212 
TIBET, 
and I could plainly perceive they had no tails e : my attendants all 
confirmed this observation. 
This lake is frequented by great abundance of water-fowl, wild- 
geese, ducks, teal, and storks, which, on the approach of winter, take 
their flight to milder regions. Prodigious numbers of saurasses, the 
largest species of the crane kind, are seen here at certain seasons of the 
year, and they say, that any quantity of eggs may then be collected; 
they are found deposited near the banks. 
I had several of these given to me while I was at Tassisudon, during the 
rains; they were as large as a turkey’s egg, and I remember being told 
that they came from this place; but whether or not they were those of 
the sauras, I cannot venture to pronounce. 
The lake gradually narrowed, and from its northern angle, sent off 
a small brook, which we crossed, over a very rude bridge. It took 
a western direction, between hills that form a narrow defile, discharg¬ 
ing itself at the other extremity, into a much larger lake than that 
which we had passed. 
Our little camp stood midway with respect to the lakes, in a narrow 
pass between rows of rocks, near the village Chaloo, twenty miles 
from Teuna, and not far from the brook. The situation was much 
sheltered; and in this confined valley I saw the first ground in Tibet, 
which was cultivated with success. It produced a dwarfish wheat, I 
think, of the Lammas kind; this was now ripe, and falling beneath 
the sickle. 
« This animal, I conceive to have been the Daman Israel, of Egypt, or Schafan, of 
the Hebrews. See Bruce. 
