id
not care to leave behind in camp the heavy load of silver rupees (R. 800)
sewn in my coat, which, by the way, I always carried on my person, as
well as my rifle, two compasses (prismatic and luminous), two aneroids,
one half-chronometer, and another watch and some thirty cartridges. The
combined weight of these articles was considerable,[14] and I felt it
especially during the first days of my march. On this particular
afternoon it was almost too much for my strength. However, one gets
accustomed to most things, and after a while I felt comparatively little
discomfort in marching under it. I persisted in thus weighting myself
simply to be on the safe side, so as to be always prepared in case my men
revolted or abandoned me.

[Illustration: THE MANGSHAN GLACIER]

We proceeded up and down the series of hillocks and in and out of the
innumerable channels that the melting snow and ice had, with the aid of
centuries, cut deep into the mass of rolling stones. At the point where
the two ranges met there stood before us the magnificent pale green
ice-terraces of the Mangshan glacier, surmounted by extensive
snow-fields winding their way to the summit of the mountain range. Clouds
enveloped the higher peaks. The clear Alpine ice showed vertical streaks,
especially in the lower part of the glacier, where it was granulated to a
certain extent. The base, the sides and top being covered with a thick
coat of fresh snow, and my time being very limited, I was unable to make
careful investigations to ascertain the recent movement and oscillations
of this glacier. Judging by the nature of the stony tracts we had passed
over, and also by the mounds, similar to those of a terminal moraine,
which increased as we approached the glacier and its snow-covered fringe,
I concluded that the glacier must have retreated considerably. The rocks
and stones, as I have already mentioned, were shiny and slippery, which I
attributed to the friction of the ice, and where the ice had extended
over gravel, this was greatly disturbed, and scarred by innumerable
channels, due, no doubt, to the mighty force of the moving ice besides
the constant action of melting snows during the summer. The slopes of the
mountains on the north showed no indication of having been disturbed, but
the range on the southern side had all the appearance of having been cut
and excavated by the ice. Probably the large basins which I had crossed
on my way from Kuti, and even the las