294 AMONG THE TIBETANS 



an inch farther towards Tango, and that I must return 

 the way I came. If I had anything to say to him, I must 

 come and see him. The old gentleman was standing on 

 his dignity. Anparh was our go-between, and seemed 

 very despondent. My curiosity was far too strong for my 

 dignity to be a stumbling-block, so I expressed my anxiety 

 to visit the Panboh and his companions behind the huge 

 boulder, on the sheltered side of which he had taken up 

 his quarters ; but there was no use going till all the men 

 who were expected had arrived, and they came dropping 

 in till late in the evening, and then more were expected. 

 The Panboh could give no definite reply till all the 

 influential men had held this important meeting, and I 

 had been fully discussed ; so I had to put off my visit till 

 Anparh could tell me that all was ready. In the mean- 

 time I had my breakfast and the Tibetans their tea, which 

 they were constantly brewing in copper degchis (cooking 

 vessels) of Indian manufacture, as fresh arrivals appeared. 

 At eleven o'clock Anparh announced that the time for 

 my visit had arrived, and I walked over to the Panbuh's 

 airy residence, nut a hundred yards from my tent. 



I found him seated with his back to the rock, and the 

 usual three stones, with a fire in front of him for brewing 

 tea. He looked very dignified and solemn, and invited 

 me to be seated. Tabra Panboh was a man of fifty or 

 more years of age, decidedly Chinese in feature, of fair 

 complexion, with hazel eyes, as far as I could make out, 

 for they were very bleary, and the lids and surrounding 

 skin very much puckered. He wore a Chinese felt liat 

 and the Tibetan costume, and was smoking a hukka with 

 a brass chilam (bowl). His companions sat round about 

 him. There was very little of the Chinese about them : a 

 wilder-looking, uglier, and dirtier lot of men I never saw. 

 Every type of ugliness was represented among them, and 



