326 THE LAST HUNT 



the " Chang-thang " ; but I did not believe this, as the 

 Great Plain is beyond the Sutlej, and even beyond the 

 snow-clad Gangri range. Probably the animal was bagged 

 on this side of that river, perhaps on the very ground that 

 I had been so anxious to reach ! Never dreamin^j that he 

 would accept it, I offered the man two rupees for the head ; 

 but he jumped at the offer. I did not buy the trophy, 

 after all, for the weight of the head was quite a coolie- 

 load in itself, and I had not a man to spare. The man 

 judged the animal to have been eight years old, and said 

 the horns were of ordinary size. 



I made a long journey next day, starting at five in the 

 morning, and reaching the village of Nilang at 5 p.m. The 

 distance could not have been over thirteen miles, but the 

 road was very rough, and the coolies travelled very slowly. 

 The villages of Tading and Nilang pay one hundred rupees 

 each annually as revenue to the Tibetan authorities at 

 Chaprang, so they must really belong to Tibet. Nilang, 

 or Chhangsa, its Tibetan name, is a miserable dreary place, 

 almost deserted at this season, as most of the inhabitants 

 are up the valleys looking after their flocks, or trading in 

 Tibet. Excepting a few women working in the fields, 

 there was no life or movement about the village at all. 



Shortly after leaving Ni'lang next day, I began to perspire 

 copiously. I had remarked, while in the higher altitudes, 

 on the Tibetan side, that the most vigorous and prolonged 

 exertion never had the effect of even making me feel moist, 

 though I was most warmly clad. The change in this 

 respect to-day was very marked ; for a drizzling rain was 

 falling, with a cool wind. Wild cypress, large and vigorous, 

 were the first trees I met ; then stunted and gnarled pines 

 put in an appearance ; lower down, deodar, stunted, mis- 

 shapen, and small, their tops invariably cut off, most likely 

 by the savage blasts of wind that blow along this valley. 



