Assamese, that the Dihong is the Yaru, on its southern
course to become the Burrampooter, renders this point
as conclusively settled as any resting on mere oral
evidence is likely to he.
Lhassa, as all agree, is at a much lower elevation
than Jigatzi; and apricots (whose ripe stones Dr.
Campbell procured for me) and walnuts are said to
ripen there, and the Dama or Himalayan furze (Cara-
gana), is said to grow there. The Bactrian camel also
thrives and breeds at Lhassa, together with a small
variety of cow (not the yak), both signs of a much more
temperate climate than Jigatzi enjoys. I t is, however,
a remarkable fact, that there are two tame elephants
near the latter city, kept by the Teshoo Lama. They
were taken thither through Bhotan; and I have been
informed that they have become clothed with long hair,
owing to the cold of the climate; hut Tchebu Lama
contradicted this, adding, that his countrymen were so
credulous, that they would believe blankets grew on
the elephants’ backs, if the Lamas told them so.
A kind of wild ass, the Equus Hemionus of Pallas,
the untameable Kiang of Tibet, abounds in Dingcham,
and we saw several. I t resembles the ass more than
the horse, from its size, heavy head, small limbs, thin
tail, and the stripe over the shoulder. The flesh is
eaten and much liked. The Kiang-lah mountains are
so named from their being a great resort of this
creature. I t differs widely from the wild ass of Persia,
Sind, and Beloochistan, but is undoubtedly the same
as the Siberian animal.
No village or house is seen throughout the extensive
area over which the eye roams from Bhomtso, and the
general character of the desolate landscape was similar
to that which I have described as seen from Donkia
pass. The wild ass grazing with its foal on the
sloping downs, the hare bounding over the stony soil,
the antelope scouring the sandy flats, and the fox
stealing along to his burrow, are all desert and Tartarian
types of the animal creation. The shrill whistle
of the marmot alone breaks the silence of the scene,
recalling the snows of Lapland to the mind ; while the
kite and raven wheel through the air, with as steady a
pinion as if that atmosphere possessed the same power
of resistance that it does at the level of the sea. Still
higher in the heavens, long black Y-shaped trains of
wild geese cleave the air, shooting over the glacier-
crowned top of Kinchinjhow, and winging their flight
in one day, perhaps, from the Yaru to the Ganges,
over 500 miles of space, and through 22,000 feet of
elevation. One plant alone, a yellow lichen (Borrera),
is found at this height, and that only as a visitor;
for, Tartar-like, it migrates over these lofty slopes
and ridges, blown about by the violent winds. I found
a small beetle on the very top, probably blown up
also, for it was a flower-feeder, and seemed benumbed
with cold.
Every night that we spent in Tibet, we enjoyed a
magnificent display of sunbeams converging to the
east, and making a false sun-set. As the sun set,
broad purple beams rose from a dark, low, leaden bank
on the eastern horizon, and spreading up to the zenith,
covered the intervening space : they remained from