AN ENLIVENING EPISODE 275 



valley was an opportunity of which I determined to make 

 use. The only difficulty was a trustworthy guide and 

 interpreter; Anparh was the man, but, as I have already 

 said, he had hitherto fought very shy of the idea. I had 

 tried all my powers of persuasion on him, and my servant 

 frequently had him in his tent, plying the chicken-hearted 

 aborigine with all the temptations that his imagination 

 could suggest. "We were thus delayed, working at Anparh, 

 when one evening, as I was strolling up the valley, I 

 suddenly spied a man across the river, and shortly after- 

 wards a large flock of laden sheep. This seemed strange, 

 as there was no road on that side and no grass to feed the 

 sheep. I hurried back to camp, brought up Anparh and 

 showed him the men and sheep. He at once said, " It is 

 those rascally Garhwalis who went into Bhot (Tibet) by 

 the Kuuchiirung Pass to trade on the sly, and are now 

 returning with some Jadhs (Tibetans) to show them the 

 way, and making for the Barasu Pass." We went down 

 to the river-bank to have a talk, and as soon as the 

 Tibetans saw us they rushed down to the stream on the 

 opposite bank, salaaming and gesticulating very excitedly, 

 shouting (for the Baspa was noisy) a torrent of words 

 quite incomprehensible, of course, to me. The Garhwiilis 

 kept aloof on the hillside, seeming intent on driving the 

 sheep ; but two of them came down and tried to prevent 

 the Tibetans from telling their story. This was most 

 singular, and I was in a state of extreme curiosity before 

 Anparh got at the facts. 



These Garhwalis, it seems, were the very same men 

 who came down the Barasu Pass when my camp was at 

 Dwiiria, and whom I met in the evening going down to 

 Chitkiil. They would not trade at the latter village, but 

 went across the Charang Pass into Kiinchurung, saying 

 they would trade there ; but that was only a blind. They 



