bout six or seven in
the morning, Mansing's feet were untied, but not his hands. I was left in
the same uncomfortable and painful posture. The hours passed very slowly
and wearily. My legs, my arms and hands had gradually become quite
lifeless, and after the first six or seven hours that I had been
stretched on the rack, I felt no more actual pain. The numbness crept
along every limb of my body, until I had now the peculiar sensation of
possessing a living head on a dead body.

It is indeed remarkable how one's brain keeps alive and working well
under such circumstances, apparently unaffected by the temporary
mortification of the remainder of the system.

The day now dawning was one full of strange incidents. When the sun was
high in the sky, the Pombo, with a great number of Lamas, rode down from
the monastery, though the distance was very short. He went to his tent,
and presently my cases of scientific instruments were brought outside and
opened, the soldiers and Lamas displaying an amusing mixture of curiosity
and caution over everything they touched. I had to explain the use of
each instrument, a difficult matter indeed, considering their ignorance
and my limited knowledge of Tibetan, which did not allow of my delivering
scientific addresses. The sextant was looked upon with great suspicion,
and even more so the hypsometrical apparatus, with its thermometers in
brass tubes, which they took to be some sort of firearm, Then came a lot
of undeveloped photographic plates, box after box of which they opened in
broad daylight, destroying in a few moments all the valuable negatives
that I had taken since leaving Mansarowar. The Pombo, more observant than
the others, noticed that the plates turned a yellowish colour on being
exposed to the light.

"Why is that?" asked he.

"It is a sign that you will suffer for what you are doing to me."

The Pombo flung away the plate, and was much upset. He ordered a hole to
be dug in the ground some way off, and the plates to be instantly buried.
The soldiers, however, who had been entrusted with the order, seemed loth
to touch the plates, and they had to be reprimanded and beaten by the
Lamas before they would obey. At last, with their feet, they shoved the
boxes of negatives to a spot some distance off, where, in dog fashion,
they dug a deep hole with their hands in the muddy ground; and there,
alas! my work of several weeks was covered for ever with earth.

Now came my paint-box