d by swiftly flowing water, yet it
seemed as if the water was standing still while the small sandbank
rushed up the river at a terrific pace.

The Lama again started off with his mule into the water, but he had not
gone many steps before the water rose to the root of the animal's tail.
He was also leading the mule which carried our two hide trunks, which
until the water soaked into them acted like corks. In this way the mule
lost her footing on the bottom of the river, swung round, and was
quickly carried down-stream. We saw her disappear in the rain and
thought that it was certainly her last journey, but she extricated
herself in a marvellous manner. Near the left bank of the river she
managed to get her hoofs on the bottom again, and clambered up; and what
was most singular, the two trunks were still on her back.

At length we all got safely across, and rode on. My boots squelched, and
water dropped from the corners of the boxes. Our camp that evening was
truly wretched--not a dry stitch on us, continuous rain, almost
impossible to make a fire. At length, however, we succeeded in keeping
alight a small smoking fire of dung. That night I did not keep watch a
minute after midnight, but waked up Shagdur mercilessly and crept into
bed.

On August 2 we made only fifteen and a half miles. The road was now
broad and easy to follow. On the slope of a hill was encamped a large
tea caravan; its twenty-five men were sitting round their fires, while
the three hundred yaks were grazing close at hand. The bales of tea were
stacked up in huge piles; it was Chinese tea of poor quality compressed
into cakes like bricks, and therefore called "brick-tea." Every cake is
wrapped in red paper, and about twenty cakes are sewed up together into
a hide tightly bound with rope. The caravan was bound for Shigatse. As
we rode by, several of the men came up to us and put some impertinent
and inconvenient questions. They were well armed and looked like
robbers, so we politely refused their proposal that we should travel
together southwards. We pitched our camp a little farther on, and next
morning we saw this curious and singular caravan pass by. It was a great
contrast to the fine camel caravans of Persia and Turkestan, for it
marched like a regiment in separate detachments of thirty or forty yaks
each. The men walked, whistling and uttering short sharp cries; ten of
them carried guns slung on their backs, and all were bareheaded,
sunburnt, an