484 A Journey through Si/dm. [No. 6, 



their yaks, and riding their ponies, being distasteful to them. The 

 yak is a shorter lived animal than the cow of Sikim. After 7 or 8 

 calves the female is much aged ; the cow will give 10, or 12, and even 

 14 calves. The period of gestation in the yak is said to be 9 months 

 exactly, of the cow 10 or 20 days more. The flesh of the yak is, I 

 think, the best meat that can be put on table ; it is of delicate flavour, 

 tender, juicy and eats quite short ; the gravy is totally free from grea- 

 siness, and the meat of stringiness, which cannot be said of beef or 

 mutton. 



October \2tk. 



Still detained by bad weather. It snowed till midnight, and is rain- 

 ing this morning. The snow has not lain at our camp : but the 

 mountains all round us are snowed from the top to within 500 feet of 

 us. Ther. rose during the night to 35°; it was 34° at 4 p. m. 



A string of 50 laden yaks has just arrived from Kambajong in 

 Thibet with wool for the Phipun of this place. They came in two 

 days. The average load is about 3 maunds, 240 lbs. The yak gear 

 is very simple, a thick pack-saddle of blanketing, over which a saddle 

 tree of a tough rhododendron wood is girthed with yak hair ropes, 

 and secured by a crupper of the same material. The nose cartilage 

 is pierced, and a hair rope in it is the only bridle. The ears are deco- 

 rated with tufts of scarlet wool, which are very becoming. These 

 pack animals are all geldings ; they were in fine condition, the long 

 hair on the belly reaching to the ground ; the common colour of all 

 we have seen is black all over, one in 15 or 20 is white-tailed and 

 white-faced. Some are black and white mixed, and a few are dun. 

 The yaks are kept in Thibet as bulls till 3 or 4 years old ; they are the 

 only animals used there in the plough, and for loads. The plough in 

 use about Digarchi is the same as the Bengali one. The materials for 

 it go from this valley and Lachoong ; the oak and birch are the favou- 

 rite woods. The people generally move downwards from this place 

 in Noor, to Talom Samdong, then as the cold increases to Lachen 

 (Lamteng), and downwards as far as Latong and Denga. The migra- 

 tion upwards is performed quite as gradually, beginning in April. 

 All the rain and snow falling at Tungu come with southerly wind, 

 scarcely any of either ever fall with north wind, which always indicates 

 steady and clear weather in this part of the world. 



