the curving river, here a mile wide, was eating into the
a luvial flats so fast that, as we watched, another and yet
another piece of fresh green turf fell helplessly into the
muddy stream. The view from Nam to the north-east
— and no one would look in any other direction— is shut
in by two converging spurs from north and south in
the middle of which an islet of rock rises, nearly joining
the two. Between this and the southern spur the river
ran ; our road was to take us on the northern side of
the islet. These barriers shut off all sight of the plain
wmim
On the road to Lhasa.
of Lhasa, and in spite of the repeated claims of those
who went forward with the mounted infantry, the fact
remains that Captain Peterson or Captain Souter must
have been actually the first man to see the Potala, long
after the force had been persuaded that the’ credit
belonged to Captain Ottley, who had a race up a height
with Major Iggulden, and beat him by a head in obtaining
the first glimpse o f— Sera Monastery ! They returned
to camp vowing they had seen Lhasa, in spite of the
steady assurances of a Tibetan interpreter.*
If it is of any interest to record these details,-the town of Lhasa itself was first
by Captain Ottley from the spur joining Potala and Cbagpo-ri.
seen