70 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



him. This man's brother his polyandric brother, 

 as it turned out, though polyandry only commences at 

 Serahan, being a Lama and not a Hindu institution, 

 but the two religions are mixed up a little at the 

 points of contact reached the body about the same 

 time as I did, and threw himself upon it, weeping 

 and lamenting. I wished to try the effect of some 

 very strong ammonia, but the brother objected to 

 this, because, while probably it would have been 

 of no use, it would have defiled the dead, accord- 

 ing to his religious ideas. The only other sym- 

 pathy I could display was the rather coarse one of 

 paying the people of Serahan, who showed no in- 

 dications of giving assistance, for carrying the corpse 

 up to its village ; but the brother, who understood 

 Hindusthani, preferred to take the money himself, 

 in order to purchase wood for the funeral pyre. He 

 was a large strong man, whereas the deceased was 

 little and slight, so he wrapped the dead body in his 

 plaid, and slung it over his shoulders. There was 

 something almost comic, as well as exceedingly 

 pathetic, in the way in which he toiled up the moun- 

 tain with his sad burden, wailing and weeping over 

 it whenever he stopped to rest, and kissing the cold 

 face. 



The road up to Chini is almost trodden ground, 

 and so does not call for special description; but it 

 is picturesque in the highest degree, and presents 

 wonderful combinations of beauty and grandeur. It 



