Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 120 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

0120	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

86 PEKING TO LHASA

prayer wheels all the length, and a party of

Tibetans were moving along chanting and turning

the wheels. From this place to Ta-shih-t'ou, 161

miles, there was not a house. And even at this

latter place there was only a wretched draughty

hovel with one public room, which Pereira shared

with his boys and escort. The way to this hovel

lay up the right bank of the stream. The valley

widened to a mile, with high rocky hills on either

side, and gradually the grass gave way to low

scrub, whilst the hill-sides were covered with fir

trees. A broad, good road led gradually up to

the Kung-kang Ling, 11,970 feet, the pass over

the divide between the Min and Kialing Rivers.

Snow and ice gradually increased towards the

summit. The descent to the hovel at Ta-shih-t'ou

was steep and lay through a fir forest covered with

snow. On the east side of the valley were rugged

hills rising to a height of 17,000 feet and running

north-west to south-east.

The descent was continued on February 13.

For the first 6 miles the road ran through a fir

forest down a deep valley between huge rocky

ranges from 3000 to 5000 feet above the road.

Farther on other trees were mixed with the firs.

After 14 miles the trees became fewer and three

or four hovels were passed. The morning was

bright, but deep down in the valley the air was

very cold. T'a-tsang, a village of thirteen families

and containing a very clean inn, was the first

village from Ka-mi-ssu, a distance of 41 miles.

The drop from the summit of the pass to T'a-tsang

is 3590 feet. From here there is a small road

leading direct to Cho-ni up the valley Pai-shui Ho,

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