i. Once or twice the clouds
broke for an hour or so, and the sun and sky lit up the lake, and so
showed it us in its true colour--that unique shade of turquoise, unlike
anything in water scenery that the most travelled of us had ever seen
before. I forget whether any scientific explanation of the peculiar
colour was forthcoming among the learned, but the water of the lake
being distinctly brackish may contain certain salts which, being diluted
throughout the whole extent of the lake, produces some faint effect of
colour on the water, and this, in combination with the sky's reflection,
results in the turquoise shade which we so admired.

The Tibetans, with that large-mindedness which characterises their
disposal of their dead, do not forget the fishes of the Lake Palti, and
in that region corpses are made away with by being thrown into the lake.

It would thus appear that, what with its salts and functions as a
cemetery, the lake supplied but indifferent drinking water. At one or
two camps that we occupied by its side, there were no streams flowing
down from the hills, so we had to be content with the lake, but no ill
effects resulted.

Many were the fish that were caught in Lake Palti, as we skirted its
banks, and that embellished those dinners that were now getting so
plain. The regular trout fishing appliances--greenheart rod, reel and
silk-spun line, catgut cast and choice Zulu or March-brown
fly--accounted for large numbers; but side by side with the sportsman so
equipped would stand some sepoy or follower with a lengthy stick, a bit
of string, and a bent pin baited with a bit of tsampa, whose efforts
would be crowned with success quite similar. Really accommodating fish
those were, that gave the skilled angler the entertainment he sought,
and yet did not disdain that humbler one who with simpler devices fished
only for the pot.

Yasig was our first camp out of Nagartse.

There was a village two miles from camp, but it contained no supplies,
and was deserted except for a few old women. In those days, to the
casual traveller through Tibet, old women would have appeared to form
the bulk of the population. A useful thing, an old woman! You can use
her as a cat's-paw. Though afraid to go yourself into the vicinity of
the invading foe, you can yet send your old woman to watch over your
interests in the village, to feed and milk the cows that you have left
hidden there, to perform such small agricultural functions ge