pulated money. As I was about to leave, the
grey-haired man approached me again.

"You have seen the home of the Raots. You are the first stranger who has
done so, and you will suffer much. The gods are very angry with you."

"Yes," rejoined another savage, pointing at the ravine, "whoever treads
along that track and is not a Raot will be afflicted by a great
calamity."

"_Kush paruani, Sahib"_ ("Never mind, sir"), interrupted the guide, "they
are only barbarians, they know no better. I have myself never been here,
so I suppose I shall also come in for my share."

"You too will suffer," said the old Raot, with self-assurance.

The Raots stood round me silently as I packed up the camera, and I felt
that they looked upon me as a man whose fate was settled. They did not
acknowledge my farewell, and, had I been in the least superstitious,
might have made me thoroughly uncomfortable with their solemn, stolid
gravity.

[Illustration: RAOT WOMEN OF THE FOREST]

CHAPTER V

A pilgrim from Mansarowar Lake--The spirits of the mountains--A
safeguard against them--Tibetan encampments--The Rajiwar--A
waterfall--Watermills.

HAVING returned to Askote from my excursion, I saw while going round the
town with Jagat Sing, in a low stone shed by the side of the palace, the
tall gaunt figure of a man emerging from a cloud of smoke.

"Who is that?" I inquired of my companion.

"Oh, that is a fakir returning from a pilgrimage to the sacred lake of
Mansarowar in Tibet. Many of these fanatics pass through here during the
summer on their religious journeys."

[Illustration: THE RAJIWAR OF ASKOTE, HIS BROTHER AND SON]

My curiosity drew me towards the weird individual. He was over six feet
in height, and his slim body had been covered with ashes, giving the dark
skin a tinge of ghastly grey. I asked him to come out into the light. His
masses of long hair had been plaited into small tresses which were wound
round his head in the fashion of a turban--the "_Tatta_." The hair, too,
had been whitened, while the long thin beard had been dyed bright red.
His eyes were sunken and, apparently to add to the ghastly and decidedly
repulsive effect, his forehead and cheeks were plastered with a thick
white paint. He seemed half stupefied, and had very little to say for
himself. As can be seen by the illustration, he was scantily clothed, but
he wore the _Kamarjuri_ or fakir's chain about his loins, and he had a
bead brac