on reaching the camping-ground, first, to inform us
how tired the ponies were; next to grumble at the
scarcity of water; then to complain of the paucity
of grass; ending up with the statement that he was
convinced the ponies would all die, and that it was a
bad look-out for everyone. As a sort of final artistic
touch to his doleful prognostications, he would then
say his prayers in the most conspicuous place possible.
Hargreaves and I had already discovered what a wolf
in sheep’s clothing this man was; but we were careful
not to offend him, for it was generally understood that
his services would be priceless should fate lead us into
the hands of the “ bloodthirsty” Tibetans.
On the following day we climbed a great mass of
rock, cut up by numerous ravines, with the idea of
doing some triangulation work; the morning had been
clear and frosty, but before reaching the summit the
wind sprang up, clouds appeared as if by magic, and
successive hailstorms drenched us to the skin and
obscured the view.
On the top of the mountain a cairn of stones
was unexpectedly discovered, evidently erected by
nomads, but why these people should have gone out
of their way to ascend this hill we were at first unable
to understand. Later on, we came to the conclusion
that the cairn acted merely as a local landmark,
possibly indicating the region of some auriferous soil.
We managed to complete our work after a fashion and
returned to camp, wet and miserable.
“ Our daily buck ” was waiting for us close to camp,
and was shot by Hargreaves in due course; the men
now consumed one entire animal a day an average
antelope, when it is cleaned and ready for cooking,
weighs about 55 lb., but on no occasion was there ever
any meat left when the camp was struck. One of the
S h o e in g P o n ie s n e a r L a k e M a r k h a m .
D ig g in g e o r W a t e r . T h e P a t h b e in g -u s e d as a T r o u g h .