Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/195

nine times to Lhassa with caravans, came to us. After a long consultation and the usual tea-drinking, we hired the services of this old man at the cheap rate of seven lans per month, with food and a riding camel provided by us. We further promised him a present if he discharged his duties zealously; and the next day we started for Tibet with the intention of advancing through that unknown country to the upper waters of the Blue River.^[1]

1. i.e. of the Yangtse-Kiang. I do not know whence the name Blue River, commonly used by French authors, and here by a Russian, has been taken. — Y.