In the forbidden land, an account of a journey into Tibet . approach is sentahead. People who arrive unexpectedly in the middleof the night are never credited with good motives, andtheir appearance is associated with all sorts of evil inten-tions—murder, robbery, or extortion. I tried to set theminds of the good folk at ease, by stating that I meantno harm; but such were their excitement and confusionthat I could get no one to listen to me. Two old women came to us with a bucket of milk andlaid it at my feet, entreating me to spare their lives; andgreat was their astonishment when, instead of
In the forbidden land, an account of a journey into Tibet . approach is sentahead. People who arrive unexpectedly in the middleof the night are never credited with good motives, andtheir appearance is associated with all sorts of evil inten-tions—murder, robbery, or extortion. I tried to set theminds of the good folk at ease, by stating that I meantno harm; but such were their excitement and confusionthat I could get no one to listen to me. Two old women came to us with a bucket of milk andlaid it at my feet, entreating me to spare their lives; andgreat was their astonishment when, instead of findingthemselves murdered, they received a silver rupee in pay-ment. This was the first step towards a peaceful settle-ment of the disturbance. After some time, calm was 82 CALM RESTORED restored, and, though still regarded with considerable sus-picion, we were politely treated by the natives. Unfortunately, here too we were unable to purchaseprovisions, the natives declaring that they had not suf-ficient for themselves. So, having feasted on the rabbu. CARPENTER AND SADDLE-MAKER which we killed, and on yaks milk, w^e made preparationsto strike camp early next morning. At night the thermometer fell to 26°, and the cold wasvery great; but we purchased a quantity of dung from thenatives and made a fine fire in the morning; and, havinghad a good meal after several days privations, we felthappier than usual. The natives begged as ever, show- IN THE FORBIDDEN LAND ing their unrestrained craving for money, to get whichthey would lower themselves to anything. Northwest of the encampment, through a gorge, floweda wide river which skirted the foot of the mountains. Itwas snow-fed, for in the evening the current w^as strongand deep, whereas early in the morning the level of the w^ater was several feet low-
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