Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 151 (Color Image)

0151	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

THE START FOR TIBET 113

about a hundred animals grazing. Next day

Pereira marched for 24 miles across the great

grass country, crossing the two low ranges run-

ning north and south, and then another great

grass plain, bounded by the Ko-Ko Nor range on

the north, and with a small lake, Wa-yen-nor,

about half way. Huge flocks of sheep, goats,

yak cattle and horses were grazing on the plain ;

and sixteen or seventeen black Tibetan tents

could be seen in the distance. There were two

mud buildings at the end of the lake and a small

mud-walled Chinese camp by the road. All these

buildings were uninhabited, but were evidently

intended for the control of the salt. A small

stream, the Tou-t'a Ho, running north into the

Ko-Ko Nor, was crossed in the morning, and

Pereira camped on the banks of the Dum-ka-tsao

stream which flowed south to the Yellow River.

Higher up was a small Chinese village with patches

of cultivation, while in the plain beyond were

several more small Chinese villages. Into places

like this, where they can live in houses and culti-

vate, the Chinese will come. But the pastoral

work is done by Mongols and Tibetans, living in

tents among their flocks and subsisting chiefly

on mutton, tomaba made from a coarse barley,

and usually rancid—butter.

Up to the previous year the route had been

little used as the Goloks had raided it for cen-

turies. But since their defeat they have retired

to the east, and General Ma Ch'i has garrisons at

Ch'a-pu-ch'a and Ta-ho-pa and has opened the

country.

On May 14 Pereira left the small stream and

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