A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA. 



Leh that he would probably meet me, and was to 

 look after me, and was accordingly very civil, and 

 as it afterwards turned out, very useful. The next 

 day we started up the left bank of the Indus, and 

 after going some three or four miles came across 

 the Chagzot, who had started early, and was now 

 halted with his party for his morning meal. He 

 courteously invited us to join him. It was a 

 picturesque scene : the Thibetans were seated on 

 the greensward near the river ; the old man himself 

 had a fine intelligent face, and was, of course, 

 dressed all in red, with a hat that very much 

 resembled in shape that worn by a Cardinal ; his 

 following were brilliantly arrayed in Chinese fashion, 

 and the whole were grouped on carpets and saddles, 

 surrounded by their bell-bedecked horses and mules, 

 and with the broad Indus and the stony desert for 

 a background. H.'s and my own European appear- 

 ance seemed to strike quite a discordant note in the 

 scene ; but we were made very welcome and treated 

 with the greatest courtesy. The old gentleman had 

 the most charming manner, though we could not, 

 of course, understand what he was saying, but we 

 found an interpreter among his suite who could' 

 translate our Hindustani to him. We were offered 

 dried mutton, apricots, and chang. The latter is 

 the universal beverage of the country, and is a sort 

 of barley beer. When good and clean, as it was 

 on this occasion, its rather acid taste is not un- 

 pleasant on a hot day, but as usually imbibed by the 



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