Doker-la—the Sacred Mountain IOI 
where the Catholic priests were persecuted so terribly many 
years ago. 
For a week we had tramped beneath a flaming sky 
between brazen valley-walls raked by a wind as from the 
mouth of Hell. Abruptly the weather changed again and 
ere we had ascended far into the pine and oak forests above 
Aben, surmounting a wonderful limestone gorge, the rain 
was once more drenching us through and through. Finally 
we dropped down beside the torrent again and pitched 
camp under a huge cliff, but there was no room to put up 
the tent and we huddled as closely as possible under the 
rock wall to avoid the rain, my bed being set up in the 
open. Soup and tinned meat had now to be prepared for 
Kin, who required careful nursing, and I had my hands full 
for the evening. 
Looking due east up the valley we occasionally caught 
a glimpse of the K‘a-gur-pu glaciers, from which this big 
torrent obviously rises, though hitherto the main stream 
has been drawn on the maps as rising in the south-east 
from Doker-la itself. The reason for the mistake is no 
doubt partly due to the confusion introduced by Prince 
Henri d’Orléans in calling the snowy range Doker-la, and 
partly to neglect of the snowy range altogether, so that, 
in order to account for the size of the torrent at La-kor-ah, 
its source has had to be placed some distance to the 
south. 
Leaving the main valley next morning we climbed a 
spur and found at the summit the usual bundles of bamboo 
wands decorated with strips of paper and rags, but what 
was more odd still, there were ranged on the ground, on 
the rocks, in the grass, everywhere, rows and rows of empty 
tsamba bowls as votive offerings. There must have been 
scores of them. 
Bearing away to the south-east so as to avoid the snow 
peaks, we pitched camp once more in the forest at an alti- 
tude of about 10,000 feet, with the prospect of crossing 
Doker-la on the following day. 
I was now completely out of stores with the exception 
of some soups which I kept for Kin, who happily was feeling 
much better. I was still giving him brandy night and 
morning—though we were nearly out of that too—and 
