e they failed to discover him.
The faithful Chanden Sing and the Shoka Dola were then despatched, as I
would not abandon the poor wretch if by any means he could be saved.
After another hour of anxiety, the two returned, bringing the unfortunate
coolie with them. The poor fellow's hands and feet were badly cut, and
the pain in the latter was so great that he could not stand erect. He had
fallen fainting from exhaustion, and it was by a mere stroke of luck that
in the darkness Chanden Sing stumbled against his senseless body. Apart
from his life, his loss would have been a very serious matter for me, as
he carried my bedding and photographic cameras.

Sleet and rain commenced to fall, and the cold was intense. We continued
to climb steadily, Chanden Sing and I helping the poor leper along. The
march soon became less difficult, as we were following a depression
formed by the action of melting snows, and were sheltered from the
piercing wind which had been hitherto driving the sleet hard into our
faces. We slowly covered some three miles more, and during that time the
storm passed away, leaving the atmosphere beautifully clear. When we
reached the pass (over 17,000 feet), a curious optical phenomenon
astonished us all. The larger stars and planets, of a dazzling brilliancy
such as I had never in my life seen before, seemed to swing to and fro in
the sky with rapid and sudden jerks, describing short arcs of a circle,
and returning each time to their normal position. The effect was so
weird, that the first thing that struck me was that something had gone
wrong with my vision, but my companions saw the same phenomenon: another
curious thing was that the stars nearer the horizon disappeared and
reappeared behind the mountain range. The oscillations of the heavenly
bodies nearer the horizon were less rapid, but the angle of the arc
described measured almost double that traced by the stars directly above
our heads. The oscillations of these, however, were very much more rapid,
especially at certain moments, when the star itself could no more be
discerned, and a continuous line of light appeared on the deep blue
background of the sky. This strange optical illusion, which began soon
after the storm had entirely cleared away, lasted some time; then the
vibrations gradually became less violent, and stars and planets
eventually resumed their normal steadiness, and shone with great
brilliancy and beauty. We crossed the pass, and halted