“I cannot,” he meekly mumbled, as he rubbed aching bruises he had received in the encounter. “But,” he said, “I will follow your movements.”
“Oh, you can follow any movements you like, but mind you do not come too near.”
“Oh, no, no, sahib!” he exclaimed.
The guard, in fact, followed us for some days—and always at a most respectful distance—until we got high up among the snows and glaciers. Then we lost sight of them. Anyhow, I had no further annoyance all through my journey in Nepal, and found the few natives we saw quite attractive, picturesque, and kind.
After leaving the fort we travelled practically south-east over very rough country, my objective [[48]]being to visit and if possible climb one of the Lumpa peaks which towers in a majestic needle above most other mountains in the neighbourhood. Every now and then, when we got to some higher point of vantage, we got a beautiful view of it. My men—to my astonishment—received my plan with enthusiasm, for they seemed to hold the snows in veneration. Little they then knew how much they would have to suffer upon them.
In that portion of North-West Nepal the population is sparse and somewhat mixed. Perhaps the finest and most interesting types I saw were the cross-breeds of Shokas and Nepalese, which seemed to produce most striking heads. One of the coloured drawings representing a typical Nepalese-Shoka young man, with temples shaved and long wavy hair hanging down his back, is, I think, a good example. These men had very fine traits about them, were most hospitable and civil, manly and serious in manner. They were enterprising traders, carrying on a brisk business mainly in borax, salt, wool, and skins, which they generally bartered with Tibetans in exchange for grain, ghur, and other food stuffs.
A Nepalese Shoka
It is rather interesting to note that whereas similar frontier tribes on neighbouring British soil [[49]]are imposed upon, taxed and ill-used by Tibetans, no interference at all is experienced by those living under the protection of the King of Nepal. Possibly this is due to the fact that when Nepalese subjects have been ill-used in Tibet an armed expedition has been sent over the frontier by the Nepalese, and reparation demanded and obtained at once.
Nepalese women are not unattractive, having large brown eyes, made additionally languid by blackening the lower lid, long eyelashes and well-cut features, skin of a well-polished, smooth, light-yellowish brown, and most graceful hands and feet. The better class are generally much decorated with heavy silver necklaces, bracelets, and rings, and with huge nose-rings of gold, brass, or silver. They are handsome while young, but they fade away at an early age, and the smooth skin becomes wrinkled and grooved long before they are thirty. They are said to be most affectionate, and of a somewhat jealous temperament, which they couple with extreme conjugal fidelity.