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OS ee Ce 
CEARLE hoy Lil 
DOKER-LA—THE SACRED MOUNTAIN 
In the evening I climbed down the steep river bank, 
and standing on the rocks had a much needed bath, though 
it was of course impossible to take a dip in the river. In 
the mountains the cold drenching rain discourages one from 
stripping even in summer, and in the arid gorges opportuni- 
ties for bathing are few. 
Stores were now running very short, a matter which, 
without being in the least serious, greatly affected my com- 
fort, for I was altogether out of such luxuries as coffee, tea, 
biscuits (in lieu of bread), butter, jam, milk, and bacon, though 
I had still a few tins of meat for the journey across the 
mountains and was able to purchase butter and eggs at 
Men-kong. 
On June 20 we started back, reaching Chia-na before 
twelve o'clock, but further the men would not go that day 
as they were bent on cooking a goat they had just purchased, 
and I had perforce to give in. Moreover Kin, who had been 
ailing for a day or two, seemed very unwell. 
On the following day we retraced our steps to La-kor-ah, 
halting at mid-day in a little bay where the limestone rocks 
receded from the river and a spring of clear and slightly 
warm water gushed out, filling an artificial bath and giving 
rise to an oasis of delicate ferns and moss in a grey-white 
world of rock. The life-giving stream was an obvious 
camping place, and the devout Tibetans, doubtless awed 
at the wonderful phenomenon of pure water welling out 
of the solid cliffs in this wilderness, had made obeisance 
to it by carving the sacred prayer and numerous other 
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