The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-15
No Land Is So Barren and Forbid
ding, However. but that Inhab-
ifants Can BE Found.
SOME PICTURESQUE HEATHEN
NATIVES OF THIS REMOTE DISTRICT
SUFFER MANY BODILY ILLS.
Primitive Love for Music Manifests
Itself i'm Ways Unpleasant to
Civilized Taste.

I'AmOng the Farthest People" Copyright By
W. G. J. Reid.l
On the eth OF February we were obliged
to march twelve hours through quagmire
and reeking mud before we were able to
find a resting place. The country over
which we travelled was a sort of basin be-
tween two parallel ranges OF mountains,
ramifications of the Irsi-Ula, and crossed
so frequently by little salt streams that
nearly half the day was spent in forcing
them. Travelling was excessively fatiguing,
owing to the extreme cold and the thin,
damp. Opaque mist that hung low over the
landscape. on the plain it had already
gathered into a heavy fog; above this low
er elevation ii banked I'D into sleet-dis-
charging clouds, so that we were obliged 10
pick our way painfully along through
shallow pools and gluey black mud. under
a perpetual dropping Of icy vapor. and by a
leaden light that would encourage thoughts
of suicide, while bodily distress was
evinced by trickling rillets of clammy per-
spiration. We rode until noontime over this
plain; the mountains lowered on our right,
and the fiinty soil was broken into rough.
dark gullies running down to the Ma-Chu.
Our guides had some apprehensions that
we should not be able TO cross the tor
and when we came to the first and had to
walk up along the bank. looking out for
place to ford, the ice on the surface of the
stream being too weak TO bear our weight.
we fully shared in their fears.
BRIDGES ARE UNKNOWN.
Bridges are a species of architecture en-
tirely unknown in this part of Tnibet: in
deed, no bridges could withstand the fierce
81, s.s.,
There would have been some excitement in
encountering these rapid streams if we had
been well mounted. but, from the manner
in which we fioundered through the icy
waters at the ford, we were satisfied that
nothing could be wilder or more pictur-
esque than our process in crossing them.
excepting that il might have added some
what to the dramatic effect of the scene to
see one of us floating down stream, cling
ing to the tail of horse or yak. But some
how or other We got over or through them
all. and after ascending for a tedious time
we entered a long sloping plateau lying
between the two parallel ranges A steep
and picturesque path soon led US up 10 TIE
top of the range, stretching out boldly TO
the dim verge Of the horizon, the treaoh-
erous path over which we scrambled being
Unity. Sometimes we were completely
hemmed in by impending peaks. and then
rose upon a lofty eminence commanding an
almost boundless view. At every step the
scene became more solemn and impressive;
all was still around US. and not a sound
broke the universal silence. except the
rasping tread Of our yaks on the finty
soil and now and then the voice OF one OF
nc h1f VUaC tn
garrulity while journeying through these
rude scenes. Nothing Arcadan is realized
in this nurture-bed of mighty disarray and
unutterable confusion but the snowy
mountains. and they. indeed. are all around
and near. Picture a scene like this: A wind
swept, stone-covered plateau, thirteen
thousand feet above the level OF the sea.
fenced in on every side by frowning noun
tain SUBMITS, swept necessarily by whirl-
ing winds. the sky heavy with clouds and
chilling mists, as if 10 harmonic with
natures most sorrowful mood; the ground
sown with numberless stones. and dense
masses of snow and ice grouped i'm mag
nihcent desolation. with here and there
sturdy bush of tamarisk or bunch of hun
gry-looking grass pushing itself feebly I'D
among them. Not a tree do you behold,
hardly shrub. You come to river, IL is
a broad, waterless bed OF cobblestones and
gravel, only differing from the dry land in
being less mixed with dirt, and wholly, in
stead Of partly, destitute OF vegetation, or
else rushing off TO the other extreme and
tearing through its narrow confines In a
roaring. foaming. laundering torrent.
A DECEIVING LAKE.
But at last the eye falls on a sheet OF
water; there is surely placid lake giving
beauty and fertility TO its neghborhood.
No. it is a grand col. or chasm. in which
the accumulated waters OF the plain dis
appear, there TO stagnate and encrusf It's
edges with deep layers OF salt. unless they
can wear a passage through their adaman-
tine chains, or find a subterraneous pas
sage through the limestone mountains. and
come 10 light again i'm "A lower valley. II is
impossible for pen or pencil 10 adequately
describe the singularly interesting though
repeling, features of this wild country.
Age. hoary and venerable. f. the predomi-
nant characteristic, looking as If the thun-
ders Of heaven had smitten 1t al the COM
mand of an outraged Creator.
If, now you seek for the jewellers In
this nightmare OF barrenncss. behold them
in yon group OF black tents or the solitary
nOmad mufiied against the searching wind
in sheepskin coat. while his yak and sheep
are browsing about wherever stalk OF
heritage or a weed can be found. Enter one
of these tents and the scene is striking
small fire OF dried dung casts It's feeble
light through the gloom. filling the abode
with smoke and unpleasant Odors. on the
bare earth or on skin mats. disposed about
the fire. are crouching six or eight human
beings. Such was this region OF northeast
ern Thibet in February. although at an
other season IL may have beauty OF its
own. yet there can be- little Of that quiet
pastoral. soothing landscape which We cali
Arcadian.
The Irsi-Ula form the watershed between
the valleys % the Houkou-Oussoa and
Takar-AIak and shelters large number ~
Golok settlements and encampments. the
principal one Of which is "A village Of nfty
or sixty stone huts situated on the slope
Of a Hill few miles east OF Char kuo-Gol
The mountains in this part OF the range
are called Tung2o. by the Goloks. the ex-
act meaning of which IL was impossible 10
ascertain. They are about three thousand
: