Part 28 (1/2)
At sunrise the view of Gunkyo was magnificent, with the snow-covered mountains tinted gold and red, and reflected in their minutest details in the still waters of the lake. We loaded our yaks, the Tibetans giving us a helping hand, and started towards the Maium Pa.s.s, following a general course of 109 up the river, which throws itself into the Gunkyo Lake.
[Ill.u.s.tration: MATCHLOCK]
The valley was very narrow, and ran in continuous zigzags; but although the alt.i.tude was great, there was abundance of gra.s.s, and the green was quite refres.h.i.+ng to the eyes, tired as we were of snow and reddish barren mountains and desert-like stretches of land. We came to a basin where, on the opposite bank of the stream, was a large Tibetan camping-ground with a high wall of stones. Behind it I could see smoke rising, which made me suspect that there were people concealed there.
Our Tibetan friends asked what we were going to do, and begged me to stop there to talk and drink tea. I said I had had quite enough of both, and would proceed.
”If you go on we will kill you,” said one of the soldiers, getting into a temper, and taking advantage of our politeness towards him and his mates.
”_Nga samgi ganta indah_” (”If you please”), I answered with studied courtesy.
”If you go another step, we will cut off your head, or you will have to cut off ours,” cried two or three others, stretching their bare necks towards me.
”_Taptih middu_” (”I have not got a small knife”), I replied, quite seriously, and with a.s.sumed disappointment, twirling my hand in the air in Tibetan fas.h.i.+on.
The Tibetans did not know what to make of me, and when I moved towards the pa.s.s, on which hundreds of flying prayers flapped in the wind, after politely bidding them good-bye with tongue out, and waving both my hands palms upwards in front of my forehead in the most approved Tibetan style, they took off their caps and humbly saluted us by going down on their knees and putting their heads close to the ground.
We crossed the plain, and slowly wended our way up the pa.s.s. Near the top we came to a track, the highway from Ladak to Lha.s.sa _via_ Gartok, along the northern side of the Rakstal, Mansarowar and Gunkyo Lakes. On the pa.s.s itself were planted several poles connected by means of ropes, from which flying prayers waved gaily in the breeze. _Obos_, or mounds of stones, had also been erected here. The slabs were usually white, and bore in many instances the inscription ”_Omne mani padme hun_.” Yak skulls and horns, as well as those of goats and sheep, were laid by the side of these Obos, the same words being engraved on the bone and stained red with the blood of the animal killed.
These sacrifices are offered by Tibetans when crossing a high pa.s.s, especially if there is a Lama close at hand to commemorate the event. The meat of the animal killed is eaten by the people present, and, if the party is a large one, dancing and singing follow the feast. As I have already remarked, these Obos are found all over the country; they indicate the points marking the pa.s.ses or summits of hills, and no Tibetan ever goes by one of them without depositing on it a white stone to appease the possible wrath of their G.o.d.
CHAPTER LX
The Maium Pa.s.s--Into the Yutzang province--Its capital--The Doktol province--Orders disregarded--The sources of the Brahmaputra--Change in the climate--The valley of the Brahmaputra--Running risks.
THE Maium Pa.s.s (17,500 feet), to which from where I started no Englishman had ever penetrated, is a great landmark in Tibet, for not only does one of the sources of the great Tsangpu, or Brahmaputra River, rise on its S.E. slopes, but it also separates the immense provinces of Nari-Khorsum (extending West of the Maium Pa.s.s and comprising the mountainous and lacustrine region as far as Ladak) from the Yutzang, the central province of Tibet, stretching East of the pa.s.s along the valley of the Brahmaputra and having Lha.s.sa for its capital. The word _Yu_ in Tibetan means ”middle,” and it is applied to this province, as it occupies the centre of Tibet. To the North of the Maium lies the Doktol province.
I had taken a reconnoitring trip to another pa.s.s to the N.E. of us, and had just returned to my men on the Maium Pa.s.s, when several of the Tibetan soldiers we had left behind rode up towards us. We waited for them, and their leader, pointing at the valley beyond the pa.s.s, cried: ”That yonder is the Lha.s.sa territory and we forbid you to enter it.”
I took no notice of his protest, and driving before me the two yaks I stepped into the most sacred of all the sacred provinces, ”the ground of G.o.d.”
We descended quickly on the Eastern side of the pa.s.s, while the soldiers, aghast, remained watching us from above, themselves a most picturesque sight as they stood among the Obos against the sky-line, with the sunlight s.h.i.+ning on their jewelled swords and the gay red flags of their matchlocks, while over their heads strings of flying prayers waved in the wind. Having watched us for a little while, they disappeared.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SOURCE OF THE BRAHMAPUTRA]
A little rivulet, hardly six inches wide, descended among stones in the centre of the valley we were following, and was soon swollen by other rivulets from melting snows on the mountains to either side. This was one source[24] of the great Brahmaputra, one of the largest rivers of the world. I must confess that I felt somewhat proud to be the first European who had ever reached these sources, and there was a certain childish delight in standing over this sacred stream which, of such immense width lower down, could here be spanned by a man standing with legs slightly apart. We drank of its waters at the spot where it had its birth, and then, following a marked track to 125 (b.m.), we continued our descent on a gentle incline along a gra.s.sy valley. The change in the climate between the West and South-east sides of the Maium Pa.s.s was extraordinary. On the Western side we had nothing but violent storms of hail, rain and snow, the dampness in the air rendering the atmosphere cold even during the day. The soil was unusually marshy, and very little fuel or gra.s.s could be found. The moment the pa.s.s was crossed we were in a mild, pleasant climate, with a lovely deep blue sky over us and plenty of gra.s.s for the yaks, as well as low shrubs for our fires; so that, after all our sufferings and privations, we felt that we had indeed entered the land of G.o.d. Notwithstanding that I expected great trouble sooner or later, I was not at all sorry I had disobeyed the soldiers'
orders and had marched straight into the forbidden territory--it was a kind of wild satisfaction at doing that which is forbidden.
The Brahmaputra received three small snow-fed tributaries descending rapidly from the steep mountains on either side of us; and where the main stream turned sharply to 170, a fourth and important tributary, carrying a very large volume of water, came down to it through a gorge from 20 (b.m.).
We encamped near the junction of these rivers, on the right bank of the main stream, at an alt.i.tude of 16,620 feet. From the Maium Pa.s.s a continuation of the Gangri chain of mountains runs first in a South-easterly direction, then due East, taking a line almost parallel to the higher Southern range of the Himahlyas, and forming a vast plain intersected by the Brahmaputra. On the Southern side of the river can be seen minor hill ranges between the river course and the big range with its majestic snowy peaks and beautiful glaciers. This Northern range keeps an almost parallel line to the greater range southward; and, though no peaks of very considerable elevation are to be found along it, yet it is of geographical importance, as its Southern slopes form the Northern watershed of the holy river as far as Lha.s.sa.
The valley enclosed between these two parallel ranges is the most thickly populated valley in Tibet. Gra.s.s is abundant, and fuel easily obtainable, and therefore thousands of yaks, sheep, and goats can be seen grazing near the many Tibetan camps along the Brahmaputra and its princ.i.p.al tributaries. The trade route taken by the caravans from Ladak to Lha.s.sa follows this valley; and, as I came to Tibet to see and study the Tibetans, I thought that, although I might run greater risks, I could in no part of the country accomplish my object better than by going along this thickly populated track.