MY FIRST MISSION TO BHUTAN
us a large flat rock of slate situated between two branches of the Tsango-chhu, at the head of which was a wooden axle, forming a rack. It was carefully explained to us that this was a holy spot on which human corpses, the head and shoulders tied to the axle to keep the body in place, were exposed, to be eaten by lammergeiers and other ravenous birds and beasts of prey. In perfectly solemn and earnest good faith we were told that the birds were fastidious and would not touch low-caste bodies, and that only three families in the valley were entitled to be thus disposed of. The Thimbu excused himself from accompanying me, as the memories connected with this spot were very painful to him, his daughter only a few years before having been laid on the slab. One of our guides lay down on the slab, while another lit a smoky fire, devices which, they said, would be sure to attract the lammergeiers from their eyries; but the deception failed, and no birds appeared. In another respect the little valley was very remarkable, as the glaciers seemed to completely close in the head, and I saw two avalanches and heard several more, caused by the increasing power of the sun’s rays on the snows.
The main glacier was most beautiful, looking like a curious broad staircase of snowy whiteness leading from where we stood heavenwards. There were several fine waterfalls gushing out from holes in the cliffs high above us, and disappearing before they reached the path, the rivulets of water oozing out again from the banks of the main stream showing that the water had resumed a subterranean course. A curious feature about the falls was that as the power of the sun increased, so did the waterfalls visibly increase in size. Our camp that night was a cheery one, and we relieved the time by learning, to the great amusement of the bystanders, to play Bhutanese backgammon, our implements being two wooden dice, a collection of little wooden sticks of varying length, and a handful of beans.
In anxious fear of the unknown pass, the Pheu or
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