The zeal of the East India Company was indefatigable. One expedition had no sooner returned than another was started, with different instructions. It was highly important to be thoroughly _au fait_ of the ever-changing Asiatic policy, and to prevent coalition between the various native tribes against the conquerors of the soil. In 1812, a new idea, and a more peaceful one, gave rise to the journey of Moorcroft and Captain Hearsay to Lake Manasarowar, in the province of the Un-des, which is a portion of Little Thibet. This time the object was to bring back a flock of Cashmere goats, whose long silk hair is used in the manufacture of the world-famed shawls. In addition, it was proposed to disprove the assertion of the Hindus that the source of the Ganges is beyond the Himalayas, in Lake Manasarowar. A difficult and perilous task! It was first of all necessary to penetrate into Nepaul, whilst the government of that country made such an attempt very difficult, and thence to enter a region from which the natives of Nepaul are excluded, and with still greater reason the English. The explorers disguised themselves as Hindu pilgrims. Their suite consisted of twenty-five persons, one of whom pledged himself to walk in strides of four feet! This was certainly a rough method of ascertaining the distance traversed! Messrs. Moorcroft and Hearsay passed through Bareilly, and followed Webb's route as far as Djosimath, which place they left on the 26th of May, 1812. They soon had to cross the last chain of the Himalayas, with increasing difficulties, owing to the rarity of the villages, which caused a scarcity of provisions and service, and the bad roads, at so great a height above the level of the sea. Nevertheless they saw Daba, where there is an important lamasery, Gortope, Maisar; and, a quarter of a mile from Tirthapuri, curious hot springs.