1871.] W. T. Blanford— Journey through Siklcim, 409 



not to enter Tibet, but to go to the Lichen valley by Chiingtam; 

 we finally parted promising to meet again in a few days at Kongra 

 Lama. We offered the Siiba some cloth and a few other small 

 presents, but he assured us that he could not receive anything, as it 

 was not allowed by the Tibetan government. A map of the 

 Tibet frontier and a photograph of Elwes he would apply for 

 permission to accept when he met us at Kongra Lama. After the 

 interview was over we marched back to Momay. 



22nd. We had a lovely morning, and all the peaks, Kinchinjhao 

 and the Matterhorn-like Donkia included, were free from mist. We 

 started down the valley, Elwes, who had over-exerted himself in 

 crossing two passes above 18000 feet in one afternoon, and who 

 was consequently very lame, on horseback. On our stopping to 

 breakfast about half way to Yeomatong, I was surprised to see the 

 Lachiing Phipan, who was with us, produce a good sized piece of 

 raw mutton, about half a pound in weight, and proceed to eat it 

 without either cooking or sauce, or any addition whatever. I have 

 often seen dried meat eaten raw, but I had supposed that a taste 

 for fresh uncooked meat was peculiar to the people of Abyssinia. 

 It was rather amusing to note that our friend, the Phipan, imitated 

 the Abyssinians not only in the material for his meal, but also in 

 his mode of eating it : siezing the end of the meat in his teeth and 

 cutting off pieces by an upward sweep of his knife. It only required 

 the curved Abyssinian scimitar to have completed the resemblance. 



When two or three miles from Yeomatong, I rambled into tho 

 forest, and came suddenly upon a flock of blood pheasants in a 

 mossy hollow amongst the fir trees ; I shot one or two on the spot, 

 and following up the others, which were far from wild, I killed 5 

 altogether. 



September 23rd and 24th. Elwes was so lame that we halted for 

 a couple of days, and I collected several birds, the most interesting 

 being a specimen of that rare buzzard, Hodgson's Buteo plumipes, 

 which was brought in by a shikari. The weather was not very 

 fine. On the second day I visited the hot spring below Yeomatong 

 on the banks of the Lachiing, described by Hooker, Vol. II, p. 116. 

 The road to it, along the river banks, was one of the very worst I 

 ever traversed, even in Sikkim. 



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