§62 COURSE AND LEVELS 



point fixed by the trigonometrical operations, in latitude 31° 29' 22"*' and 

 longitude 78° 21' 44"; its height above the sea is 21,251 feet. We' regretted 

 much that the arrangements made for the supplies of our numerous follow- 

 ers did not allow us to halt here. We could have been well contented to 

 have taken a day's rest in so agreeable a spot ; and besides this object, we 

 should have been well pleased to have cultivated a closer acquaintance with 

 our friend the Lama, who seemed both intelligent and communicative. We 

 had however no choice, and at ten o'clock quitted Murang. 



We left Murang at ten o'clock : the first two miles is a steep ascent up the 

 mountain on the declivity of which it is situated. On reaching the crest 

 of the ridge, we met traders belonging to the village returning from Majan, 

 a district of Maha Chin,* with eighty goat, sheep, and ass loads of by- 

 angi wool. They had a small shawl goat also with them, and we observed 

 both in this animal and a kid of the same breed (which we had received 

 in a present at Puari) the shawl wool proper lying under its outer and 

 usual coat of hair : a dog too, of Tartar breed, accompanied them, in size 

 and appearance a good deal resembling a Newfoundland dog. They had 

 been three months absent, and seven of their sheep had died on the road, 

 a duty of two pice per load was collected from them at Ritang, where a 

 Chinese Sirdar resides. We had a long journey before us, and were not 



a little sorry we could not stop to have some conversation with them ; but 

 it was now near noon, and we were obliged to push on. We met with the 

 gooseberry here in great plenty, though small and acid, a male yak,| kept 

 for breeding, was seen grazing here. In Kanawer they cannot keep up the 

 breed pure, the animal degenerating, but a cross between it and the com- 

 mon cow is reckoned by them superior to either. They are of great size 



* The Empire of China. 



f Called by Captain Turner the bushy-tailed Bull of Thibet 



