Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 166 (Color Image)

0166	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

124 PEKING TO LHASA

is, hired transport, and said he would never again

use mules in Tibet. The poor animals are not

suited to it. Well fed for several months before

and with light loads they could manage it. But

even in the mild season his poor mules felt the

cold, and as they had been poorly fed when he

bought them they were never properly fit.

The Ka-na Monastery was reached on the 18th

at 164 miles. The way led down the broad Ya-

lung valley, which opens out to a plain called

Jamba about 5 miles wide. Two miles from the

Monastery the Ya-lung bends away E.N.E., and

the road leads over a low hill into the narrow

Retchin valley. The monastery contains two

hundred lamas of the red sect.

The next day's march of 19/ miles led first over the La-m'e ridge, 14,050 feet, then down and up

narrow valleys with small Tibetan camps, and at

9 miles up an easy ascent to the Ja-rong Pass, 14,060 feet, over the divide between the Ya-lung

and Yangtze Rivers. From this the way lay down a narrow valley between hills from 12,000 to 15,000 feet in height. This was the steepest

country he had been travelling through for a

long time. The western hills were rocky and

the path often stony or leading over broken or

marshy ground.

The first cuckoo was heard on the march and

Pereira saw the first marmot since leaving Ko-Ko

Nor also four wild pigeons. In the valley were

many five-petalled buttercups and some small

red and blue daisies. Also he came across scrub

a few inches high and small bushes 2 or 3 feet high the first he had seen since leaving Ta-

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