64 Captain Webb's Journey in Thibet. 



mined to attempt a journey to Neetee (Niti,) this season, and 

 a desire to meet the reviewer upon the field selected by himself, 

 confirmed my resolution. On my arrival at Joshi Mat'h, which 

 may be considered as the commencement of the defile which 

 forms the road toTartary,an unexpected obstacle presented. Mr. 

 G. W. Traill, commissioner for the affairs of Kumaon, was pro- 

 ceeding on a mission to the frontier to establish a commercial 

 intercourse with the Tartars ; and you will smile at being told, 

 that the supplies afforded by the district and its population, 

 were too scanty to answer the demands which would have been 

 made upon it had we united our camps and proceeded iu com- 

 pany ; — though, could you have reconnoitred these same camps, 

 you would probably not have been much astonished by the mag- 

 nificence of our equipments, and still more probably have de- 

 cided that, bating the number of attendants, the meanest 

 British peasant is more comfortablyaccommodated. Mr. Traill 

 therefore proceeded alone towards the frontier, leaving me 

 behind in despair of effecting my journey till next rainy sea- 

 son. He reached Niti, the most advanced village in the British 

 possessions, where he experienced a severe attack of illness. 

 The person, whom he had deputed and sent on in advance, 

 represented to him that the Tartar chiefs had declined any per- 

 sonal intercourse with him, and that they had pushed forward 

 piquets of cavalry towards the pass to dispute his advance into 

 Tartary, should he persevere in any such attempt. The bad state 

 of his health, and these untoward circumstances, decided his im- 

 mediate return to Joshi Mat'h, in the neighbourhood of which lat- 

 ter place, I had been detained by the violence of the periodical 

 rains during this interval. The road was now open for me, though 

 the aspect of affairs was not very encouraging. I was, however, 

 vain enough to fancy, that the little intercourse which I for- 

 merly had with the Tartars, had given me some insight into 

 their character. I had no credentials to deliver, no character 

 hut my oivn to support, and Mr. Traill, at my request, intrusted 

 to me a small investment of goods destined by Government for 

 the border market, and I set out with the sanguine hope of 

 being able to do more than the event verified. Of the route 

 to Niti, and thence onward to the frontier, you already know 



