An Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet - Prajna Quest

332 T I R E T.but in which, to their utter astonishment, the skater won the race.But, however the recollection of this feat might lessen the admirationof some, the majority of our party had never seen this mode of movingupon the ice before; and most certainly Mr. Saunders and myselfenjoyed the distinction of having been the first of our nation, that eversignalized themselves by skating in Tibet, or, perhaps, in the wholecircuit of the globe, in the parallel of twenty-seven and twenty-eightdegrees of northern latitude.We thought it sufficiently early, on Wednesday, the 3d of December,to commence travelling at nine o'clock. The air was still keen,and it had frozen hard during the night. Our road inclined to thewest, and here branched off from that, which led immediately toBengal.We had proceeded but a short distance, when we entered anarrow defile, passing through which, we found bare and lofty hills,without a single tree, or even any vestige of vegetation visible uponthem. In some divisions among these hills, were seen fulls of «ater,or torrents, arrested by the frost,and converted into fixed columiiS ofsolid ice, of various forms and size, immoveably stationed till the returnof spring.A small stream of water had flowed between thesehills, immediately by the road side; but that also was fixed, I wasinformed, until they should experience warmer weather.We continued to advance through this narrow valley, until wecame to the foot of the hill, upon the summit of which was situatedTerpaling, ten miles from Tsondeu : we then turned short to ourright. The road was of steep ascent, and it was about noon when weentered the g ites of the monastery, which not long since had becu