96 GEORGE D-S-DUNBAR ON 



siderably in age but none of the divided coins detailed in that Memoir were found. 

 Yunnanese rupees and eight-anna pieces were noticed, generally being used as orna- 

 ments. Chinese cash do not appear to be legal tender, but they are frequently 

 strung on necklaces. 



Some cloth is made locally but the best, and the bulk of it, comes from Tibet. 

 The Membas dye cotton, the ordinary colours being red and blue. The red dye is in 

 great demand amongst the Abors. The plant from which it is made was pointed out 

 to me in the valley. They dress skins for use as rain coats but the best leather all 

 comes from across the main range. Nor do the Membas go in for any metal work 

 involving more than the roughest casting. The greatest dependence is placed on the 

 import trade from over the passes. 



No horses, or mules, were found in the country. Yak are brought over the 

 watershed, by Tibetan herdsmen, 1 to feed on the grass laud of the I,ulung la near the 

 source of one of the branches of the Sirapateng, but the road down into the main 

 valley is exceptionally difficult and yak are not brought down it. It is however pre- 

 sumed that the alternative track across the Doshung la, called the Yak Road, did 

 not receive its name on the same principle as Goat Island. A wooden, yak pack- 

 saddle was seen in Yortong. Moreover there appears to be a distinct strain of yak z 

 in some of the Memba cattle. But no yak were seen. 



It is now established that the Tsanpo flowing east past Gyala Sindang ! takes a 

 sharp turn south round the eastern shoulder of Namshia Barwa cutting its way through 

 the main range, at the bottom of a stupendous canon, in a series of terrific rapids. The 

 difference between Captains Bailey and Morshead's hypsometric altitudes on either 

 side of the gorge is 4200 ft. Apart from the difficulty made by the soft nature of the 

 formation, it does not require a waterfall to explain an estimated descent through 

 the gorge of 100 ft. a mile. The river is called the Tsanpo as far down as Panggo, 

 that is to say by both Membas and Angong Abors. 



The first Abor takin was shot on the 7th of June by a sepoy of the Lakhimpur 

 Battalion Military Police, one of the Survey escort, on a hill above Tuting. It was 

 one of a herd of between 30 and 40 found, in the snow, at a height of about 14,000 

 feet. The skin was brownish black, not red like those made up into coats and found 

 being worn by the Mishmis. But colour appears to be a question of age not of 

 species. Two more takin were shot later, up the Simu Nullah by Captain Hore, 

 1 20th Rajputana Infantry, and Mr. Huddlestone, R.E., one of the survey officers. 



It may not, perhaps, be out of place to touch upon such religious customs of the 

 Angong Abors (Bomo-Janbo) that can be in any way traced to the influence of their 

 Memba neighbours. 



Near Moshing there is a large stone covered all over with triangular plaited cane 



1 These may be the Dukpa or Dokpa: see S. C D. " Journey to Lhasa," p. 33- The remarkable number of 

 yellow snakes found up the route to the L,ulung-la, by the party that explored it in 191 3 may elucidate the snake story 

 noted on p. 47. 



2 S. C D. noticed half-bred yak (jo) on his way into Tibet, ib., p. 39- 



8 See Captain F. M. Bailey's Note in the Geographical Journal, February 1914. 



