g from near the foot of the range to
the North of us. We went on another couple of miles, exhausted and dirty,
our clothes, which we had spent so much soap and time in washing, filthy
with splashes of mud.

[Illustration: OUR YAKS SINKING IN MUD]

"Where are Mansing and the _rabbu?_"[26] I asked of my bearer.

"He remained behind at the beginning of the swamp. He was too exhausted
to drag along the goat you purchased."

I was much concerned, on scouting the country all round from a hillock
with my telescope, to see no signs of the poor fellow, and I was angry
with myself for not noticing his disappearance before. As there were many
Tibetans about the spot where he had remained, I feared foul play on
their part, and that he might have been overpowered. Again I imagined
that, weak as he was, he might have been sucked down in one of the deeper
mud-holes, without a chance of saving himself. I left Chanden Sing to
look after the yaks and turned back in search of him. As I hurried back
mile after mile, struggling again half across the mud swamp, and yet saw
no signs of the poor coolie, I was almost giving up my quest in despair,
when my eye caught something moving about half a mile farther on. It was
the goat all by itself. I made for it with a sinking heart.

It was only on getting quite close to it that I perceived the poor
coolie, lying flat and half sunk in the mud. He had fallen in a faint,
and though he was still breathing, he was quite insensible. Fortunately
he had taken the precaution of tying the rope of the _rabbu_ tight round
his arm, and thus not only was it owing to the animal that I had found
his whereabouts, but I had also saved our precious acquisition. With some
rubbing and shaking I brought the poor fellow back to life, and supported
him by the arm until we rejoined Chanden Sing. Not till the middle of the
night did we reach Tarbar, a large Tibetan encampment at the foot of the
hill range.

[26] The Tibetans have three distinct kinds of goats: the _rabbu_, or
large woolly animal, such as the one I had purchased; the _ratton_, or
small goat; and the _chitbu_, a dwarf goat whose flesh is delicious
eating. The _rabbu_ and _ratton_ are the two kinds generally used for
carrying loads, and they have sufficient strength to bear a weight not
exceeding 40 lbs. for a distance of from five to eight miles daily over
fairly good ground.

CHAPTER LXIX

The alarm given--Our bad manners--A peaceful se