mouthful of
it hanging from both sides of his tightly closed lips the Jogpa now let
go of the animal's head, and, brandishing his sword, made a dash for its
tail.

I seized the man by his pigtail, while he in his turn clung to the tail
of the frightened yak, which bolting, dragged us after it at an
unpleasant pace.

The Jogpa, in our mad flight, cut off a long lock of the yak's silky
hair, and having secured this, appeared to be quite satisfied, let go and
sheathed his sword. He concealed the stolen locks in his coat, and then
made profound obeisances to us, putting out his tongue as usual and
declaring that unless that precaution is taken when parting with a beast,
bad luck is sure to come to you. This closed the incident: the Jogpa rode
away perfectly happy, and we continued our march across the stony plain
until we reached the ridge which extends across it and divides the two
sheets of water. We climbed up to the top, rising to 16,450 feet, and to
make certain that the ridge really extended right across, I made an
expedition about half-way across, finding the northern part somewhat
lower than the southern, still rising several hundred feet above the
level of the lakes. This expedition incurred some loss of time, and when
night came we were still on the ridge.

[Illustration: A BLACK YAK]

From our camping-ground we saw fifteen black tents on the hillside, and
to the E. on the lake shore there was a large Gomba or Lamasery, with a
temple and a number of mud houses. I estimated the distance between
ourselves and the Gomba at only eight miles, a cheering fact, because I
hoped to get fresh provisions there to enable us to proceed more rapidly
on our journey. We were now quite out of reach of the Gyanema sepoys, as
well as of the Barca Tarjum and the Taklakot Jong Pen, and if we could
only obtain a sufficient quantity of food during the night, and proceed
by the jungle early the next day, there would be little danger of our
being overtaken. The Shokas were, of course, again shaking with fright at
the idea of entering a Tibetan settlement, but I told them very firmly
that we must reach Tucker Gomba and village that night.

We had below us the two great lakes, and before I left this magnificent
panorama, I could not help taking a last long look at the marvellous
scene. The Devil's Lake, with its broken, precipitous shores, its rocky
islands and outstretching peninsulas, was far more enchanting to me than
the sacred l