k he wore; he wore felt boots but no trousers, which
indeed almost all Tibetan nomads regard as quite, superfluous.

Sampo Singi blew his nose with his fingers, making a loud noise, and he
did it so often that I began to think that it was some form of
politeness. To make sure I followed his example. He showed not the
slightest suspicion, only looked at our things and gave us the
information we wanted. We had a journey of eight days more to Lhasa, he
assured us. Then Shagdur gave him a pinch of snuff which made him sneeze
at least fifty times. We laughed at him when he asked whether we put
pepper in our snuff, whereupon, in order to keep up our story, Shagdur
roared at me, "Do not sit here and stare, boy; go and drive in the
cattle." I started up at once, and had a terrible job to get the animals
in to the camp.

We had an undisturbed night, thanks to the neighbourhood of the nomads,
for they too had fierce dogs and arms. Early in the morning Sampo came
with another man and a woman to visit us. We had asked if we might buy
some food from them, and they brought several choice things with them--a
sheep, a large piece of fat, a bowl of sour milk, a wooden bowl of
powdered cheese, a can of milk, and a lump of yellow cream cheese. Then
came the question of payment. Our money consisted of Chinese silver
pieces, which are valued by weight, and are weighed out with a pair of
small scales. Sampo Singi, however, would take only silver coins from
Lhasa, of which we had none. Fortunately I had provided myself with two
packages of blue Chinese silken material in Turkestan, and a length of
that is a substitute for silver of all kinds. The Tibetans became quite
excited when they heard the rustle of the silk, and after the usual
haggling and bargaining we came to an agreement.

The sheep was then slaughtered, some fat pieces were fried over the
fire, and after a solid breakfast, of which a share was bestowed on the
dogs, we bade farewell to the Tibetans and rode on through the valley,
still in pouring rain. Soon we came to the right bank of a broad river
which was composed of about twenty arms, four of which were each as
large as an ordinary stream. Without hesitation our courageous little
Lama rode straight out into the rapid turbid current, and Shagdur and I
followed. When we had crossed about half the river we rested a while on
a small mud flat, from which neither bank could be seen owing to the
rain. On all sides we were surrounde