A SNOWSTORM. 77 



tlic noose tied tightly round the animal's leg. The people 

 visit these fences every two or three days, and secure the 

 deer thus caught, and repair the fences and nooses, v^hich 

 arc often carried away or destroyed by larger game. 



The musk-deer I had shot was unfortunately a doe. Al- 

 though not so good as a specimen, it was better for the pot 

 than a buck, the flesh of which is apt to be tainted with the 

 flavour of musk. 



Snow now began falling in feathery flakes as we struck 

 down into the dark forest of tall and straight black-looking 

 conifers that almost invariably clothe the northern expo- 

 sures of the higher ranges on the south side of the great 

 snowy chain. Here the ground was thickly covered with 

 old snow, in which the tracks of jurrow were numerous ; 

 but as the day was now growing old, and we had still a long 

 way to go, there was no time to search for the animals that 

 made them. It was tiresome work plodding through the 

 snow, which in many places was knee-deep, until, lower 

 down, w^e got clear of it. As we descended, the falling 

 snow changed to sleet, and eventually to heavy rain. 

 Although the rest of the way was comparatively easy 

 travelling, darkness was setting in ere we reached our 

 camp. 



We had now descended again to the continuation of the 

 beaten track used by the Tartar traders, which up here fol- 

 lows the course of the Kallee (or the Sarda, as it is also 

 called) for a considerable distance farther up the deep 

 tortuous valley through which that big impetuous river 

 flows, forming the boundary - line between British and 

 Nepalese territory. 



Starting at daybreak, we followed the regular mountain- 

 road for a few miles, until we reached a small village, built 

 on a slope, near the foot of a spur of the Chipla, rising from 

 the Kallee. Here I breakfasted, made arrangements for 

 replenishing our stock of supplies, and engaged fresh local 

 guides and coolies for carrying the traps, preparatory to once 



