hful Chanden Sing and
Dola tapped again so gently at the door that the bolt gave way. The next
moment ten strangers were squatting down round a warm fire drying their
shrivelled-up, soaked skins by the flame of dried tamarisk and dung. The
landlord, a doctor by the way, was reassured when he saw that we had no
evil intentions, and found some silver coins in the palm of his hand. Yet
he said he would rather that we slept somewhere else: there was a capital
empty hut next door.

On our agreeing to this, he conducted us to the place, and there we spent
the remainder of the night, or rather the early morning.

CHAPTER XLIV

The interior of a _serai_--Vermin--Fish, local jewellery, and
pottery for sale--Favourite shapes and patterns--How pottery is
made.

OUR abode was a one-storeyed house built of stones and mud with a flat
roof. There were two rooms, the first lighted by the door, the second and
larger having a square aperture in the ceiling for the triple purpose of
ventilation, lighting and outlet for the smoke of the fire, which burnt
directly underneath in the centre of the room. The beams and rafters
supporting the roof had been brought over from the other side of the
Himahlyas, as no wood is to be found in Western Tibet.

This _serai_ was in charge of a young, half-demented lama, who was most
profuse in salutations, and who remained open-mouthed, gazing at us for a
considerable time. He was polite and attentive in helping to dry our
things in the morning, and, whenever we asked for anything, he ran out of
the _serai_ in frantic fits of merriment, always bringing in what we
required.

[Illustration: SILVER LHASSA COINS]

The heavy storm during the night had flooded our room, and there was only
one corner slightly drier than the rest of the floor, where we all slept
huddled together. These _serais_ have no claim to cleanliness, and on
this occasion all the minor animal life that inhabited the floor had,
with a view to avoiding the water, retreated to the higher portion of the
room, which we also had selected, so that one more trial was added to
all our other miseries, for we were half devoured by a variety of
"insects." This, indeed, was a dreadful pest, and one from which we
suffered indescribable agonies, not only on this occasion but whenever we
halted near Tibetan camps. When we rose in the morning the room was full
of Tibetan men, women and children, who seemed very good-natured and