TIBETAN ENVOY. 417 



higher than that over the Niti pass, and therefore not prac- 

 ticable as early in summer. The heights above the village, 

 where not too steep for anything to grow on, are thickly clad 

 with a kind of gorse, which, when covered with its pale golden 

 bloom, gives them quite a gorgeous appearance. A curious 

 thing that attracted my attention here was an extraordinary 

 collection of old cast-off shoes that were strewn over a flat 

 space immediately below the village, There must have been 

 several hundred, all looking black and shrivelled up from hav- 

 ing probably lain buried there under the snows of many a 

 winter. 



Here I learnt that the pass had been declared open by the 

 Tibetan vakeel (envoy), who, with his small retinue, had 

 arrived at Niti village after crossing it. The Niti pass, 

 which is only 16,600 feet, is often practicable earlier than 

 this, but then at the risk of falling avalanches and other 

 dangers, and only for pedestrians, the snow being too deep, 

 and on steep slopes too unstable, for baggage - animals to 

 travel over. The Hoonyas, 1 moreover, object to its being 

 crossed, even by the Bhdtias, before sending their vakeel 

 over to Niti to arrange matters of business with them 

 respecting the pass, which here separates the British and 

 Tibetan dominions. The " boss " of the party, a fine-looking 

 Tartar, paid me a visit at my tent. As he was to leave Niti 

 on his return homewards next day, I sent a polite message by 

 him to the " Jongpen," or governor of the district beyond the 

 pass, requesting his permission to hunt there. But few of the 

 Bh5tias having as yet returned to the village, I was delayed 

 here a day or two whilst " jooboos " 2 for carriage, and supplies 

 for our sojourn in Hundes, where nothing of the kind could be 

 procured, were being fetched from the Bhotia encampments 

 lower down. 



1 The Tibetan inhabitants of Hundes are called Hoonyas. 

 '-' The " jooboo " is a cross between the yak and the ordinary horned cattle of 

 the Himalayas. 



2D 



