Michel Peissel has explored Tibet for over forty years, coming to know both its fiercely independent nomadic peoples and its natural wonders. In 1994, seizing the rarest of opportunities, he made this expedition deep into areas of Tibet forbidden to almost all other foreigners, and discovered the source of the Mekong river in the ice-strewn fields on the 'roof of the world'. Known to the Chinese as 'the last barbarians', the peoples of Tibet are among the last in the world to retain a 'Stone Age' memory. This book brings together the author's unparalleled first-hand knowledge of both the Tibetan people, their culture and troubled history, and the astonishing natural beauty of a spectacular country. Having charted the source of the Mekong, Peissel made history a second time by finding a living fossil, the Riwoche horse, a species unknown to contemporary zoology that may prove to be a missing link in equine evolution. Travel writing of the best kind, the engrossing story of two historic discoveries, and a unique first-hand perspective on a fascinating country and its peoples.