National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

The tent-pegs should be of iron, as not only are wooden ones easily broken in stony ground, but in parts of Tibet, and even in the higher valleys of the Himalaya, they cannot be renewed for want of wood ; besides which, the natives are only too much addicted to the habit of using wooden tent-pegs as fuel when wood is scarce. The mallet should also not be of wood, a good iron hammer being more generally useful.

A small tent for the servants is absolutely necessary for their proper comfort, as well as to enable them to cook during strong gusts of wind.

A good supply of stout ropes is very valuable, not only for the tents, but for various other purposes;, they are indispensable for glacier expeditions, and of great use in bringing horses across rivers through which they may have to swim.

D r es s. The shoes form one of the most important parts of the dress, especially if the traveller sets out on a walking excursion, or glacier expedition. They should be of European workmanship, and a much larger stock should be laid in than might be expected à priori to be required. We found soles with screws more serviceable than those with nails. It is also advisable to take several pairs of lighter shoes and slippers, in case the foot should become sore. Strong shoes (should the traveller be able to spare them) are at the same time a present unusually esteemed by the natives.' Native-made shoes may generally be considered utterly useless.

Leeches are frequently found during the rainy season, and in some of the lower valleys of the Himalaya in such numbers as to become very disagreeable and troublesome. One of the most simple modes of protection is to soak the gaiters or stockings in brine. Where leeches are particularly numerous, long leather gaiters, the upper part of which is turned downwards, are very useful: the fold puts a definite stop of the further progress of the leeches, and a great many may sometimes be found therein.

Flies, mosquitoes, and smaller peepsies (the bites of which are very painful, generally terminating in sores) infest many of the lower valleys of the Himalaya, even

' When leaving Leh, we had to make donations to several official persons, amongst which the one we considered the most'valuable was a double-barrelled gun, and one of the inferior articles a new pair of strong shoes with gaiters. When our people charged with the delivery of the presents had returned from the thanadâr's residence, their official companion told us—making the necessary salâms—that his master, although delighted with his present, had preferred making a slight alteration, he having taken the shoes for himself in exchange for the double-barrelled gun, which he gave to his mnnshi.