We tried on this expedition most of the world’s beasts
of burden | the ponies were, perhaps, hardly given a
air chance because the larger part of their drivers
o ed the night before we crossed into the Chumbi
alley Of the rest, the story of the yaks is one
of the dreariest histories of a waste of animal life in
military records; but it is difficult to apportion the
blame for this.*
We had in the column two curious beasts— zebrules.
They were not a success ; pleasant and docile animals,
a cross between a zebra and a Clydesdale mare, they
were physically unable to stand the pack work
because they were longer in the back than any horse
or any zebra, or any mule has ever been before, so as
a rule, they were allowed to accompany the battery
more as curiosities than as workers. Camels were
°nginal. COrps of y 0^ 5 were three in number, under Wigram Tillard
t a k e n ^ Came fr°m the N ^ e s e frontier,
SikWm Ab ? 7 i B i P0SSiWe route that “ uldbe found L o s s ■
E l l i n B R f l f l I B bUt as ■ naer stress of every disease known to the veterinary surgneuomn htehres msc ealnte tdv arwemay
ny rreeccoorrdd oofL thhee eTxp ■editio Mn wou lid lbe 0c0o6m Hplete w Withigoruatm a' t le1a dst° snoomte t hreinfekr etnhcaet aaaa?®i»!st H H i m » issisii , , , , . . ’ only the half-savage yak-drivers of Nepal to talk to hp
« a « « w * b ,« ( , w « h . ■ H M ¡ ■ ■ n «' « ! , * * » up°n «ht «iist*s§
his H l S B i B B B I neCessary to find some other sustenance for
of h i L T B bare SnOW and tock provided, he paid for it out
dyyiinngL mL etennssL anndd ' ttwwee”n tti ^es a tf a ^ tim I e, CaOnUd, dI d wo ell rememWbe br esaesetisi idgw tihned lleads ta wreamy-;
wiOi L L number- o f these 3.500 yaks slowly wending their way into Chumbi
With the drivers themselves actually carrying the littfe Toads which th eT aks
6 o o b eL s ° fram pL ‘ ° SUPP°r t - Subse<lu“ « y another corps was made up of
of T „n ? f ru ’ I5° fr°m Tuna' and 500 from other places. A t the end
Of June of this new corps of 1,250, 209 alone were alive in Gyantse • about 170
bbeefofroe,T thSewy we err1e t ddriWviadi eddl ' i"ntfo ^two *c*or*p*s*, oSnnCeC eoSfS atbhoauat h2a4d0 eavet r tbheee nf earcrhyi evthede
remainder being stabled at Pe-di jong. This, in bald outline, is the fate oi the
yak corps, and the S. and T. Department has learned never again to place
their reliance upon these burly and delicate beasts.
even at one time proposed, and, I believe, actually
used, but their immediate failure was predestined.
Donkey corps were used successfully; but in these
cases the contracts were given out locally to Tibetans
in the habit of transporting goods on these tiny little
animals. The Supply and Transport Department, in-
The Mission yaks. Almost the only survivors at Chak-sam of 3,500.
defatigable in their researches, offered 100 rupees for
any kyang which could be brought in. This can hardly
have been seriously meant, though it certainly was
seriously taken by the native troops. A kyang is a
tortoiseshell-coloured wild ass confined to this part of
the world’s surface ; it has never been tamed, and the
Tibetans, who should know, say that it is untamable ;
herds of them are found on the Tuna plateau ; and again,