against his senseless body. Apart from his life, his loss would have
been a serious matter to me, as he carried my bedding and photographic
cameras.

Sleet and rain commenced to fall. 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. We were sheltered from the
piercing wind, which had been driving the sleet hard into our faces. We
slowly covered some three more miles. During that time the storm passed
away, leaving the atmosphere beautifully clear. When we reached the pass
(over 17,000 feet high) 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 I at
first believed something had gone wrong with my vision, but my
companions saw the same phenomenon. More curious still was the illusion
of the stars nearer the horizon disappearing and reappearing 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 the latter were, especially at certain moments, so rapid
that the star itself, instead of having its normal appearance, formed a
continuous streak of light on the deep-blue background of the sky. This
strange optical illusion, which began soon after the storm had cleared
away, lasted some time. Gradually the oscillations became less violent,
and stars and planets eventually resumed their normal steadiness,
shining with great brilliancy and beauty.

We crossed the pass, and halted directly on the northern side of it.
My followers suffered intense pain. Their feet were in a terrible
condition. The minimum temperature was 12 deg. Fahrenheit. We did not
pitch our tent, and when we went to sleep there was only a blanket
between us and heaven. When we woke in the morning we found the
thermometer had risen to 30 deg. We were enveloped in thick mist,
which chilled us to the marrow of our bones. I had icicles hanging
from my mustache, eyelashes, and hair. My cheeks and nose were
covered with a thin layer of ice, caused by the b