Across the China-Tibet Frontier 133 
know not when, for the inscription is all but defaced. The 
road was also marked by numerous mani pyramids of white 
crystalline rock, probably quartzose, which must be con- 
spicuous on all but the darkest nights. These mani 
pyramids consist of long low piles of rock slabs, on each 
of which is carved the familiar Tibetan prayer “ Om 
mant padme hum!” the letters being sometimes beautifully 
coloured and ornamented. Wooden posts, surmounted by 
a crescent and a cone, usually crown these cairns, and if it 
is a very long pile—many extend for hundreds of yards, 
or there may be strings of them together—there will be 
several such posts. Though the pyramid is never more 
than a few feet high, hundreds, nay thousands, of hard 
stones, painfully carved, go to its formation, and one 
trembles to think how many hours’ work they represent. 
But what is time to a man who is trying to acquire merit 
and stifle desire ! 
In spite of the rain and cold however, the plateau was 
not altogether dismal, for the bright green grass dotted 
with the erect racemes of a Potentz//a, and in parts blue 
with a Boraginaceous flower, was a pleasant contrast to the 
barren mountains we had climbed earlier in the day. In 
the shelter of the mani pyramids the tall blue spikes of 
larkspurs and other flowers showed up vividly, but the 
plateau here was quite treeless, and even dwarf shrubs 
were extremely few and confined to sheltered spots. 
In the evening we descended into one of the plateau 
valleys, and fording a river which rolled down a torrent 
of red water we reached the miserable village of Lham-da, 
which, in spite of the black mud a foot deep in its narrow 
streets, boasted a small lamasery and several substantial 
houses of mud and stone. 
From Lham-da we continued across the heads of several 
small valleys leading down from the plateau above to the 
Garthok river, the intervening spurs being well forested 
on their northern slopes, and the valleys, through which 
wriggled swift little streams, covered with rich pasture. In 
the valleys the going was very bad, for the ground was a 
quagmire owing to the incessant rains and we had to cross 
numerous swollen streams, but a good solid road led over 
the spurs, from one of which I caught sight of snow 
