KHAMTI TO INDIA 



white marble Buddhas, seated or recumbent. We wondered if 

 the Khamti worshippers knew of the existence of similar shrines 

 on the other side of the Dzayul Mountains to the north. Another 

 monument was in the form of a tapering pillar, with a tablet 

 as if for an inscription, beneath a gilt bird like a cock. The 

 scene as I lingered on the brink of a stream, and watched 

 the string of women and slow buffaloes moving homeward 

 through the shallow ford in the mellow sunlight, was a very 

 lovely and a lazy one, and suggested reflections on this fair region 

 of Khamti and its inhabitants, whose artistic and indolent natures 

 harmonised in their pose, their garments, their dwellings, and 

 their memorials. It is a beautiful country, where everything 

 seemed to be fitly wedded to its counterpart, under a clear sky 

 and vivifying sun ; I was tempted to apply the line — 



O fortunaios nimium, sua si bona norint, 

 Thais ! . . . 



25th (November). — Positively our last morning! and a last 

 request. The king's son, through " Pessimus," insinuated that 

 he would be glad of my boots. This time I could not oblige 

 him. He kept us company for some distance, and we parted 

 friends. 



It was manifest that without the help of these people we 

 should have been hard put to it to continue our journey ; but 

 they set such an exorbitant price on their services, and showed 

 themselves so petty in their cupidity, begging up to the last 

 moment, that, despite their utility to our plans, they left on our 

 minds the unpleasant reminiscence of a pack of fawning parasites. 

 We could have wished — for their sakes, though not for ours — 

 to see them boldly oppose our advance, and demand a healthy 



327 



