LANTSAN, a river in the west of China. To its west is a country inhabited by the numerous tribes of Yatezu, Mooquor, Moso, and Leisu. These tribes live in small villages, each under its own headman, the whole tribe being ruled by one chief, who holds the Chinese rank of Bluebutton, and is a tributary of the Chinese Government, having authority in all cases except those in volving life and death, which are referred to the nearest Chinese mandarin. The whole of these tribes inhabit a strip of country lying between the Kinchar Kiang and Lantsan river ; they are peaceable and industrious, cultivating peas, tobacco, opium, and scanty crops of cotton ; they also collect gold, both by washing the sands of the Lantsan Kiang, and by mining in the hill sides. Each tribe pays a tithe to its chief, who in turn pays two-thirds of his share as tribute to the Chinese Government. The costume of the women is fantastic but graceful ; it consists of a head-dress of red cloth, closely braided with cowrie shells, for which the Moso women occasion ally substitute a very becoming little cap or hood of red and black cloth, with pendent tassel, a short loose jacket with long wide sleeves, and buttoned up the front, and a kilt-like petticoat of home-made cotton stuff, reaching from the waist to the knee, and made in longitudinal plaits or gathers. The road from the Jeddo range of
mountains near Ta-tsian-lu, up to the banks of the Lantsan river, crosses range after range of mountains, all running from the north-east to south-west, and the great snowy ranges lying on each bank of the Lantsan and Nou-Kiang rivers are a continuation of the great ranges, which, rising to the north of the Tibetan town of Tsiamdo, must form at their conjunction with the Himalaya what is believed to be the chief barrier to direct communication between Bathang and Lhassa.