268 TO DAEJILING : FIEST HIMALAYAN JOUENEY 
and impracticable ; thin lips, a good chin, thin arched nose 
and narrow nostrils, high cheek bones and forehead, cold 
grey eyes and handsome brows ; no beard or moustache, and 
a nut brown, but not bronzed complexion. His years must 
be above 60 and his hair was scant and grizzled. A stiff, 
black, small cap, with high brim standing up all round, rather 
set off the repelling look he maintained. Taken to pieces, 
he might be described as a funny mixture of the old woman, 
from his beardless face, the Lama priest from his dress and 
rosary, and a burly, well-to-do Landamman, deputed from 
some Swiss Canton to resist to the uttermost the demands 
of a dangerous neighbour power, unflinching under opposi- 
tion and unscrupulous in makeshifts, always the bear, often 
the bully, and ever the sturdiest opponent of the overtures 
of his antagonist, even when designed for his own good. 
These qualities, together with an unblushing effrontery and 
consummate skill in fabrication and a large interest in the 
monopoly of Sikkim trade, rendered him a fit tool for the 
Eajah. Beaten at all points he has to give in, and there 
he stands, showing neither sulks nor smiles, just respectful 
enough to avoid censm-e and no more. 
A real character stands at his elbow, a little old withered 
Thibetan, leaning on his long bamboo bow, simply clothed 
in a woollen robe, his gi'ey hair floating in the wind, bowed 
with age, of mild expression, and stone blind. He is a Sene- 
schal to the party, devoted to his country, and the Companion 
of the Eajah's deputations to the Political Agent of the power- 
ful Government whose advances his master rejects. When he 
speaks, and this is very seldom (and as it is always in his own 
half Chinese tongue no Englishman can interpret it), the 
bmthen of his story passes from tongue to tongue ; he is 
evidently the oracle of the party ; his placid looks and grey 
hair would lead me to confide in him and address him as 
Father, but I have a grim suspicion that his views narrow as 
his years go on, that he was bereaved of his best and brightest 
sense before oui- power showed itself in these hills, and that 
his crafty companions have taken advantage of this and 
done more than leave him in the dark as to our real power 
to punish, but wish to reward and encourage. 
The attendants upon these, the Eajah's representatives 
(and their own, for, being a large, sharer in the monopoly of 
