COOLIES PAID UP 163 



of man who bags the largest head in the flock of nyan, 

 19,000 feet above sea level, or a Victoria Cross in storm- 

 ing a stockade at the level of the seashore. Forgive me. 

 General, should this rough pencil-sketch meet your eye ! 

 To revert for a moment to the picked-up trophies : these 

 may always be known too by a sign which inevitably 

 betrays them ; the tips of the horns will always be found 

 to have been gnawed — either by the Tibetan wolf, who 

 pulled down the original owner during some severe winter, 

 or by the Tibetan shepherd's watch-dog, who has amused 

 himself by chewing the points during his moments of 

 leisure. 



It took me thirteen days to reach this place from 

 Kailang, in ten marches. The calculation I made was 

 to reach Eokchen on the 19th, but I got in on the 21st 

 June ; I therefore lost two days over this portion of my 

 journey. I halted here on the 22nd. The thermometer 

 in the tent at niijht went down to 26°. At Eokchen 

 I paid off the Kailang coolies (their wages amounting to 

 sixty rupees), and arranged for yaks to take me on. Yaks 

 are cheap — three annas a stage for each load — not animal. 

 The yakmen take along as many animals as they please, 

 but get paid for the number of loads only. Three coolie 

 loads equal one yak load. Eighteen men brought my 

 things here, so that I had only six yak loads. 



A few words about Eiipshi'i, or Eukshii, and its people 

 will not be out of place here. The altitude of the valley 

 or plateau is between fourteen and fifteen thousand feet 

 high, or about double that of Simla, and it is surrounded by 

 mountain ranges from two to five thousand feet liighcr ; the 

 climate is therefore rather rigorous. But the people live in 

 tents all the year round, and apparently thrive under these 

 conditions. Water freezes here every night of the year. 

 Though the cold is so intense, the air is extremely dry, and 



