en on the left bank of the stream. Though we sadly needed warm
food, there was no possibility of lighting a fire in such torrential
rain. A piece of chocolate was all I ate that night. My men preferred to
eat nothing rather than break their caste by eating food prepared by
European hands.

We were asleep under our little tent, the hour being about eleven, when
there was a noise outside as of voices and people stumbling against
stones. I was out in a moment with my rifle, and shouted the usual
"_Palado!_" (Go away!) I could see nothing, owing to the darkness, but
several stones flung from slings whizzed past me. One of these hit the
tent. A dog barked furiously. I fired a shot, which had the good effect
of producing a hasty retreat of our enemies. The dog remained barking
all night. In the morning, when I gave him food and caressed him in
Tibetan fashion, with the usual words of endearment, "_Chochu, chochu_,"
he rubbed himself against my legs as if he had known me all his life,
and eventually lay down by the side of Mansing, to whom he took a
particular fancy. From that day the dog never left our camp, and
followed us everywhere until harder times came upon us.

The river was turning too much toward the south. I decided to abandon it
and strike across country, especially as there were faint signs of a
track leading over a pass to the east-south-east of our camp. I followed
this track. Along it I detected marks of hundreds of ponies' hoofs, now
almost entirely washed away. This was evidently the way taken by the
soldiers we had met on the other side of the Maium Pass.

Having risen over the pass, 17,750 feet high, we saw before us an
extensive valley with barren hills scattered upon it. To the south we
observed a large plain some ten miles wide, with snowy peaks rising on
the farther side. In front was a hill and a _mani_ wall. This latter
discovery made me feel quite confident that I was on the highroad to
Lhassa. About eight miles off to the north-north-west were high snowy
peaks, and as we went farther we discovered a lofty mountain range, with
still higher peaks, three miles behind it. We had travelled half-way
across the waterless plain when we noticed a number of soldiers' heads
and matchlocks popping in and out from behind a distant hill. After a
while they came out in numbers to observe our movements, then retired
again behind the hill. We proceeded. When we were still half a mile from
them they abandoned their