pices run for miles. The little cones of rufous débris
which reach upwards from the ground to every chimney
and channel of the cliff do not detract from the extraordinary
abruptness with which these red bariiers
leap upwards to the sky, towering aloft sheer from the
stream on either side. The river, too, is worth a note.
All morning, after the bitter frost has bound up the
leaks of the encircling but invisible glaciers overhead,
the stream runs clearly enough, but towards evening
the main flow from the eastern side of the ice-fields of
Nichi-kang-sang hurls itself into the river like a
flood of antimony, so black and leaden are the waters.
In these scenes we pitched our camp for the night,
and considered the advance we had made.
The official estimate of the importance of this operation
seems misleading; it is probable that not more
than 200 Tibetans were holding the southern cornice
west of the wall, and about the same number tried to
escape by the slope of shale to the east.* On the next
day, the 19th of July, I went down the stream on the
right bank with Mr. Claude White, who was taking
a series of photographs. The long line of the column
crept along under the high scarp to the north. As we
rode beside it all day long we saw partridges, foxes, hares
and marmots of a larger kind than those which honeycomb
the Phari plain. The flora of the valley itself
remains inconspicuous here, for the high cliffs which
bind it in prevent the growth of plants ; only jagged
slate edges and grasses moving in the wind decorated
the trang along which the column moved. On the other
* This latter number alone was, however, reckoned as 800 by the headquarters-
staff. I have throughout this book given numbers and facts that seem to me to accord
with observations taken during the day, and generally accepted by impartial eyewitnesses.
side of the river we found much dwarf edelweiss and
some stumpy reeds. But the rocky formation of the
ground was still the most important feature of the
scene. At last the Yam-dok tso appeared in the far
distance, a blue, quivering line, which one could swear
was but a mirage. Soon after that, on turning the
. a i
f r i -
I 8 s S S p
R P I I I h mêêêèèêêêêSê
The first sight of the Yam-dok tso : Nagartse jong in the centre.
corner, Nagartse jong was seen, three miles away across
the plain. We moved slowly upon it, and thereupon
heard that the Tibetan delegates, who had fled from
Gyantse, were ready to meet us, and requested an
audience. We went on, and camped a quarter of a mile
from the jong on a rising patch of dried ground. The
Yam-dok tso and its little sister, the Dumu tso, were
glittering in the sun below the unfolding hills.