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CHAPTER XXIII. 



THE time was now drawing nigh when, according to my 

 contract with the Jongpen, I should have to quit Tibetan 

 territory ; and the Niti pass, over which I intended to re- 

 turn, was three or four days' journey from here. These 

 few days I resolved to devote to hunting burrell, which 

 Puddoo said were fairly plentiful in certain localities where 

 there was some scanty vegetation, 1 below the snow-line, on 

 the Himalayan northern slopes, along the foot of which our 

 way led towards the pass. There would also be a chance 

 left of finding Oves Ammon as well, though the ground was 

 not considered so good for old rams as that which we had 

 been over. 



Our camp now presented the appearance of a " flesher's " 

 shop, every available tent-rope being hung with long strips 

 of raw meat drying in the sun. Cooking, too, was going on 

 at a great rate, there being an unusual amount of fuel about 

 here suitable for the purpose in the shape of a scrubby bush 

 called darna. Indeed the table-lands lying between here 

 and the Lai DFika were more scattered over with a scrubby 

 sort of vegetation than any other locality I had visited in 

 Hundes. Towards evening the sky, which had been cloud- 

 less since the slight snowstorm we had experienced at 

 TFizFing, became overcast, and a shower of rain fell, which 

 raised the temperature in a most sudden and remarkable 



1 The limit of vegetation in these trans-Himalayan regions is at an alti- 

 tude of about 17,000 feet. 



Y 



