Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 211 (Color Image)

0211	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

CHAMDO TO LHASA 161

here and there villages or a farm surrounded

by yellow fields. A very steep rocky descent

brought him to Sing-ka, a hamlet of two families

on a small level patch 100 feet above the

Salween. Pereira made the elevation of this important place 11,090 feet, which would put the Salween at about 500 feet higher than the Mekong

at Chamdo.

Speculating on the population of Tibet, Pereira

remarks here that the experts who put the population of Tibet at 2,000,000 must err badly. He

thinks it must be far more in spite of the country

being so sparsely inhabited.

A few Machi snow - white bustard pheasants

were seen on the march.

Following down the valley of the Salween on September 17 he reached Ru-a-tung at 19t. miles.

The river was very winding and of a greyish

colour. The path kept high up on the hill-sides, rising to 12,290 feet at the Tung-ka La at 94 miles.

The hills were fairly wooded and covered with

bush. There was a gradual descent to the ferry

across a small plain with some dozen farms and

a monastery of sixty monks. The fields were

bordered by low trees or hedges, chiefly of wild

roses and gooseberries, giving them an almost

English look. As the Kalon Lama was coming,

occasional attempts had been made to repair the

road and improve the bridges. The spades used

were of a most primitive type and more suitable

for children to play with than for serious work.

Pereira's party crossed the Salween near Ru-a-tung

in five coracles. His two ponies swam it, and had

now swum the Yangtze, Mekong and Salween.

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