OF THE RIVElVSETtEJ. 373 



rather a motley groupe ; some were bare-headed, some wore caps with flat 

 crowns ornamented with fringe ; some had tails which were plaited and de- 

 scended to their heels ; others had their hair close cut; some were dressed 

 in the skin of the shawl goat, the wool inside ; others had a coat of red wool- 

 len stuff, which they say is manufactured in the interior ; almost all wore, 

 what seemed to us, breeches and stockings ; the latter it is true were more 

 like bags. Their shoes were quite Chinese-like, those already noticed at 

 Dabling with round soles, such as to us appeared to be a matter of no little 

 skill to walk in. In the girdle we observed stuck a double flageolet, on 

 which they play, but it may be supposed very rudely. A steel tobacco 

 pipe, a bunch of keys of curious fashion, and a steel set in brass to light their 

 pipe. One man, and one only had a sword, in shape and size much like that 

 which the Madras jugglers swallow; they seemed in general a good natured 

 looking people, though not what would be called good-looking ; yet some 

 of them had very expressive countenances. We observed a great deficiency 

 of beard, though it was not totally wanting, except in a very few, and these 

 had such smooth faces that we mistook them for women; none of them had 

 much, and we, as well as our Musselman servants, derived not a little credit 

 from our superiority in this respect. The most remarkable feature about 

 them was their excessive filth, to which we had seen nothing equal. As we 

 were a little fatigued and rather hungry, we contented ourselves with this 

 ' general survey, resolving the next day to satisfy our curiosity more fully. 



Thermometer in the morning 33° 5", a cold climate. We were now upon 

 the threshold of the celestial empire, and though in part prepared for Tar- 

 tar features and other peculiarities, we still found much that was new and 

 striking. The appearance of the place itself is singular in the extreme. 

 To the westward rises a ridge covered with snow, and having an eleva- 

 tion of 22^' ; several lofty peaks crown this ridge and these were entirely 

 capped with snow. It extends round in a semicircle to the southward, 

 from which it gradually falls off, and is finally lost in the lower and round- 

 • ish clay slate mountains which are seen to the eastward. In this direc- 



