Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 181 (Color Image)

0181	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

JYE-KUNDO TO CHAMDO 135

Pereira there were seventy cavalry at Jye-kundo,

sixty or seventy at Cheng-tu monastery, three or

four stages to the north, and sixty or seventy

scattered around in small detachments.

The Hsien yamen is in a mud-walled enclosure

at the extreme west end of the town. The

magistrate, Liu-Ling-yün, was a Kansu man and

very friendly. He told Pereira there were 240

families in Jye-kundo, of whom two hundred were

Tibetan and forty Chinese.

On July 10 Pereira set out again on his journey,

making now for Chamdo. He took with him his

boy, his interpreter and two mounted men. He

had four riding ponies, besides a pack pony and

one mule which he had not sold. But for trans-

port he now relied upon " ula " yaks and engaged

twenty-three. He crossed the Jye-kundo valley,

here a grass plain 14 mile wide, and after fording

the west branch of Ba Chu left the Jye-kundo

valley and ascended a narrow stony valley. After

a most tiring climb of 1870 feet he reached the

small irregular Ba-tung plateau, 13,798 feet, and

passing among some hills reached the Ba Chu

again. It was here 12 yards wide and 8 feet

deep. The valley was three or four miles wide

and covered with pleasant green grass. It was

bounded on the north by the high rocky peaks of

the Sing-nak-ri-ja, which had some snow on them

and form the divide between the Mekong and the

Yangtze. The green grass slopes leading up to

them formed a pretty contrast with these rugged

peaks, and several big Tibetan camps were pitched

upon them, for the grazing was excellent. This

was, indeed, the pleasantest camp Pereira had

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