A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



winter the Chang-Pa take their flocks and yaks 

 down to the valley of the Indus, to the grazing- 

 grounds near Nyuma and Dora, and I found out by 

 conversation that it is a fact that they look upon 

 Leh as a place that can only be visited in the 

 coldest weather, and, even then, not without some 

 danger of succumbing to the heat, while, as for 

 Kashmir, they think that anyone who can stand its 

 torrid climate must be a very salamander ! Such 

 is the country and people of the district which I 

 was going to visit in the pursuit of nyan and 

 goa. 



On August 5th we left the Tiri Nalah, and, 

 climbing up to the high ground where we had seen 

 the nyan on the previous day, we found ourselves 

 upon a table-land, from whence a fine view was 

 obtainable down towards the Indus, while across 

 the valley of the latter river and in the distance, a 

 prominent object was the range which is crossed by 

 the Thatoo-La on the way to the Pangong Lake 

 and Changchenmo. The sun was topping the 

 eastern hills as we emerged on to the plateau, and, 

 standing on an isolated knoll, I saw an animal that 

 was strange to me then, though he was to become 

 almost too familiar in the future. Like a statue he 

 stood there motionless, gazing over the stony plain 

 towards the rising sun. He was a kyang, that 

 strange animal that, half horse, half ass, but not 

 quite like either, inhabits the highlands of these 



regions sometimes in twos and threes, and some- 



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