FROM TONKIN TO INDIA 



occupants proved to be not more terrible than four herdsmen of 

 Landjre, who spend six months of the year on the pastures with 

 their cattle, a few oxen, half-bred dzas, and black yaks, with their 

 comic tufted tails. Round the cabin, which was open to the four 

 winds and very cold, were ranged wooden kegs, used as churns. 

 Their method is to stir the milk in them with a circular perforated 

 paddle until the butter comes. This removed, the residue is poured 

 into a large pot on the fire, and the whey as it rises is strained off 

 through a basket, while the curds are dried at the fire. Their 

 spare time they employ in carving wooden bowls and spoons, always 

 singing at their work, and subsist on the ordinary Thibet fare 

 of tsampa, and tea flavoured with butter. Even here, on the tops 

 of their mountains, in their miserable shanty, they do not omit 

 the observance of their religion. There was a shrine on a stone ; 

 and before drinking the tea our hosts poured a little into a 

 saucer, which they placed before it. On seeing that I observed 

 the action, they raised a hand simply towards the sky. There 

 was something grand in the childlike faith of these half -clad 

 shepherds. 



Some of our men had to pass the night in the open, beside the 

 packs which had not reached the summit. They were to be pitied. 

 In the general misery Nam excited my compassion as much as 

 any. He arrived benumbed and speechless, and had to be rubbed 

 down by the fire before his features relaxed into that most hideous 

 grin with which nature ever disgraced human countenance, whilst 

 he fumbled for his pipe. It was a far cry from the chill mist and 

 crags of Thibet to the warmth and palm-trees of Saigon. 



15th (September). — In the clearer morning air the outline of 

 Francis Garnier Peak was sharply defined. I profited by the 

 intermittent arrival of belated baggage to do a little botanising, 



258 



