A SLIGHT MISUNDERSTANDING. 359 



seducing as to cause us to alter our intended return-route 

 over the Baralacha pass into Lahoul, for that across the 

 Parang la, and thence through Spiti. In course of conversa- 

 tion he told us that we should get lots of " fees " at some of 

 the halting-places on the south side of the Parang la. Not 

 wishing to expose our ignorance as to the sort of game, or 

 whatever else " fees " might be, nor to seem impolite by sug- 

 gesting that he could possibly mean anything in the pecuniary 

 line, we made mental note of the information, and adroitly 

 changed the subject. It afterwards struck us that he had 

 meant the vegetable pea, which we were rejoiced to find 

 growing in abundance about the villages where we happened 

 to camp in Spiti. His poor lips were so cracked and sore 

 that he had substituted an / for a p, as being less painful to 

 pronounce. We gave him what information we could, and 

 after exchanging a few creature-comforts and good wishes, 

 saw him off on his way next morning. 



There now only remained about a fortnight before we should 

 have to commence retracing our steps across the Himalayas. 

 This I resolved to devote to a final search for Oves Ammon in 

 the vicinity of the Tso Kar, better known as the Salt Lake, 

 three or four days' journey to the north-west of Karzok. 



Leaving the Major at Karzok, where he preferred to remain 

 shooting wild geese and trying his luck on the ground about 

 the Tso Morari, the second evening found my camp pitched 

 on the east side of the Kazura la, at an elevation of about 

 17,500 feet, calculated by boiling. In the grey of the follow- 

 ing morning I was very loath to turn out into a temperature 

 of twelve degrees below freezing (and this in the month of 

 August), although my sleep had not been either of the soundest 

 or most comfortable kind, from my being unable to respirate 

 freely in a recumbent position at such a height. The cold, 

 too, was dreadful, as the wind blew through the thin canvas 

 of the little tent, which I had exchanged for my own blanket- 

 lined one with my two Indian domestics, who felt the severity 



