AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BORDERERS. 353 



horses' hoofs, and the jingle of the little bells that are always 

 attached to the Tibetan bridles, were heard coming up the 

 pass, and presently three or four Tartars, mounted on capital 

 ponies (for which Chumurti is famed), hove in sight. One of 

 them, a rather well-dressed corpulent individual, turned out 

 to be the head functionary of the Chumurti province. They 

 galloped by without at first observing us as we sat amongst 

 the rocks and stones ; but on suddenly catching sight of us, 

 the stout party, seemingly in a high state of excitement, 

 wheeled round his pony and rode straight towards us, shout- 

 ing and waving his arm in the air, as if he were leading on 

 his army of Tartars, who had not as yet arrived in sight. 

 Very soon, however, parties of two or three men at a time 

 began to appear in the most marvellous manner, as though 

 they had suddenly arisen out of the ground, like " Clan- 

 Alpine's warriors true," until a small crowd, numbering about 

 forty or fifty, had collected around us. Where they had all 

 come from so quickly it was impossible to conjecture, for the 

 top of the pass was as desolate-looking a spot as a height of, 

 I should say, nearly 18,000 feet could make it. A dirtier or 

 more ill-favoured lot than the generality of them were, I 

 never set eyes on. Had they carried any other weapons than 

 their wool-spindles, and had I not been aware that the resist- 

 ance offered by these borderers to European travellers or 

 sportsmen attempting to cross the Eubicon of the Chinese 

 Empire in Tibet was usually more of a passive than a forcible 

 kind, I should have felt considerable relief of mind at being 

 reinforced by the Major and his men, who, having crossed 

 the stream below the pass, soon appeared on the scene of 

 action. I took the precaution, nevertheless, to keep my rifles 

 within reach, in case of any attempt being made to appropri- 

 ate them. 



Whilst the Major and I sat there making futile attempts at 

 polite conversation with the stout potentate, who of course 

 could not understand a word we were saying, his myrmidons 



z 



