ATD 754 possible model for the Colonel's horse.

[Glenn Scheper]

Cf. ATD 754 "When he wished to make a public impression,
he road a splendid gray Orloff, which besides towering over
most other horses in the strees, had an inclination to the
adventuresome, which the Colonel suspected was only bad judgement
but was taken usually by the locals here for bravery":

Gyalpo, my horse, must not be forgotten--indeed, he cannot be, for he left the 
marks of his heels or teeth on every one. He was a beautiful creature, 
Badakshani bred, of Arab blood, a silver-grey, as light as a greyhound and as 
strong as a cart-horse. He was higher in the scale of intellect than any horse 
of my acquaintance. His cleverness at times suggested reasoning power, and his 
mischievousness a sense of humour. He walked five miles an hour, jumped like a 
deer, climbed like a yak, was strong and steady in perilous fords, tireless, 
hardy, hungry, frolicked along ledges of precipices and over crevassed glaciers, 
was absolutely fearless, and his slender legs and the use he made of them were 
the marvel of all. He was an enigma to the end. He was quite untamable, rejected 
all dainties with indignation, swung his heels into people's faces when they 
went near him, ran at them with his teeth, seized unwary passers-by by their 
kamar bands, and shook them as a dog shakes a rat, would let no one go near him 
but Mando, for whom he formed at first sight a most singular attachment, but 
kicked and struck with his forefeet, his eyes all the time dancing with fun, so 
that one could never decide whether his ceaseless pranks were play or vice. He 
was always tethered in front of my tent with a rope twenty feet long, which left 
him practically free; he was as good as a watchdog, and his antics and 
enigmatical savagery were the life and terror of the camp.
  -- http://www.fullbooks.com/Among-the-Tibetans.html
  Among the Tibetans by Isabella L. Bird (Mrs Bishop) - Full Text Free Book

At a height of 15,000 feet, in the midst of general desolation, grew, in the 
shelter of rocks, poppies (Mecanopsis aculeata), blue as the Tibetan skies, 
their centres filled with a cluster of golden-yellow stamens,- -a most charming 
sight. Ten or twelve of these exquisite blossoms grow on one stalk, and stalk, 
leaf, and seed-vessels are guarded by very stiff thorns.
  -- http://www.fullbooks.com/Among-the-Tibetans.html
  Among the Tibetans by Isabella L. Bird (Mrs Bishop) - Full Text Free Book

Entering by red gates of rock into a region of gigantic mountains, and following 
up a crystal torrent, the valley narrowing to a gorge, and the gorge to a chasm 
guarded by nearly perpendicular needles of rock flaming in the westering sun, we 
forded the river at the chasm's throat, and camped on a velvety green lawn just 
large enough for a few tents, absolutely walled in by abrupt mountains 18,000 
and 19,000 feet in height. Long after the twilight settled down on us, the 
pinnacles above glowed in warm sunshine,
  -- http://www.fullbooks.com/Among-the-Tibetans.html
  Among the Tibetans by Isabella L. Bird (Mrs Bishop) - Full Text Free Book

I seem to be stuck in a time warp near ATD's great Tibetan Gate.

Yours truly,
Glenn Scheper
http://home.earthlink.net/~glenn_scheper/
glenn_scheper + at + earthlink.net
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