Birds of Southern Tibet. 59 



9000 feet at Rinchengong and 15,200 feet at the Tang La. 

 The forest level extends to a few miles north of Gautsa 

 (13,500 feet). 



I spent about a fortnight in the Chumbi Valley, and 

 rejoined the Commission at Tuna at the end of January. 



Tuna is a small village of about eight houses, a few miles 

 to the north of the Tang La Pass and about eight miles 

 to the west of Chumolarhi (23,950 feet). The surrounding 

 country closely resembles that at Khamba Jong, with the 

 same absence of trees and a scanty vegetation. During 

 February and March the climate was exceedingly trying ; 

 high winds were almost continuous, aud, blowing as they did 

 over immense snowfields and glaciers, they were bitterly 

 cold. The temperature rose a few degrees above freezing-point 

 in the morning, but dropped to many degrees below zero 

 Fahrenheit at night. Fortunately, although it snowed 

 almost daily on the surrounding mountains, there was not 

 much snow at Tuna itself, and such as did fall there did 

 not usually lie on the ground for more than two or three 

 days at a time. Still, the rigours of a Tibetan winter, at an 

 altitude of 15,000 feet, were such as to render residence in 

 small tents a decidedly unpleasant experience. 



On April 4th the Commission left Tuna for Gyantse. 

 The distance between the two places is 86 miles, and the 

 journey took us eight days. In this short space of time 

 we passed almost at once from winter to summer. Our 

 route lay along the Hram Tso and Kala Tso lakes, which 

 were covered with Geese and Ducks; thence we went 

 almost due north to Gyantse. Although Ave had passed 

 a few small and scattered plantations on the way, it was 

 not until we reached the Gyantse plain that trees (mostly 

 willows, with some poplars) became at all numerous. Here 

 we found many groves — some of considerable size — and the 

 whole aspect of the country was entirely changed. In 

 the place of bare precipitous mountains and the barren 

 plain of Tuna, we found ourselves in a fertile valley, nearly 

 the whole of which was under cultivation, and which was 

 everywhere intersected by well-planned irrigation-channels. 



