Dangers begin in Earnest.
After leaving the sandy beach of the Brahmapuṭra behind, about a
quarter of a mile’s trudging brought me to the outer edge of another
expanse of undulating plain, the elevations here and there assuming
the height of hills. Following the upper course of the river to the
north-west, I saw the titanic heights of the Himālayas, rising one
above another. Here I had to pasture my sheep, and, while taking a rest
myself, I drank deep and full of the grandeur of the scenery. The sight
here obtainable of the mighty peaks covered with glittering snow from
the top to the bottom was sublime in the extreme, incomparably more so
than what one sees from Darjeeling or Nepāl. As for the Brahmapuṭra,
it looked like a shining streamer hung out from the bosom of a great
mountain, and waving down and across an immense plain, till the eyes
could follow it no more. The sight gave me an _uta_:
The distant clouds about the snowy range
Pour forth the mighty Brahmaputra stream,
That darts into the farthest skies which meet
The far horizon of the distant lands.
The river in its pride majestic seems
The waving standard of the Buddha, named
Vairochana, all Nature’s Brilliant Lord.
Like all the others of my production, this may not be worth the name of
_uta_. Call it a silly conceit of imagination, if you like; but when
I made these lines, I was feeling so jubilant that I could not help
giving vent to my emotion; for, conceit or no conceit, the imagination
would have been impossible to me, had I not succeeded in penetrating
into the untrodden wilderness of Tibet.
The sheep had now finished grazing, and dividing the burden of my
luggage among the three--myself and the two sheep--I started making
easy progress onward. I found the country around full of pools of
water, varying in size all the way from a hundred yards to a mile or so
in circumference, and I gave it the name of Chi-ike-ga Hara--Plain of
a thousand Ponds. About four o’clock in the afternoon I finished the
day’s journey by encamping near a good-sized pond. I then went about
to collect the usual fuel, but found none, except the dung of the wild
horse, and I concluded that the neighborhood was never visited even by
yaks. The night was extremely cold, so much so that I could not sleep
at all, and the following is an _uta_ that occurred to me in the midst
of shivering:
On these high plateaux here no sound is heard
Of man or beast, no crickets sing their tunes,
The moon above, and I, her friend, below.
The following day I made about twelve miles before noon, over a country
much the same in topography. Proceeding north-west in the afternoon, I
came to the base of a huge mountain of snow, which I could not think
of crossing. For a while I went into meditation, and then wended my
way in a direction which fortunately proved to be the right one for my
purpose, as I found out afterwards. Right in the direction, but all
wrong in other respects, as what I have to tell will show.
As I pushed onwards, I soon came upon a region which was quite the
opposite of the country I had traversed in its entire absence of
water supply; neither a pool nor a brook was to be seen within the
eye’s range. I continued my progress until about seven o’clock in the
evening--I had walked about twenty-seven miles, all told, that day--but
not a drop of water could I find, and I felt as withered up as could
be. As for my sheep, there was some green grass growing for them to
graze on. I had no tea--in fact could not have any--that evening
before I went to sleep. It is wonderful how one gets accustomed even to
hardships; I slept well that night.
[Illustration: NEARLY DYING OF THIRST.]
Before sunrise the next morning, on resuming my journey, I thought
I espied a stream of water coursing through a sandy country at a
distance which I judged to be about seven miles in the direction of
my progress. Not having had a drop of water, or anything whatever in
liquid form, since the afternoon of the previous day, I was of course
thirsty; but now I had prospect at least of obtaining some quenching
draught, and allaying the thirst with a pinch of _hotan_, now and
then, I made good headway. On reaching the supposed river, what was
my disappointment and dismay! Instead of a stream of water, I found
there the dry bed of a river, strewn with white pebbles glittering in
the sun! Then I could not help imagining myself to be a mere shadow,
wandering in mad quest of a soothing draught in the hot region of the
nether world, where all water turned into fire when brought to the
mouth. Once more I stood me unto my full length, and looked round for
water; but none could be seen, nothing but some blades of grass growing
here and there to the height of about five or six inches. I could do
nothing but endure the thirst, and wend my way on in the direction I
had chosen--north-west. After proceeding for some distance, I once more
thought that I perceived a body of water in the midst of another desert
of sand, but on coming to the spot the glittering specks of sand once
more disillusioned me only to intensify my thirst.