The following days did not bring any event really worth mentioning. We met two rivers (the - upper: Mekong and tributary) that we did mot expect to find so large and 20 high. When fording the second one; with water to the waist, we missed the right place of the ford. 1, being' short; lost my footing and the swift current would have carried me away thad T riot held at that moment the thong of my servant. He was a very, good swimmer and as I can also wim a little, I helped the efforts he made to tale me out; after two or! three roinutes we felt our feet again esting on the ground and) w rapidly teache! the bank viver, We were wet ta the ok yr thick dresses and our foods were Gripping. 'They did not do so long: ery soon thet stiffened, becoming' lard frozen on us. and we locked: Hike two stone iowges wita living face "Generating Inieroal Meat Tibetan hermits those extraordlary mystics who dwell on the snowy summits, know the strange secret of developing the internal heat In their body so that they are able to bear the lowest temperatures: without endangering their health, end to dry on them any piece of cloth just as if it was plac heated stove. For long I tuarned incredulous about the stor-{es I had heard on that matter, but having become really interested in the subject, 1 had succeeded after a long time of rather hard probation in convincing a gomptehen (literaltgvet mat inter on aveatle Meo nes in saitade) to inflate me into that secret. So, although ow-jug to lack of perseverance and practice J was far from being an accomplished adept of that art, vious tests made me confident that Thad nothing to fear from the pres. ery baply we found, not tar from the river, a grotto which was ned as ablative LAR ring he summar. ous tity of dry cowdung remained on {he ground; sw kindled s be Bre; took off my sheepskin coat and gave it to the care of Thobgyal to dry as best he could. Then, leaving him alone s0 that he might ideas, ware howell ood dey Sen eleibensT went on In mi wet indorgareeng and oat in the opan to practice the lessona that already long ago had been taught to me, at the foot of the-everlasting snows, 00 the acoult power of generating titd cal, lia hae later T wont hack to the cave. Busy around a glowing bragier Thobgyal, who had dried himself, cooked for my dinner a kind of soup whose recipe I omit te give here, doubting the: any of patcanders" Sogn sold care' iiiza It bot dor'as Owing to tiredness we had not been able to travel as quickly ax we had expected; ply of food was nearly exhe and of the little thet remained a part had been spoiled when we took an unwanted bath in the Mekong.
tot ce any. proupet of Kapha or begging anything in the solitudes We were crossing, so that we were most yen see Xoneies ante ith she gauge end proviiens, jab wus specially haunted by the remembrance of a bag of ty meat. He spoke about it a hundred times a day, and prompted by the desire that the lama, who garned the coveted dry meat with him, would goon overtake us, he alackoned the pace, proceeding ay a anal, sitting after every mile for a long time as if exhausted. I wadevsteod his ruse, but, aside from Admanitians that had little effect way of infusing Hy was a good, young man, a member of the Iamaiat clergy brought up in counted the number of animals, rec-agnized the size of the men: Yongdon short and Dawa tall. Our friends were there.
Overcome by joy thinking of the dry meat and other good food, Thobgys! proposed to go to meet ur friends and to lead them behind the little hillock where we had decided to camp. It was nearly dark, signating from far was impossible, so T let him go. Half an hour Inter I saw him coming back, carrying dry cow-dung in the flap of his coat. He looked terrified.
"There are spies or enemies after Po? them or after us, I do not know," he said hurriedly in a subdued tone. "Dawa wears his rosary around his neck! When I saw it I threw myself on the ground behind the corner of a bill. They were busy looking fat a load whose ropes had become loose and they did not notice me."
The news was serious. 1 spent the night pondering about the matter, and we started only when the sun had risen, in order to avoid, if we. were seen, the being acquainted party.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.