164 GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS AND EXPLORATIONS. 



K p, the explorer just referred to, is a native of Sikkim, and 



had accompanied G. M. N. (another employe whose work is referred 

 to on the next page) to Gyala Sindong on the Sanpo, besides having 



since traversed Bhutan with E,. N* K p went as servant to 



a Chinese Lama whom the late Captain Harman sent to Gyala 

 Sindong to throw marked logs into the Sanpo, having previously 

 arranged for watchers to be stationed at the junction of the Dihong 

 and Brahmaputra to ascertain whether the logs came down by that 

 course, and to settle by this means the identity of the Sanpo with 

 the great river of Assam. The Lama proved a faithless rascal and 



having sold K p returned to his own home in China. K -p 



managed to escape and return to Darjeeling after an absence of 

 four years, having traced the course of the Sanpo down to Onlet, 

 nearly 100 miles lower than any previous explorer and to within 

 one march of Miri Padam, which is said to be only 35 miles from 



the nearest plains of India, K p not being a trained explorer 



the information he brought is not based on a route survey, and can 

 only be regarded as a bona fide story of his travels related from 

 recollection two years after his return. The account was translated 

 into English from the original by Norpu. 



From Gyala Singdong downward the river is enclosed by 

 snow-clad mountains on which the wild yak and Tibetan stag 

 abound. The country is here called Pemakoichen, and is inhabited 

 by Chingtnis, a race which R. N. had met in north-eastern 

 Bhutan (see particulars on preceding page), and which occupies 

 a considerable extent of country eastward as far as the Sanpo. 

 They resemble partly the Bhutanese and partly the Men tribes 

 around Tawang. Those in Bhutan are described as more amiable 

 than i he Bhutanese proper, and as living in houses of better 

 construction, while their affinity to the Chinese is shown by both 

 sexes wearing pigtails. They extend as far as Daugam on the 

 Sanpo river, where the Lo river joins it. Below that point 

 Tibetan names and influence cease, and the country of three tribes 

 of aborigines called collectively Lo Kabtaf commences. They are 

 averse to anything savouring of Buddhism or Tibetan habits ; they 



* For narrative see " Report on Explorations in Sikkim, Bhutan, and Tibet." 

 Dehra Dun. 1889. See also Colonel Tanner's interesting ''Notes" in the Indian 

 Survey Report for 18S6-87, page lxxxvi. 



t Compare the Lhok*haptra of De La Penna and L'hok'hapha of Klaproth. See 

 Markham's Tibet, pages till and 312. 



