desired transport and supplies. The epistles were
despatched by the old lama, to whom we returned the
pony in order that he might travel more quickly.
On thè following day we rose before it was light,
and as the temperature was below zero, pushed rapidly
forward to keep ourselves warm, and were still travelling
fast at the thirteenth mile, when the jingling of
ponies’ bells was heard : whereupon the two Kashmiris
burst into tears—the idea of being turned back once
more being too much for their feelings.
Nearer and nearer came the sounds, and it was
evident that a fairly large troop of Tibetans was
riding in hot haste towards us ; presently they
appeared round the comer—eight in number—and
mounted on beautiful little ponies almost smothered
in strings of bells and gaudy trappings ; very different
from our poor starving beasts.
Only three of the new-comers carried guns, so their
intentions were apparently peaceable. On seeing us,
they dismounted, sat down, and waited our approach,
and neither rose' nor salaamed as we came near. The
chief man or pomba was a coarse, brutal-looking person,
with a most repulsive face, round and flabby, the
forehead low, the nose flat, and an enormous mouth
with the front teeth lacking ; his deeply pigmented eyeballs
were set in narrow slits, and altogether he was
not a pleasant sight. We were afterwards told that
he was a noted swashbuckler, and, on account of his
bullying manner, had been told off by the villagers to
settle us ; it was said that the clothes, earrings and
rings he wore had been borrowed expressly for the
occasion.
He remained seated on a rock as we came up, and,
to show how much at ease he was, proceeded to light his
pipe and puff a cloud of smoke into the air ; without
speaking, he motioned to us to sit on the ground in
front of him—a request with which, naturally, we did
not comply.
Peace reigned, however, until the great Khalik, our
supposed intermediary and. peacemaker, arrived upon
the scene and proceeded to converse with this gentleman.
It was obviously a case of “ Greek meeting
Greek.” In less than a minute hot words were being
exchanged. Suddenly Khalik seized a rifle from
one of our drivers, loaded it and raised it to his
shoulder; but before he could fire, Hargreaves caught
hold of him and threw him to the ground.
At once all was confusion and turmoil; the Tibetans
rushed at the prostrate figure of the caravan-bashi,
but were kept back by our men, who had by this
time all arrived on the scene. Fortunately no weapons
were drawn and peace was once more established, mainly
through the efforts of Soonam Sirring, who worked
wonders. The Tibetans, however, never forgave
Khalik, and several times afterwards asked us to hand
him over to them.
Both parties encamped on the banks of the river
within a short distance of each other, and, as soon as
our tent was ready, a pow-wow was held. We were
quite determined that nothing whatever should turn
us back this time, and, after much wrangling, permission
was given to continue our journey. They asked
us, however, not to enter the village of Noh, as some
of our drivers had eaten kiang flesh: why they objected
to the eating of this animal was never ascertained.
The next process was to bargain with them respecting
supplies. We were in the unfortunate position of
being obliged to buy, as our men had lately been
subsisting on flesh only, so that they started with a
decided advantage. The price of barley was fixed at