DISCOVERIES OF INSCRIBED STONES 1073 
and meat were especially welcome, since our supplies of 
rice and flour were fast running out. If Islam’s last shot 
had failed, he would infallibly have been lost. The chase 
of the wild yak is perilous, and it does not always have 
such a happy ending as this. 
This adventure led to our encamping in a place that was 
not quite so suitable as usual, for it was a long way from 
water ; and then, in order to get the full benefit of the 
yak, w'e were obliged to stay there all the next day. The 
dogs were tied up, to prevent them from spoiling the 
meat. For dinner therefore I had soup made from yak 
beef ; it was a dark brown colour, and very nourishing 
and tasty. For some time this soup formed a portion of 
my daily diet. 
If my dinner was good, my dessert was better. I was 
just lighting my pipe, when all the men, Islam at their 
head, came to me in a state of great excitement, crying, 
“ Biss iiishan tappdik ” (W e have found a sign !) And 
down before me they laid four large slates, inscribed all 
over with Tibetan letter-signs. Each of the slates was 
whole, and manifestly complete in itself ; but two w'ere 
old, for their inscriptions were partly obliterated. 
My curiosity was keenly stirred. What could these 
dead stones not tell me ? Why had such great pains 
been taken to cut these inscriptions upon them Perhaps 
they contained the record of some remarkable occurrence, 
some historical event ? Or perhaps they contained infor- 
mation of great value to pilgrims bound for Lhasa? hor, 
according to my maps, the great pilgrim road from 
Mongolia to the holy capital of the Dalai Lama bent 
to the south-west somewhere hereabouts. But the thing 
which delighted the men most was the indisputable 
evidence which these inscribed stones afforded, that some 
time or another human beings had visited the region where 
we then were. 
Before we left, I went to the place where the inscribed 
tablets had been discovered. It was on the shore of a 
small lake, whither some of the men had gone to fetch 
water. I soon made out a square of stones, and the 
