TALI-FOU 



potatoes. Butter is made by Christian converts at about two 

 days' distance ; and often, while enjoying the luxury of our 

 repasts here, we thought with some sorrow of the renewal of 

 hard fare which awaited us in a few days. 



The Minchia population, which is in the majority and very 

 prolific in its increase, has been established here for some 

 thousands of years. The type is hard to distinguish from Chinese, 

 but the language is different. Mussulmans are also numerous, 

 and many of them have been embodied in the army. In the 

 opinion of the Father, the accession of the Mussulmans does not 

 promise much opening of the country to foreigners ; they talk 

 of their advent, but at heart they do not desire it. 



Immediately behind Tali itself the mountain rises steeply in 

 scarps, green indeed, but totally devoid of timber, up to the sharp 

 rocks of its summit, which stands at an altitude of 13,000 feet 

 in isolation — a befitting natural screen and abutment to the lake 

 lying at its feet. During our stay we only saw snow on its 

 head for a few hours ; it is rare in summer, but during eight 

 months of the year the cap is always white. The chain of 

 Tsang - chang placed like a wall between Chinese Yunnan, the 

 civilised province, and the little- known and wild regions of the 

 Kachins of Upper Burmah, and, to the right, of Thibet, reminded 

 me of the rampart of the AltynTJagh, the Golden Mountains, 

 which seem to forbid any approach from the north to Thibet 

 the mysterious. Here, as on the south of the Lob-Nor, legends 

 hover above their peaks, to daunt the traveller. F"e\v are they 

 that have crossed the barrier ; and of those bold spirits that 

 have dared its perils rarely have any re-emerged. Its inaccessible 

 crags resist the proffered violation of their secrecy ; cold grips 

 the foolhardy mountaineer, and he drops amid their unforgiving 



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