Night was coming on fast, my men were in a pitiable condition from fatigue and cold, and the wind blew the ground-snow—frozen into grains like sand—in regular whirlwinds round us, which pretty well blinded us. I was ahead of my party with two men, struggling up the steep incline, when some of those in the rear shouted that three of my men had remained behind and were missing. They were no longer answering the signals we constantly made in order not to lose one another. This necessitated a long delay and a search being made for them. One of the pictures in this book shows us shouting to them in order to find their whereabouts, but we shouted ourselves hoarse and got no answer. I detailed two of my best men to go back to find them, and provided them with extra blankets, as they would very likely spend [[187]]the night up there and not catch us up till the next day. I also left the mummified guide with them.
We went on and eventually got over the higher and more difficult pass before it got too dark, the wind blowing so hard that we had at times great difficulty in proceeding against it. The descent was most dangerous, the snow was treacherous, and when we got lower down we got among a lot of loose boulders and dangerous sheets of ice, which gave us no end of trouble. We were benighted, and it got so dark that we did not see where we were putting our feet, which, half-frozen as they were, constantly got jammed and knocked and bruised. Some of the rounder boulders frequently rolled under us as we trod on them, and caused us very nasty falls. At each step we unavoidably started a regular landslip of rocks and débris, rolling down the steep mountain side, the fracas of which, with the howling of the wind, made quite a diabolical noise.
The lower we got, the warmer it became, and, of course, the snow lessened and eventually disappeared. We travelled for a long distance along the bed of a river, and, farther on, upon what seemed the ancient bed of a lake, an immense, flat stretch of gravel. [[188]]
Having got among some big boulders, which necessitated a lot of fatiguing work on all fours, one of my men, in trying to help me to get down a big rock, slipped, and dragged me with him, a jump of some 15 feet. As I fell on my back, I was considerably shaken, while my man injured his arm rather badly.
A little later, having reached the camping ground of Dongan, we halted and pitched our tents at four o’clock in the morning. It was not till late in the day that the missing men and those sent to their relief arrived in a pitiable condition. They had been compelled to abandon two loads. One man was badly frost-bitten, another taken with such violent cramps and pains in his inside that I had grave fears for his recovery. He had to be carried, which involved a terrible tax on my other men, who were all much worn and footsore.
Our march the previous day had been over twenty-two miles. Dongan was only 14,100 feet above sea-level, and we felt comparatively comfortable and warm. We had three high peaks to 80°, 100°, 125° b.m., and to the north-west was the Lippu Lekh, 16,780 feet.
Over a Pass in a Coming Storm
I revisited the source of the Ganges, a pretty [[189]]little spot where a limpid spring gurgles out from under a big boulder, and forms a crystal-like pool adorned with chokdens. This water is deliciously cool, and very nearly caused the death of three of my Hindoo men. They drank copiously while soaked in perspiration, and washed themselves prior to eating their food. They were seized with a colic accompanied by high fever, and they groaned in their contortions upon the ground. We applied massage freely and violent rubbing, which, with an additional quick cure of my own, is very successful on such occasions; and eventually—after some hours—they were able to continue, although still suffering.
Partly owing to the strain being over, partly owing to the intense sufferings of the previous day, and the excessive eating to celebrate the temporary end of our troubles, three more men were taken very ill on our way up the Kuti valley, and I had to send them down into Garbyang.