SIKHIM AND BHUTAN
doubt Durkey, who was a clever scoundrel, had impressed the very stupid Tibetan officials in Lhasa, but it was extraordinary they should believe that a man of his character, which they knew, would be accepted by us as their representative. Durkey held a minor post under the Tibetans in Yatung, and on my visits I had invariably refused to receive him, and our Government ought never to have allowed him to remain there.
From Giaogong I moved camp to Gyamtso-na, a lake about four miles up the valley. It was a very exposed and cold camp, but no better or more sheltered place was to be found. From this camp I surveyed the boundary from Chomiomo, working east. It was bitterly cold work for the native surveyors who had to take theodolite readings at elevations up to 20,000 feet. All the work had to be done by day, and during the day, and all day, the wind blew a small gale, it never stopped for a moment till the sun went down, and then mercifully we nearly always had quiet nights, but only to have the same howling wind next day. It commenced as early as eight o’clock and was never later than ten-thirty. It was a veritable curse, and I was often glad to lie down in some hollow or to crouch behind stones so as to be out of it even for a few minutes.
Murray stayed in camp with his escort, but Iggulden always came with me and we had some fine rides over the wind-swept heights. There was not much game to be seen, but we generally managed to get a Tibetan antelope or a brace of Tibetan sand-grouse, and occasionally we came across a solitary male kyang. They are pretty creatures, but shy when not in herds, and they generally made oh in a bee line for the plains in Tibet across the border.
On one of our rides we were lucky enough to come across some fine male ovis ammon. Iggulden saw them first up a side valley, so we divided, he going up one ravine and I up another. I had crawled most carefully for quite 1½ miles, seeing no signs of them, and was crouching behind
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