16 IN TIBET AND CHINESE TURKESTAN.
ammunition, tents, medicines, instruments, cooking utensils, money, and various articles which, if necessary, might be given as presents. But food supplies formed the most burdensome part of our equipment. These consisted chiefly of grain, bread, and tinned meats. We had 8,650 lbs. of partially crushed barley, 1,480 lbs. of attah, 1,200 lbs. of Kusta or•Ladak bread, which keeps well for months, 620 lbs. of rice, and 1,810 lbs. of Suttoo. The tinned meats, instruments, money, &c., were packed in yak dans, while Suttoo, attah, rice, and Kusta were put into sacks made of Baxter Brothers' water-proof canvas. Every yak dan, box, sack, and package was weighed and numbered, and the weight recorded in the catalogue. Yak dans were ' padlocked, one key opening all ; sacks were sealed with leaden seals so that no one could open them in our absence without detection. The total weight of baggage and stores was about 17,000 lbs., or more than six and a half tons, an appalling amount to be loaded and unloaded daily, especially as the Ladaki caravan men are undoubtedly very bad packers. But we carried nothing which could be dispensed with, and as a large portion of the food supplies was for the animals the weight would rapidly diminish.
We had a choice of two routes from Fobrang to Lanak La, one by the An La, Niagzu, and Kieuns La, the other by the Marsemik La, Pamzal, and Kyam. The former seemed preferable for several reasons : it was considered to be the easier. ; it was not, as the Marsemik was reported to be, blocked with snow ; and, lastly, part of this route, in particular the An La, was not mapped. But just as we were about to start, we learned that for some distance in this direction water was very scarce ; we knew also that two officers of the Rifle Brigade had recently crossed the Marsemik, and, on the whole, it seemed the more prûdent course to follow the latter route. We en-
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