I30 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA 



jerk of the hand. The milk was very rich, and a little 

 went a long way in our tea, but it had not the disagreeable 

 taste which goat's and sheep's milk mixed has in the 

 Tyrol, suggesting pig's milk. We occasionally had tea 

 with these primitive pastoral people. We sat on the 

 ground, and the women brought it, very black, in little 

 cups, some of which seemed to be familiar Staffordshire 

 pottery. They offered us tea made in their own method, 

 boiled into a kind of soup, with butter and sugar added 

 and the leaves not extracted. We did not care for this 

 mixture. Everyone carried a fiat wooden bowl of turned 

 sycamore or maple, and licked it clean after the meal. 

 They showed us their brick tea, which they said came 

 from China on camels. They would gladly buy Indian 

 tea if cheaper than the Chinese. They also had herds of 

 tame yaks grazing, and we saw one beautiful snow-white 

 bull, which was being taken to some religious ceremony. 

 Its coat was as soft and silky as ermine, and the long fringe 

 and bushy tail were combed out and swept the ground. 

 The white tails are very valuable for making chowries, 

 used by the Nawabs of India to brush the flies away. I 

 purchased two for about fifty rupeies, and had them 

 mounted in silver with antelope horns for handles. They 

 all spoke of the Khampa log as robbers, armed with 

 matchlocks, and to be met with on the great plains north- 

 ward. These people had no arms to speak of, and seemed 

 peaceable and harmless shepherds. 



Colonel Smyth and Mr. Drummond explored a con- 

 siderable extent of country, the former having marched 

 east and northward over the Mariam La. He joined our 

 camp, having shot several fine specimens of the Tibet 

 antelope, A. Hodgsoniensis, which we came across on the 

 open plains in herds of ten or twenty. They are not unlike 

 in size and habits to the Indian antelope ; but their coats 



