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26 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
porary smithy among the bushes, and there the sparks
flew to right and to left as the men forged the iron clamps
to hold the planks together. Little caravans kept arriving
one after another, bringing planks and beams, and what
other timber we needed. Meanwhile, relays of sightseers
succeeded one another incessantly all day long. They
generally brought with them fruit, bread, rice, eggs, sheep
—presents for us, which we always paid for. At length,
however, their generosity grew too expensive. We were
supplied with more stores than we could consume for a
long time to come, so I had to get up and formally announce
that, grateful though we were for their kindness, we could
not receive any more presents.
When duly finished and upholstered, my ferry-boat
looked something like this : in the fore-part she was pro-
vided with a deck, on which the tent was erected. Amid-
ships was a square cabin, made of thin planking, and covered
with double black felts. On the after-deck we piled up the
greater part of our provisions, and there, too, my native
servants had their quarters. During the long days we were
drifting down the river those of the men who were not
immediately engaged in navigating our craft used to sit
round a little fire-place of brick, whereon they cooked
their breakfast, and where in the late autumn and winter,
when the cold began to nip, a huge fire was kept constantly
blazing.
The black cabin served as my laboratory ; it was there
I developed photographic plates. Round the walls ran
tables and shelves, covered with all sorts of bottles, jars,
boxes, and various other things. On the floor lay several
wooden trays filled with water, and on the roof stood a big
tub, from which water was conducted by a rubber tube into
a samovar, or urn, under the tap of which I washed my
plates. In the walls of my cabin I had three glass windows
fixed, in case the cold in autumn should drive me indoors.
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