rints and speculating on their origin.
Their excitement and fear were strange to watch. Some surmised that the
man must be a _Daku_, a brigand, and that in the evening we should be
attacked by the whole band; others maintained that the spy could only be
a Sepoy sent by the Gyanema officers to watch our movements. In any case,
this incident was held to be an evil omen, and during our march in a N.W.
direction along the bank of the river we continually saw the trail. The
wildest speculations and imaginations were rife. To the left of us we
passed the valleys leading south to the Neway Pass; then a second to the
Kats, 230 deg. (b.m.). The bearings were taken from the mouth of the river
descending from it, a tributary of the Darma Yangti.

[Illustration: SPIED]

Six miles from our last camp, at bearings 340 deg., was the Luway Pass.

We were travelling on flat or slightly undulating barren ground. We waded
across another cold river with water up to our waists, and my men became
so exhausted that one mile farther we had to halt at 16,650 feet.

The cold was intense, and again we had no fuel of any kind. A furious
wind was blowing, with snow falling heavily in the evening. My carriers,
half starved, ate a little _satoo_, a kind of oatmeal, but Chanden Sing,
a Rajiput, could not, without breaking his caste, eat his food without
undressing. It was two days since he had had his last meal, but rather
than infringe the rules of his religion, or take off his clothes in such
frigid regions, he preferred to curl up in his blanket and go to sleep
fasting.

The doctor left the warmth and comfort of blankets to go and talk with
the men, and get their views about weather prospects and the chances of
our route. I preferred the comfort of such warmth as I could get in our
tent, where the temperature was 28 deg. Fahr., or four degrees below
freezing. The snow was lying a foot deep, and it was still falling
heavily. The carriers were all attempting to sleep, huddled as close as
possible to each other for warmth; they refused to move, saying they
would rather die, and we found it convenient to believe them, and get
what warmth and sleep we could under blankets in the tent.

Two or three hours later the weather cleared. The coolies, half starved,
came to complain that they were again unable to find fuel to cook their
food, and that they would leave me. The position of affairs was critical.
I immediately took my telescope and clambered to