173 Over the Riin-tsi-la ,; 
This spur separates the water flowing directly into the 
Yang-tze near Yie-rii-gong from that flowing to the Garthok 
river, which enters the Yang-tze further north; hence the 
A-léng-la does not lie on the main watershed. A second 
pass was however visible scarcely a stone’s throw to the 
south, and this I think must be on the main watershed. 
Across the path the snow was much deeper, and very 
soft; men and ponies slipped on the loose scree, and we 
had to go’dead slow. But it was the wind whistling over 
the passes and dashing the snow in our faces which made 
me call myself a fool for coming and vow I would never do 
such a thing again. Sensation almost left my feet after 
a time, but I continued to ride my pony, having no desire 
to slither about on these treacherous screes and roll in the 
snow as the men frequently did, though more than once 
the pony looked like turning a somersault. 
I noticed a lot of MWeconopsis sfeczosa lower down, but 
somehow the wind rattling amongst the dead haulms gave 
me a momentary distaste for botany. Below the screes was 
a fair-sized frozen tarn; the shrieking gusts of wind sent 
the dry granular snow humming over its surface, and to 
listen to this dismal sound, to see the pale mountains 
looming indistinctly through the mist, and the white caravan 
picking its way carefully down the valley, was to think of 
Sven Hedin’s description of the Chang Tang. I was glad 
I had only a few hours of it instead of a few weeks! 
Below the lake the valley began to open out and dwarf 
shrubs appeared; we turned more to the west, and the 
snow ceased abruptly. Just then the sun shone out 
momentarily and gleamed on the white mountains, blue 
sky appeared above, and behind us we caught a glimpse of 
scudding clouds. Far away down the valley in the west 
we saw over the dark forest a heavy bank of slate-blue 
cloud, but the setting sun nevertheless painted the light 
clouds above us, and everything looked well. Slowly the 
snow-drenched caravan of seven men, one woman, two 
ponies and a donkey, now spread over a quarter of a mile, 
struggled down the valley. 
Darkness set in as we entered the forest, and some of 
the men wanted to camp, but we would not hear of it; 
Tsa-lei could not be very far away, for we could see the 
