jerk of the hand. The milk was very rich, and a little went a long way in our tea, but it had not the disagreeable taste which goat's and sheep's milk mixed has in the Tyrol, suggesting pig's milk. We occasionally had tea with these primitive pastoral people. We sat on the ground, and the women brought it, very black, in little cups, some of which seemed to be familiar Staffordshire pottery. They offered us tea made in their own method, boiled into a kind of soup, with butter and sugar added and the leaves not extracted. We did not care for this mixture. Everyone carried a flat wooden bowl of turned sycamore or maple, and licked it clean after the meal. They showed us their brick tea, which they said came from China on camels. They would gladly buy Indian tea if cheaper than the Chinese. They also had herds of tame yaks grazing, and we saw one beautiful snow-white bull, which was being taken to some religious ceremony. Its coat was as soft and silky as ermine, and the long fringe and bushy tail were combed out and swept the ground. The white tails are very valuable for making chowries, used by the Nawabs of India to brush the flies away. I purchased two for about fifty rupees, and had them mounted in silver with antelope horns for handles. They all spoke of the Khampa log as robbers, armed with matchlocks, and to be met with on the great plains northward. These people had no arms to speak of, and seemed peaceable and harmless shepherds.

Colonel Smyth and Mr. Drummond explored a considerable extent of country, the former having marched east and northward over the Mariam La. He joined our camp, having shot several fine specimens of the Tibet antelope, A. Hodgsoniensis, which we came across on the open plains in herds of ten or twenty. They are not unlike in size and habits to the Indian antelope; but their coats

are, of course, suitable to the cold climate, very thick and hairy, and their horns are slightly lyre-shaped, but not spiral. We also met the goa, or Tibet gazelle, very frequently. This beautiful little animal is found singly or in pairs, and is very difficult to shoot, being very small and almost impossible to stalk. It frequents flat places, and will not let one approach nearer than two or three hundred yards. Its horns are like the Indian chinkara's, but more slender. Mr. Drummond had met Ovis Ammon, and shot two good rams. The Bhotia carriers having now nearly run short of flour and rice, and being anxious to return to their homes, we started again westward, and by long and rapid marches returned by the pass of Dak Eo to Taklakhar, bringing our trophies of the chase, and without any mishap, except that we nearly lost a man on the pass. Our last camp before crossing was very high up in the same place where we had camped going

over.

In the night it came on to snow, and the small tents under which we slept were almost weighed down, and required constant thumping from inside to shake off the snow. In the morning, on looking out, the scene was a desolate one, snow still drifting, and nothing to be seen but white. The snow had fallen 10 inches deep, and the men, who slept on the ground covered with their blankets, were completely buried. There were mounds where they lay, like graves. Luckily the snow suddenly ceased, and a general resurrection occurred. We got the loads packed with difficulty and terrible cold hands. Sheep-skin coats were the fashion, and cold victuals. However, after much struggling and arguments among the carriers as to whose load was the heaviest, no one being in too good a temper, we got under way and floundered on in the soft snow. The yaks were, of course, sent ahead to cut a path, which

they did to perfection; and, indeed, without these sturdy and sagacious animals I doubt whether many of us could have got over so high a pass in deep, fresh snow. But we had a long day and struggled on, arriving at our old camp, where was a stream and sheltering caves and no snow, not before sundown, without a halt the entire day. We were often nearly exhausted from the high elevation and hard tramping, and had to appease our hunger by munching sattu and biscuits. Some men, as usual, got snow-blind, and had to be helped along, for the sun came out fierce and strong right overhead; and when we got to camp and fires were lighted and hot tea made, we felt as if we had been rescued from an anxious position. One unfortunate servant was missing; he was a plainsman, and had been seen very ill on the top of the pass. We called for volunteers to return to rescue him, but few responded. Hodgson and I started with two Bhotias, shouting and moving a light, and went a considerable distance, but had to return without the man. In the morning, which was bright and fine, he turned up all right, having slept, he said, in a cave. We reached Taklakhar without much delay, and said good-bye to our friends the lama and Zung-pun, who presented us with small gifts, and seemed very glad when we finally crossed by the Bians Pass back to the Indian side. The customs of the Buddhists and their praying machines and prayers, ‘O mani padmi ho! and their carving of the sacred formula on every rock and stone which must be passed, always in one direction, left to right-these things have been described frequently in books of travel, from Dr. Hooker's down to the latest, Captain Wellby's, and do not need further recording.

We had found the Hunias a very harmless well-meaning people, and had experienced no difficulties, when once we had come to an agreement with the proper

authorities, in going as far as we liked to go. We had penetrated a country which few Europeans had ever entered, and crossed over to the watershed of the great unexplored valley of the Brahmaputra. We had shot fine specimens of its very rare game, and gained experience in ascending very high altitudes. We had ascended very high up on the shoulder of one of the most remarkable mountains in the world, the little-known Gurla Mandhata. This conspicuous mountain might appropriately be called the Peak of Asia, as from its glaciers the three great rivers, Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra, take their rise-rivers most celebrated in the world's history, and flowing through vast distances and countries to different oceans, and draining the highest and most extensive plateau in the world.

CHAPTER XII

PLAINS OF GYANIMA: HOME OF THE 'OVIS AMMON'

THE month of August was now commencing, when the rains in India are still on with all their force. The monsoon or south-west winds blow up from the Indian Ocean, charged with steamy hot vapour, which is deposited as it cools on the southern slopes of the great Himalayan range in the form of a continued downpour. In some portions of the hills a rainfall of 400 inches is recorded in the six months' monsoon, a depth of 25 feet of water over the whole surface of the country. It was not an agreeable season for remaining in the Himalayan valleys, where survey work was impossible. Colonel Smyth having inspected the Bhotia schools in Lower Bians valley, we marched up the upper valley, following the Kali river, with the intention of crossing by the Kuti Pass again into Tibet. Messrs. Drummond and Hodgson returned southward. The upper reaches of the Kali open out into a wide and picturesque valley with grassy slopes, where the Bhotias kept many tame yaks grazing. Smyth purchased eight cows, and we hired nine others to carry our loads. These eight were subsequently sent to England to the Zoological Society in London to be acclimatized. They die in India from the heat, but would do well in Scotland or the Swiss Alps. We camped at the highest village of Kuti, and prepared for the morrow's ascent. These higher