de, while another rolled the pellet of opium and placed
it heated in the pipe-bowl, so that he might inhale its fumes.

In the morning the officer accompanied me to the gate of the stockade
and bade me good-bye, with many unintelligible expressions of good will.
His eight best soldiers were told off to escort me to the frontier,
distant only fifteen li. It was a splendid walk through the jungle
across the mountains to the Hongmuho. We passed the outlying stockade of
the Chinese, and, winding along the spur, came full in view of the
British camp across the valley, half-way up the opposite slope. By a
very steep path we descended through the forest to the frontier fort of
the Chinese, and emerged upon the grassy slope that shelves below it to
the river.

There are a few bamboo huts on the sward, and here the Chinese guard
left me; for armed guards are allowed no further. I was led to the ford,
my pony plunged into the swift stream, and a moment or two later I was
on British soil and passing the Sepoy outpost, where the guard, to my
great alarm, for I feared being shot, turned out and saluted me. Then I
climbed up the steep hill to the British encampment, where the English
officer commanding, Captain R. G. Iremonger, of the 3rd Burma Regiment,
gave me a kind reception, and congratulated me upon my successful
journey. He telegraphed to headquarters the news of my arrival. It was
of no earthly interest to anybody that I, an unknown wanderer, should
pass through safely; but it was of interest to know that anyone could
pass through so easily. Reports had only recently reached the Government
that Western China was in a state of disaffection; that a feeling
strongly anti-foreign had arisen in Yunnan; and that now, of all times,
would it be inexpedient to despatch a commission for the delimitation of
the boundary. My quiet and uninterrupted journey was in direct conflict
with all such reports.

The encampment of Nampoung is at an elevation of 1500 feet above the
river. It is well exposed on all sides, and has been condemned by
military experts. But the law of fortifications which applies to any
ordinary frontier does not apply to the frontier of China, where there
is no danger whatsoever. The palisade is irregularly made, and is not
superior, of course, to any round the Chinese stockades.

The houses are built of bamboo, are raised on piles, and thatched with
grass. A company of the 3rd Burma Regiment is permanently stationed