GEOGRAPHICAL RESULTS OF THE TIBET MISSION. 269 



pass. As Ave debouched on a bright frosty inoriiiii<i' from the j)ine 

 forest in which we had encamped for the night, we saw this wall biiiU 

 right across the road and high up the mountain side on either hand. 

 Whether Ave should haA'e to fight our Avay through or Avhether the 

 Tibetan general Avould respond to the arguments I had used the pre- 

 AHous day and gracefully alloAV us through had yet to be proved, and 

 General Macdonald used every military precaution. But to our re- 

 lief Ave saAV the great door in the tOAver standing open, and Ave Avere 

 soon passing peaceably through the gate of Tibet, never, I ho]^e, to 

 be closed against us again. 



We then emerged on to the main Chumbi Valley. Avhich, though 

 not Avide and open like the valleys Ave afterwards saAv in Tibet proper, 

 is decidedly less steep and narroAv than the Sikkim Valley. Both in 

 the valley bottom and on the hillsides there Avas room enough for 

 comfortable A'illages and cultivated fields. The people Avere A'ery 

 Avell to do, and, Avhat Avas more satisfactory from our point of view, 

 decidedly Avell disposed. They soon shoAved themseh^es to be keen 

 traders, and must haA'e made large fortunes out of us during last year. 

 They are not true Tibetans, but are called Tomos. Nor is their val- 

 ley, Avhich is on the Indian side of the Avatershed, considered a part 

 of Tibet proper, Avhich is looked upon as extending only as far as the 

 mouths of steep gorges Ave a fcAv days later passed through in the up- 

 per part of the valley. The rainfall is only about half that of Dar- 

 jiling, and the climate in general much superior. 



The mission remained three Aveeks in Lower Chumbi. while mili- 

 tary preparations for a further ach^ance Avere being made, and then in 

 the A'ery depth of Avinter, on January 8, we crossed the Tang-la, 

 15,200 feet high, on the Tibetan plateau again. Never shall I forget 

 that day. Reveille sounded at the first streak of daAvn, and as I 

 looked out of ni}^ tent the very spirit of frost seemed to have settled 

 on the scene. The stars Avere shooting out sharp, clean rays from the 

 clear steely sk3^ Behind the great rugged peak of Chumalhari the 

 first beams of daAvn Avere shoAving out, but with no force yet to cheer 

 or Avarm, and only sufficient light to make the cold more apparent. 

 Buckets of Avater Avere, of course, frozen solid. The remains of last 

 night's dinner were a hard, solid mass. The ])0()r Sikhs Avere just 

 crawling out of their tents, so shriv^eled with the cold it looked as 

 though if they shriveled much more there Avould be nothing left of 

 them. The thermometer stood at 18° beloAV zero, or just 50° of frost, 

 and though this is not considered nmch in Canada and Siberia, and 

 I dare say those Avho haA'e just returned from the Antarctic Avould 

 consider it pleasantly Avarm, I should remind you that 50° of frost 

 at a height of 15,000 feet above sea level is a very different thing from 

 50° of frost on the sea level. At 15,000 feet where the effort of 

 breathing is a continual drain upon one's strength, the mere Aveight 



