Afterwards I Harangued Them, And
Told Them I Would Let Them Go, And Help Them Back; I Could Not Take
Such Poor-Spirited Miserable Creatures With Me, And I Would Keep The
Tartars Who Had Accompanied Me From Tsala.
On this they protested,
and said, with a significant gesture, I might cut their throats if
they cried any more, and begged me to try them again; and as we had
no more bad weather, there was no more trouble.
The marches which followed were along valleys, plains, and mountain-
sides of gravel, destitute of herbage, except a shrivelled artemisia,
and on one occasion the baggage animals were forty hours without
food. Fresh water was usually very scarce, and on the Lingti plains
was only obtainable by scooping it up from the holes left by the feet
of animals. Insect life was rare, and except grey doves, the 'dove
of the valleys,' which often flew before us for miles down the
ravines, no birds were to be seen. On the other hand, there were
numerous herds of kyang, which in the early mornings came to drink of
the water by which the camps were pitched. By looking through a
crevice of my tent I saw them distinctly, without alarming them. In
one herd I counted forty.
They kept together in families, sire, dam, and foal. The animal
certainly is under fourteen hands, and resembles a mule rather than a
horse or ass. The noise, which I had several opportunities of
hearing, is more like a neigh than a bray, but lacks completeness.
The creature is light brown, almost fawn colour, fading into white
under his body, and he has a dark stripe on his back, but not a
cross.
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