down, thus forcing the air through the bamboo nozzle:
this is the common form of bellows throughout Tibet
and the Himalaya.
After two hours I was very stiff and cold, and
suffering from headache and giddiness, owing to the
elevation ; and having walked about thirteen miles
botanizing, I was glad to ride back. We reached the
Phipun’s tents about 6 p .m ., and had more tea before
proceeding to Turigu. The night was fortunately fine
and calm, with a few stars and a bright young moon,
which, with the glare from the snows, lighted up the
valley, and revealed magnificent glimpses of the majestic
mountains. As the moon sank, and we descended the
narrowing valley, darkness came on, and with a boy to
lead my sure-footed pony, I was at liberty to reflect on
the events of a day on which I had attained the object
of so many years’ ambition. Now that all obstacles
were surmounted, and I was returning laden with
materials for extending the knowledge of a science
which had formed the pursuit of my life, will it be
wondered at that I felt proud, not less for my own
sake, than for that of the many friends who were
interested in my success ?
We arrived at Tungu at 9 p .m ., my pony not having
stumbled once, though the path was rugged, and
crossed by many rapid streams. The Soubah’s little
shaggy steed had carried his portly frame (fully fifteen
stone weight) the whole way out and back, and when
he dismounted, it shook itself, snorted, and seemed
quite ready for supper.
On the 26th of July the Phipun, who waited on
me every morning with milk and butter, and whose
attentions were now unremitting, proposed that I
should accompany him to an encampment of Tibetans,
at the foot of Kinchinjhow. We mounted ponies, and
ascended the Tunguchoo eastwards : it was a rapid
river for the first thousand feet, flowing in a narrow
gorge, between sloping, grassy, and rocky hills, on
which large herds of yaks were feeding, tended by
women and children, whose black tents were scattered
about. The yak-calves left their mothers to run
beside our ponies, which became unmanageable, being
almost callous to the b it; and the whole party was
sometimes careering over the slopes, chased by the
grunting h e rd s: in other places, where the path was
narrow and dangerous, the sagacious animals proceeded
with the utmost gravity and caution. Rounding one
rocky spur, my pony stumbled, and pitched me forwards;
fortunately I alighted on the path.
A sudden bend in the valley opened a superb view of
Kinchinjhow, its perpendicular sides extending for four
or five miles east and west, and studded with immense
icicles, which are said to have obtained for it the name
of “ jhow,” — the “ bearded” Kinchin. Eastward a
jagged spur stretched south, rising into another splendid
mountain called Chango-khang (the Eagle’s crag), from
whose flanks descend great glaciers, the sources of the
Tunguchoo.
We followed the course of an affluent, called the
Chachoo, along whose bed ancient moraines rose in
successive ridges : over one of these the path ascends
to the plains of Palung, an elevated grassy expanse,