wind and the snow of last night came far down the
chimneys and crannies of the iron hill-sides. But the
backbone of the Himalayas had been crossed and two
or three miles farther on down the valley we saw, with a
which can hardly be believed, the first tree
Tibet. This grows beside the little house which is
The first tree in Tibet, at Laden, in the Nyang chu Valley.
dignified with the name of Laden, and even the need for
fuel of our post at Menza, which was afterwards moved
considerably nearer to the spot, was never supplied at
the expense of this solitary willow.
There is very little to describe along this road. At
a place which was officially and wrongly reported to be
Tandesa there is a pleasant plantation of birches with
