s, that had become our fellow-travellers, communicated to
the caravan a mournful aspect, which had great influence upon the Chinese
imagination. Ly, the pacificator of kingdoms, whose strength decreased
daily, was particularly alarmed by the circumstance; he would fain have
removed the sad spectacle, but this he could not effect without exposing
himself to the terrible accusation of having impeded the sepulture of two
Mandarins, who had died in a foreign country.

From Adzou-Thang, we went on to sleep and change oulah in a small village
of the valley of Che-Pan-Keou (Valley of Slates). According to the
testimony of the Chinese Itinerary, the inhabitants of this valley are a
rude, wicked, and obstinate people; that is to say, in other words, they
do not fear the Chinese, and are in the habit of making them pay a good
price for the yaks and horses with which they furnish them.

The valley of Che-Pan-Keou, as its name indicates, abounds in quarries of
argillaceous schist. The Thibetians of these countries raise from them
beautiful slate, which they use in tiling their houses; they also raise
very thick pieces, upon which they engrave images of Buddha with the
form, "Om mane padme houm." This slate is of very fine texture. The
small portions of mica or talc which they contain, give them a brilliant
and silky lustre.

The stream which flows through the centre of the valley, contains a large
quantity of gold dust, which the natives do not neglect to collect and
refine. As we walked along the stream, we found fragments of crucibles,
to which were still attached a few particles of gold; we showed them to
the Pacificator of Kingdoms, and this sight seemed to reanimate his
strength, and to renew the bonds which attached him to life. The blood
suddenly rushed into his face, his eyes, which had been almost extinct,
shone with an unwonted fire. One would have said that the sight of a few
grains of gold had made him completely forget both his malady and the two
corpses which accompanied him.

Musk deer abound in this schistous valley. Although that animal,
addicted to cold climates, is met with on almost all the mountains of
Thibet, nowhere, perhaps, is it seen in such large numbers as in the
neighbourhood of Che-Pan-Keou. The pines, cedars, hollies, and
cypresses, which cover this country, contribute, no doubt, a good deal to
attract these animals thither, peculiarly fond, as they are, of the roots
of these trees, which