SUBALPINE REGIONS 169 



take good care of their own comfort, and the villagers are 

 more ready to provide coolies and supplies. Very few 

 British had ever been in the villages lying in these un- 

 frequented valleys. 



It rained all day and all night, the tent getting so wet 

 and heavy that it was hard to carry, and, except occa- 

 sionally, was not pitched at all. We either slept in caves 

 or in native sheds made of bamboo chappars, not too 

 clean, where insects of all sorts were abundant, from 

 fleas to scorpions and centipedes. Mosquitoes were as 

 large and voracious as hawks, and moras kept biting day 

 and night. Then there are snakes abundant of all sorts, 

 and leeches swarm on every stone, and stick to the feet 

 and ankles of passers-by. The poor goats and cattle are 

 infested by them, and run down blood. They get into 

 dogs' noses and stay there, and cannot be got out. For 

 twenty days our clothes were never dry, or if we did get 

 a chance to dry them in some gleams of sun, they were 

 wet again in an hour or two. We gave up trying to keep 

 dry, and slept in wet things unconcernedly. The sheepskin 

 coat made a useful night coat when one slept in caves, as it 

 kept out most things and was better than damp bedding. 



The heat was intense in the valleys, and the air heavy 

 and muggy. We regretted the climate and cool air of 

 Tibet. We had often long distances to march over high 

 passes where it was cooler, but most of the paths were 

 mere goat tracks through dripping wet underwood and tall 

 spear -grass. Spear -grass is specially constructed to 

 annoy. Every stalk is stiff and pointed, and runs straight 

 in through woollen clothes, penetrating to the skin. The 

 points are as sharp as needles, and are provided at the 

 end with detachable barbed heads, which stick an eighth 

 of an inch into the flesh and cannot be taken out, and 

 cause great pain and irritation, and produce festering. 



