CHAP. XXI THE TARKUM SUB-NALA 395 



instructions that the camp was to be taken to the 

 mouth of this nala, as we knew we should be going clown 

 it by evening, and thought it would be better for us to 

 find the tents there, than to have to climb back over the 

 hill to the village. There was hardly any path, and it 

 soon became pitch dark, and floundering over the broken 

 rocks was anything but pleasant work, especially as the 

 straps of one of my chaplis gave way, and I had much 

 trouble in keeping it on my foot. We reached the mouth 

 of the ravine, where it joins the main Rumbok nala, about 

 an hour after dark, and found the two tents pitched and 

 a couple of fires lighted. The head we had got measured 

 only \%\ inches — a poor specimen. 



The thermometer in my tent was at 32° on the 

 morning of the 28th when I got up, and of course 

 it was freezing hard outside. After sending the 

 uryal head into Leh, and half the burhel to my 

 wife, by the post-coolie who had arrived the previous 

 evening, we went up the Tarkum sub -nala. I rode 

 as far as the pony could go, and then sent him back 

 to Zinchan, the village a couple of miles below our last 

 camp, where we proposed to return in the evening, and 

 to which place we had ordered the tents to be taken. 



All day we worked over broken rocks and slate shale 

 in typical burhel country, but saw only a few females and 

 small rams. The sun was bright, but the wind was 

 bitterly cold. We turned up the northern side of the 

 nala, as Zinchan lay in that direction, and reached our 

 camp about 4 p.m. 



The question then arose, what was to be done next 

 day ? We had now gone over most of the burhel ground 



