M. and halted for the night on
the confines of the desert-plain at Pitok. On the road I succeeded --
much to my astonishment -- in getting a necklace of bits of amber,
and a turquoise, from an old lady, whom I found at her cottage-door
weaving goat's-hair cloth. She took two rupees for the family jewels,
and, when the bargain was struck, seemed in a desperate fright at
what she had done, looking about in every direction to see that no
avaricious old Lama was near, nor any of her gossiping acquaintance,
who would be likely to tell THE MINISTER of what she had done.
For the first time during our travels, the retainers turned a little
rusty to-day. The scarcity of the tobacco supply and dislike to quit
the amusements of city life were the chief causes, and the consequence
was that the cook, who was sent off at two o'clock to have dinner
ready for us on arrival, made his appearance about sunset and gave us
dinner at nine P.M. The Q.M.G. and the Sipahee sauntered in afterwards
at their leisure, having left the coolies and ourselves to pitch the
camp how and where we liked.
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