AT NIGHT I LED MY MEN UP THE MOUNTAIN IN A FIERCE SNOW-STORM " 64 BEHIND OUR BULWARKS " 76 THE BANDITS LAID DOWN THEIR ARMS " 102 A NATURAL CASTLE " 136 CAMP WITH GIGANTIC INSCRIPTIONS " 142 TORRENTIAL RAIN " 150 TIBETAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN " 174 PURCHASING PONIES " 192 I WAS A PRISONER " 194 DRAGGED INTO THE SETTLEMENT " 196 CHANDEN SING BEING FLOGGED " 202 THE RIDE ON A SPIKED SADDLE " 218 WE ATTACKED OUR GUARD WITH STONES " 254 CLIFF HABITATIONS " 262 PREFACE This book deals chiefly with the author's adventures during a journey taken in Tibet in 1897, when that country, owing to religious fanaticism, was closed to strangers. For the scientific results of the expedition, for the detailed description of the customs, manners, etc., of the people, the larger work, entitled _In the Forbidden Land_ (Harper & Brothers, publishers), by the same author, should be consulted. During that journey of exploration the author made many important geographical discoveries, among which may be mentioned: (_a_) The discovery of the two principal sources of the Great Brahmaputra River, one of the four largest rivers in the world. (_b_) The ascertaining that a high range of mountains existed north of the Himahlyas, but with no such great elevations as the highest of the Himahlyan range. (_c_) The settlement of the geographical controversy regarding the supposed connection between the Sacred (Mansarowar) and the Devil's (Rakastal) lakes. (_d_) The discovery of the real sources of the Sutlej River. In writing geographical names the author has given the names their true sounds as locally pronounced, and has made no exception even for the poetic word "Himahlya" (the abode of snow), which in English is usually misspelt and distorted into the meaningless Himalaya. All bearings of the compass given in this book are magnetic. Temperature observations were registered with Fahrenheit thermometers. A. H. S. L. AN EXPLORER'S ADVENTURES IN TIBET AN EXPLORER'S ADVENTURES IN TIBET CHAPTER I A FORBIDDEN COUNTRY Tibet was a forbidden land. That is why I went there.