t next. They advanced gently on
their toes, making themselves as light as possible. All passed safely,
and the caravan proceeded again in its usual order. After having
surmounted a rocky and precipitous hill, at the foot of which roared an
impetuous torrent, we stayed for the night at Wa-Ho-Tchai, a station
composed of a barracks, small Chinese temple, and three or four Thibetian
huts.

Immediately after our arrival the snow began to fall in great flakes. In
any other place, such weather would have been merely disagreeable; at
Wa-Ho-Tchai, it was calamitous. We had next day to travel a stage of 150
lis, on a plateau famous throughout Thibet. The Itinerary gave us the
following details as to this route: "On the mountain Wa-Ho, there is a
lake. That people may not lose themselves in the thick fogs which
prevail here, there have been fixed on the heights wooden signals. When
the mountain is covered with deep snow you are guided by these signals;
but you must take care not to make a noise; you must abstain from even
uttering a word, otherwise the ice and snow will fall upon you in
abundance, and with astonishing rapidity. Throughout the mountain you
find neither beast nor bird, for it is frozen during the four seasons of
the year. On its sides, and within 100 lis distance there is no
dwelling. Many Chinese soldiers and Thibetians die there of cold."

The soldiers of the garrison of Wa-Ho-Tchai, finding that the weather
seemed really made up for snow, opened the gates of the little pagoda,
and lighted a number of small red candles in front of a
formidable-looking idol, brandishing a sword in its right hand, and
holding in the other a bow and a bundle of arrows. They then struck,
with repeated blows, on a small tam-tam, and executed a flourish on a
tambourine. Ly-Kouo-Ngan assumed his official costume, and went to
prostrate himself before the idol. On his return we asked in whose
honour this pagoda had been raised. "It is the pagoda of Kiang-Kian
{264} Mao-Ling." "And what did Kiang-Kian do, that he is thus honoured?"
"Oh, I see that you are ignorant of these events of times gone by. I
will tell you about him. In the reign of Khang-Hi the empire was at war
with Thibet. Mao-Ling was sent against the rebels in the rank of
generalissimo. Just as he was going to pass the mountain Wa-Ho, with a
body of 4,000 men, some of the people of the locality who acted as
guides, warned him that every one, in crossing the