I took my leave and asked the ladies to come to tea with me the next day. The afternoon came and they arrived, when to my horror it flashed across my mind that I had neither cups, nor saucers, nor spoons. I had some tea, but I had no idea in which box it was, and to save my life I could not lay my hands upon it. This caused a frank and delightful remark on the part of Miss Sheldon to Miss Brown. "Does not Mr. Landor remind you of 'that other' eccentric gentleman that came through here last year?" The moment she had uttered the words Miss Sheldon saw what she had said, and we all laughed heartily. "You know, Mr. Landor," put in Miss Brown, "we half foresaw that you would not be provided with these articles of luxury, and we brought our own cups and saucers." The news was a great relief to me. "Well now, let me persuade you to take some delicious chocolate instead of tea." "Very good, we would prefer it. We have not had chocolate for a long time." [Illustration: HOUSE OF A WEALTHY SHOKA] A solid block of chocolate was produced weighing twenty-eight pounds, and Chanden Sing set to chip off bits with a stone--a primitive but effective method. In the meantime the kettle was boiling, while my two visitors made themselves as comfortable as was possible under the circumstances on pack-saddle cases. The tea party went off well, for the ladies, evidently suspecting the "eccentricity" of their host, had come provided not only with cups and saucers, but with spoons, cake, bread, butter, and biscuits! [4] N.B.--Anglo-Indians very rarely condescend to shake hands with the natives. CHAPTER IX Discouraging reports--A steep ascent--How I came to deserve the name of "monkey"--Hard at work--Promoted in rank--Collapse in a gale of wind--Time and labour lost. THE weather again became rainy and cold. The reports that I received of the state of the roads farther up were not encouraging. "The track is impassable," said an old Shoka who had just arrived from Garbyang. "The Lippu Pass by which you wish to enter Tibet is still closed, and there is much snow on it still. Then the Jong Pen of Taklakot in Tibet, having been left unpunished for his last years' attack on Lieutenant Gaussen, has now a strong guard of three hundred men to prevent foreigners entering the country. The _Dakus_ (brigands) infesting the region of the Mansarowar Lake seem to be more numerous this year than ever." I shall come in for a lively time, I thought to myself. My next camp was at Shankula, 7450 feet above the sea level. It was reached by going over a delightfully cool track, not unlike a shady path through a picturesque park, among tall cedars of Lebanon, beeches and maples, with here and there a stream or spring of water, and hundreds of black-faced, white-bearded monkeys playing and leaping from tree to tree.