during the following day a dense
fog hung close to the ground so that it was impossible to hunt, and, on the
night of December 2, it snowed heavily. The morning began bright and clear
but clouded about ten o'clock and became so bitterly cold that the Lolos
would not hunt. They really suffered considerably and that night they all
left us to return to their homes. We were greatly disappointed, for we had
brilliant prospects of good wapiti shooting but without either men or dogs
and in an unknown country there was little possibility of successful still
hunting.

The _mafus_ were very much worried and refused to go further north. They
were certain that we would not be able to cross the high passes which lay
between us and the Mekong valley far to the westward and complained
unceasingly about the freezing cold and the lack of food for their animals.
It was necessary to visit the Mekong River, for even though it might not be
a good big game region it would give us a cross-section, as it were, of the
fauna and important data on the distribution of small mammals. Therefore we
decided to leave for the long ride as soon as the weather permitted.

CHAPTER XXII

STALKING TIBETANS WITH A CAMERA

_Y.B.A._

The road near which we were camped was one of the great trade routes into
Tibet and over it caravans were continually passing laden with tea or pork.
Many of them had traveled the entire length of Yuen-nan to S'su-mao on the
Tonking frontier where a special kind of tea is grown, and were hurrying
northward to cross the snow-covered passes which form the gateways to the
"Forbidden Land."

The caravans sometimes stopped for luncheon or to spend the night near our
camp. As the horses came up, one by one the loads were lifted off, the
animals turned loose, and after their dinner of butte