? Near our encampment, was a party of Tartar herdsmen» called
Dukba, whose spie' óccupation is tending cattle, and who alwaysg five-
in tents.! One of them brought.me a large quantity fif milk, which was
excellent, andjsomeivery good .buttei*. The drove of chowry-tailed'
cattle, at pasture: in this neighbourhood, consisted^as I understood,; df
between two and three hundred, and were the property of three fami»
hés. At the time of our arrival, they were dispersed, grazing all oxer,
the adjacent mountains; but towards the evenings the proprietors col-
lected them together, by a signal and a call; theyjwere then allifasténéd
With ropes, picketed in a double line before their tents, and guarded
by two large Tibet dogs-. -I learned: from one of the proprietors; that
they had been stationary here about twelve days ; that they came from
the northward; and that, in the course of;mine, or ten days more, he
intended to conduct them farther south, on account of the approach
ofwinter.
The last was a most bitterly cold night: I was almost frozen in my
bed. It might literally have been said that we had lain in the clouds.
They hung in the morning exceedingly low; and some of them swept
the ground, as they passed in quick succession before a strong wind.
Our tent, composed of a single thin canvas, without lining, was as wet
as it was possible; and the current of cold air, that pierced through the
damp cloth, awoke me, with the same sensation a person feels, on first
plunging into cold water. The- ground was covered with hoar frost.
The mercury in the thermometer stood at 36°.
TIBET!
C H A P T E R ^ ^
Small. Banners, the Boundaries ’between,* Borftan and" Tibet.—Plain
, h,of Rhari^A low Mount dedicated' t& hfM i^alAM R^^M ^^kl —
• 6kassa Goombah, Station oj the IamaJSfi’hart&hS Juriidtctfor$
-■ ■ i-Ld, or Musk Beer.—Ghbwz—Sevemtyii^thei0oM^RdWgd df
.i snowy Mountains.— (foumularec.— Hffttiou'Skp'frsttfioris—i-'iTorlgl'a
^rnTartar Rents.—Goorkhaw:—'-Homage to Chumularee.—Superior
Elevation of this Part ofH'ibet—dedurxd'frbmtM ^droes^mii
vers ,-;the. cold: Temperature of'bhe' Air, and^ihd'Mo&ntaifis clothed
perpetually with Snowi^Weunct^feeblei Vegetation ^huhteroits
■:Herds—-dreary Aspect.— Tempestuous Ghara%terSofthe>Frdhtie&-& 1
Mineral Spnhgs—fosMhAlkali—Natrd%.-^Efothai^Ra:ke>Rdrki
tekieu— vast Resort of. JV<derfowV-—EnMmprn'ent:—S ^ f . !rriimni
* ^-Sublime Scenery—a Tibet'RRRage.—FaHher Trait& tf'g&perdfe
tioji^Dags of Tibet— their Ferocity.— Gomparisdn. between Bbbtan
and Tibet.
)A.fter dinner our tents were struck,»and wfeiadvahc'ddWp'hi ouk'Way'
ever the summit of'Soomoonang. Heie a ’loirg-roW' cif-little 'inscribed
flags, fixed in rude heaps of stones,'.were fluttering in the^jhfo-JjTKejt'
mark thehoundahtApf Tibet; and; Bootan ,<?and are' supposed, at' the