100 Doker-la—the Sacred Mountain 
inscriptions, some of them of considerable length and 
beautifully executed, on the surrounding rocks; and amidst 
these manifestations of piety I bathed. 
Several pilgrims from Doker-la passed during the 
morning, and for some reason Ah-poh went nearly mad 
with rage at sight of them. 
We reached La-kor-ah on the evening of June 21 in 
glorious weather; and next day Kin was seriously ill. 
Curious purple patches had come out on his chest, arms, 
and legs, and I was baffled to know what was the matter 
with him; but as he complained chiefly of vomiting, I thought 
it likely enough that he had caught a slight chill, and having 
dosed him with brandy, I put a mustard plaster on his chest 
and made him wear a cholera belt I fortunately had with 
me. To stop at La-kor-ah, where we could get nothing, 
was useless, and I asked him to make every endeavour to 
travel. 
The military official at Men-kong had kindly provided 
me with a pony for the return journey to La-kor-ah, but 
unfortunately I had sent the beast back on the previous 
evening, and here we could secure no riding animal for 
our invalid. However by feeding him on milk and soup, 
and administering frequent doses of brandy, we had the 
satisfaction of seeing him struggle pluckily through a hard 
day, though he looked ghastly enough. 
From La-kor-ah we ascended the stream by the pilgrims’ 
road to Aben, a mean little village of about forty huts, where 
I was well received. All the way up through the gorges we 
found the cliffs decorated with prayers, pictures of Buddha, 
many of them coloured, and other artistic designs, some of 
the longest paragraphs being exquisitely carved in minute 
characters, but the familiar #zauz prayer in bold characters 
usually occupied the more prominent places. What monu- 
mental patience was exhibited here! for though the surface 
of the rock was smooth it was rarely flat, and whole para- 
graphs had been written inside natural cavities extremely 
difficult of access, even for a hand. 
At Aben we obtained a ponderous yak to transport 
some of the baggage over the mountains, but riding animals 
could not be procured here either, though doubtless they 
existed. A little to the south-east lay the village of Boonga 
