we
crossed over at a spot where the stream was twenty-five yards across, and
the water reached up to our waists. We found here another _mani_ wall
with large inscriptions on stones, and as the wind was very high and
cutting, we made use of it to shelter us. Within the angle comprised
between bearings 240 deg. and 120 deg. (b.m.) we could observe a very high, snowy
mountain range in the distance (the great Himahlyan chain), and lower
hill ranges even as near as three miles from camp. The river we had just
crossed flowed into the Brahmaputra, and we were now at an elevation of
15,700 feet. We saw plainly at sunset a number of black tents before us
at bearings 120 deg.; we calculated them to be two miles distant. We counted
about sixty, as well as hundreds of black yaks.

[Illustration: AN EFFECT OF MIRAGE]

At sunrise the next morning, much to our surprise, they had all vanished;
nor, on marching in the direction where we had seen them the previous
night, were we able to find traces of them. It seemed as if it must have
been _mirage_. Eventually, however, some fourteen miles away, across a
grassy plain bounded to the North-East by the range extending from
North-West to South-East, and with lofty snowy peaks at 72 deg. some five
miles off, we came upon a very large Tibetan encampment of over eighty
black tents at an altitude of 15,650 feet. They were pitched on the banks
of another tributary of the Brahmaputra, which, after describing a great
curve in the plain, passed West of the encampment. Five miles off, in the
arc of circle described from 310 deg. to 70 deg. (b.m.), stood the chain of
mountains which I had observed all along; but here the elevations of its
peaks became gradually lower and lower, so much so that the name of "hill
range" would be more appropriate to it than that of "mountain chain."
Behind it, however, towered loftier peaks again with their snowy caps.

CHAPTER LXIII

A commotion--An invitation declined--The tents--Delicacies--The
_Chokseh_.

WE wanted food, and so made boldly for the encampment. Our approach
caused a great commotion, and yaks and sheep were hastily driven away
before us, while men and women rushed in and out of their tents,
apparently in a state of much excitement. Eight or ten men reluctantly
came forward and entreated us to go inside a large tent. They said they
wished to speak to us, and offered us tea. I would not accept their
invitation, distrusting them, b