32 S. E. Peal— iVbif^.? of a trip up the Dihing. [No. 1, 



sticking out of the turf everywhere, coming to the river which flowed 

 along the eastern side. Here at the mouth of the Dapha Pani near its 

 junction with the Dihing or Diyunkha, we pitched our camp, and got in 

 plenty of firewood as both elephant and buffalo was reported about, and 

 the tracks seen. 



Here though fairly close to Dapha Bum, I still observed the wind to 

 be south-west and north-east watching for the clouds to pass off the crest 

 of the ridges in vain, until twilight, when I saw that the peaks had as yet 

 comparatively little snow on them. I had only a few minutes left to 

 examine the higher ridges with a high power to see how far they were bare 

 or covered by vegetation. In the very early dawn and until sunrise I 

 again was able to see the summits, but for very short time only, as mists 

 came out below, all over the valley, and when these had cleared off below, 

 the hills were all clouded over. I therefore determined to go up the valley 

 and have a look round generally wherever possible. The old Kamti and I 

 took " Kumku nong" with us, as he knew the place somewhat. He was 

 one of our loadmen, and the wonder to all was, how, with such thin legs, 

 he could carry his load and walk as far and fast as the best of us. One 

 good feature about him was, that there was generally some information to 

 be got from him, and at the least, he had a joke and a grin, always ready. 

 In former times when a strong young man, ere he had small-pox — he had 

 been up the Dapha Pani hunting — as far as the water parting towards the 

 north-east up the " Shi kha." He described it as having jungle more or 

 less everywhere, with tracks and paths, but not a nice country to have to 

 push through rapidly as in travelling, in consequence of the frequent detours 

 necessary to avoid impassable gullies &c. Otherwise as a place to quietly 

 camp and shikar about in, it was all right, if one had some rice, for there 

 was a good deal of game, among which on the upper ridges there was 

 « Takin." 



As we went up the valley the signs of erosion and deposit were very 

 conspicuous all round. Our progress except for a few yards here and there, 

 was at first entirely over large rounded stones, and the stepping from stone 

 to stone for an hour or so on end, is monotonous. At last we spied smoke, 

 and then saw two men watching us from our left, Miju Mishmis as it turn- 

 ed out, and we at once hailed. They said they had seen the smoke of our 

 camp, and were going to see who we were, and to examine their fish traps. 

 One of them had a fine cross bow, the other a long and beautifully made 

 Mishmi spear. Both had the regular Mishmi basket, or haversack, that 

 lies in the small of the back and is usually covered with bear or monkey 

 skin. We looked into their cunningly made hut as we passed ; a wild animal 

 would hardly notice it, being part and parcel of a great snag or drifted 

 tree, stem and roots, with stones and turf added. Thence we went along in 



