an abandoned house just inside them. Across the
way to the right there are two houses, the occupants
of which brought us fodder for our horses and two little
bowls full of the curious potentilla root of Tibet. This
is a white tuber which tastes not unlike a ripe filbert,
and grows in brown-skinned fingers from two to four
Bridge over the Nyang chu above Kang-ma.
inches in length. It is a pleasant variety of food, but
it is not as commonly found in Tibet as one had been
led to suppose. Still pursuing our way down the valley,
we were at last brought to a halt five miles above
Kang-ma beside a ruined temple of some size, by the
news that the Tibetans had built a long wall across the
valley about four miles ahead. A halt was ordered and
the valley ahead reconnoitred. Lieutenant Bailey, with
a few mounted infantry, pushed up over the mountains
on the right and reported afterwards that the Tibetans
in great numbers were holding a four-hundred-yard wall
across the valley, and that a series of well-constructed
Across the valley at the end is a thin sloping line. This was the wall built by the
Tibetans to oppose our progress half a mile south of Kang-ma. It was abandoned
by them at the last moment. To the right is the gompa, afterwards used by us as a
fortified post.
sangars in échelon had been constructed up the mountain
side. On their right the bluff was precipitous to
their left front. Unfortunately, also, his appearance
scared them from the whole position, and on the following
morning, after an elaborate and careful order of
advance had been arranged, we found ourselves checked
for an hour in front of a wall, which had, as a matter