I will refer you to one of the coloured plates, copied from a photograph taken at an altitude of some 20,000 feet on Lumpa by one of my men before we left them on the mountain side. The picture shows the author and the four men who accompanied him to the summit of the mountain.
A. Henry Savage Landor and the Four Men who accompanied him on his Ascent to 23,490 feet above Sea-Level
This picture is from a photograph taken at an altitude of some 20,000 feet.
[[91]]
CHAPTER IX
We must go back a while in the narrative. On having reached the summit and delivered themselves of the instruments, cameras, etc., which they carried, the men immediately threw themselves down and fell fast asleep, breathing heavily and quite exhausted. I let them rest awhile before taking observations upon them. When I woke them up one by one they did not respond very quickly,—as they usually did,—but seemed to remain for some minutes semi-unconscious, as if they had been under the influence of a narcotic. This was undoubtedly caused by the rarefied air.
On the ascent above 20,000 feet I had noticed how profuse the salivation had been with my men; the saliva glands being most active when the men underwent exertion, but not so much now that they were stationary. Curiously enough, one of the four men who suffered least during the ascent and when [[92]]up there on the summit was a fellow—a Rajiput by caste—who had never been on a snow mountain in his life. His determined enthusiasm, I think, and strong will helped him to no mean extent.
