THE SAKA LA 287 



nothing on it but kyang, and beyond there were steep 

 hills of granite blocks and granite sand with burhel 

 marks. These tempted me once again, and we spent 

 another day toiling over the broken ground. We saw 

 a herd of seven burhel, but all were small. 



That day I was from 1 1 a.m. to 2 p.m. climbing over 

 granite blocks, interspersed with patches of granite sand 

 and gravel, lying at a very steep angle. The foot sank 

 almost up to the ankle in the latter, and at each step 

 upwards one went some 8 or 10 inches down the hill. 

 I had on chaplis, and the gravel got in between my leather 

 socks and the chaplis, and rendered walking sometimes 

 very painful. Apparently burhel are only found either 

 on this ground or the broken slate mentioned already, 

 and it is hard to say which is the worse to walk over. 



On the 13th I sent the camp on 8 miles across the 

 Saka La (a very low pass) to a small lake not marked 

 on the map, situated at a place called Dachung, going 

 myself in the same direction, but over the mountains to 

 the east. I found a good deal more of the rolling uplands 

 which Ovis aininon frequent, and came in sight of a herd 

 of six, but the animals were too far off for me to tell the 

 size of the horns, or even how many were rams. The 

 footprints, however, showed at least one large beast. 

 We watched them disappear up a gorge close to the 

 Pangoor lake, and as it was then too late to do anything 

 made for the camp. 



Next day (the 14th) I took the 30-lb. tent and my 

 bedding and some food, resolved to sleep on the hillside 

 if we should be kept out late by the herd. We worked 

 over the hills conscientiously all day, but never saw a 



