190 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



owner in a confidential tone of voice, " How could I 

 sell him for less than what I paid in Yarkand, after 

 bringing him all this way unladen in order that 

 he might be fit to carry the guns of the most high 

 Government to Kabul ? " And so the argument 

 would proceed. 



After the purchase had been completed, the 

 mules used to be branded on the hoof, an oper- 

 ation to which some of them had the very strong- 

 est objections. One such mule lives in my 

 recollection, a big brown beast, nearly fifteen 

 hands high. He had defied all endeavours to 

 bring him to the brander, and had several times 

 broken loose and careered all over the town. Fin- 

 ally, Nasr Shah, a Lhasa trader, sent for one of his 

 Tibetan muleteers, a giant from Kam, with "an 

 enormous head and a pair of shoulders and jaw 

 that looked like a prize-fighter's. Seizing the end 

 of the leading rope, in spite of all efforts to break 

 away on the part of the mule, he drew himself 

 nearer and nearer, till with a sudden bound he 

 seized the animal's ear. A tremendous struggle 

 ensued, but the Tibetan's grasp never relaxed, and 

 finally, by sheer strength he conquered, and led 

 the beast like a lamb. 



Nasr Shah was the principal trader with Lhasa, 

 and with his sons still remains one of the very 

 few Mahommedans who have the right of entry 



