The Hair When Released Stands Out
From The Head, Leather Shrivels And Splits, Horn Combs Break To
Pieces, Food Dries Up, Rapid Evaporation Renders Water-Colour
Sketching Nearly Impossible, And Tea Made With Water From Fifteen To
Twenty Below The Boiling-Point Of 212 Degrees, Is Flavourless And
Flat.
After a delightful journey of twenty-five days I camped at Spitak,
among the chod-tens and manis which
Cluster round the base of a lofty
and isolated rock, crowned with one of the most striking monasteries
in Ladak, and very early the next morning, under a sun of terrific
fierceness, rode up a five-mile slope of blazing gravel to the goal
of my long march. Even at a short distance off, the Tibetan capital
can scarcely be distinguished from the bare, ribbed, scored, jagged,
vermilion and rose-red mountains which nearly surround it, were it
not for the palace of the former kings or Gyalpos of Ladak, a huge
building attaining ten storeys in height, with massive walls sloping
inwards, while long balconies and galleries, carved projections of
brown wood, and prominent windows, give it a singular
picturesqueness. It can be seen for many miles, and dwarfs the
little Central Asian town which clusters round its base.
Long lines of chod-tens and manis mark the approach to Leh. Then
come barley fields and poplar and willow plantations, bright streams
are crossed, and a small gateway, within which is a colony of very
poor Baltis, gives access to the city.
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