be admitted that the valley is, relatively
speaking, fertile--that is to say, its produce is sufficient to support
its three or four thousand inhabitants.

The lower valley produces buckwheat, turnips, potatoes, radishes, and
barley. The latter, the staple food of the Tibetans, has, when ground,
an appetizing smell very like oatmeal. The upper valley is quite
sterile, and produces nothing but barley, which does not ripen; it is
gathered for fodder when green, and the straw is sold at high prices to
the merchants who visit Phari from Tibet and Bhutan. This year the
Tibetan merchants are afraid to come, and the commissariat benefits by
a very large supply of fodder which ought to see them through the
summer.

The idea that the valley is unusually fertile probably arose from the
well-to-do appearance of the natives of Rinchengong and Chumbi, and
their almost palatial houses, which give evidence of a prosperity due to
trade rather than agriculture.

The hillsides around Chumbi produce wild strawberries, raspberries,
currants, and cherries; but these are quite insipid in this sunless
climate.

The Chinese Custom's officer at Yatung tells me that the summer months,
though not hot, are relaxing and enervating. The thermometer never rises
above 70 deg.. The rainfall does not average quite 50 inches; but almost
daily at noon a mist creeps up from Bhutan, and a constant drizzle
falls. In June, July, and August, 1901, there were only three days
without rain.

At Phari I met a venerable old gentleman who gave me some statistics.
The old man, Katsak Kasi by name, was a Tibetan from the Kham province,
acting at Phari as trade agent for the Bhutanese Government. His face
was seared and parchment-like from long exposure to cold winds and rough
weather. His features were comparatively aquiline--that is to say, they
did not look as if they had been flattened out in youth. He wore a very
large pair of green spectacles, with a gold bulb at each end and a red
tassel in the middle, which gave him an air of wisdom and distinction.
He answered my rather inquisitive questions with courtesy and
decision, and yet with such a serious care for details that I felt quite
sure his figures must be accurate.

[Illustration: ROCK SCULPTURES.]

If statistics were any gauge of the benefits Indian trade would derive
from an open market with Tibet, the present mission, as far as
commercial interests are concerned, would be wasted. According to Kasi'