, and quietly sauntering upon the
crest of the mountain. If he meets any traveller, he takes him on his
crupper, and vanishes forthwith at full gallop. The red horse being so
light that he leaves no trace, even on the snow, no one, to this day, has
been able to discover the retreat of the White Knight, for so they call
him in the country.

As to us, we were not much concerned about the red horse and the white
knight. What we feared, was the mountain itself. We could not help
shuddering at the sight of the frightful quantity of snow which had
fallen, and which would render the road extremely dangerous. We were
obliged to await the return of fine weather, and then to send, as we had
before done under similar circumstances, a herd of long-haired oxen to
trample down the snow, and trace out a path over the mountain.

We stayed five days at Angti. Ly-Kouo-Ngan took advantage of this long
halt to doctor his legs, the malady in which assumed every day a more
alarming character. The question of the oulah, long discussed in several
assemblies, was resolved, at last, in the same way as at Gaya; a result
which did not fail greatly to annoy the Chinese, and to elicit from them
infinite clamour.

What we found most remarkable at Angti was, certainly, the Dheba, or
chief of the tribe. This individual, named Bomba, was at most three feet
high; the sabre which he carried in his girdle was, at least, twice his
own length; notwithstanding this, the man had a magnificent chest, and a
face, broad, energetic in its expression, and beautifully regular in its
features. The exiguity of his stature arose from an entire abortion of
the legs, which, however, did not in the least affect his feet; nor did
the almost total absence of legs prevent the chief of the tribe of Angti
from being surprisingly active. He was always running about with as much
agility as the longest legged of his people; he could not, indeed, make
very extended strides, but he compensated for this by the rapidity of his
movements. By dint of working about right and left, skipping and
jumping, he always arrived as soon as any one else; he was, they said,
the most expert horseman, and the most intrepid warrior of the tribe.
When they had once hoisted him on his horse, where he held on, at once
standing and seated, he was invincible. In the popular assemblies, which
the mountaineers of these regions are in the habit of holding very
frequently, and always in the open