LA DAK. 
45 
centre of the ground, he threw up the ball and 
very cleverly struck it with his club, sometimes 
succeeding at the first stroke in driving it to the goal. 
Usually the ball was intercepted, and a very animated 
scene then ensued, each side trying to urge the ball 
towards their own end of the ground ; and the side 
which first succeeded in driving it beyond the boundary 
mark, at their end of the ground, won the game. 
Each game lasted only for a few minutes, but the fun 
was kept up for several hours, and sometimes there 
was intense excitement, and very great skill in 
horsemanship displayed. At last, both men and 
horses seemed to be quite exhausted, and we then had 
a series of entertainments requiring less active 
exertion. 
Much amusement was created by a small mag- 
neto-electric apparatus which I had with me, for the 
Tibetans seemed never to have experienced the 
effects of electricity before. 
On June 26th we marched from Paskyum, twelve 
miles, to Shergul, keeping along the same valley the 
whole way, crossing and recrossing the stream several 
times. On the way we passed two small villages. 
Here, in October, I got several teal. Near Shergul 
the valley becomes a narrow rocky ravine, and a 
detour has to be made over some very steep spurs. 
At Shergul, the valley again opens out, and there is 
a good deal of cultivation. The first Buddhist 
monastery, called Gonpa (solitary place) is here met 
with; and the village is filled with those curious 
Buddhist monuments to departed Lamas, called "chod- 
ten" or "chortens," which form such a prominent fea- 
ture in every Tibetan village beyond this point. The 
