have felt heavier. The sensation was especially noticeable in
my head, which felt as if my skull were being screwed inside a vise. The
beating in my temples was almost unbearable. Under ordinary
circumstances I can remain under water for over a minute, but at such
high elevations I could never hold out for longer than fifteen or twenty
seconds. Each time that I emerged from below, gasping for air, my heart
beat alarmingly violently, and my lungs seemed as if about to burst.

I was so exhausted that I did not feel equal to conveying my two men
across. I unloaded the stronger yak, and then, with endless trouble, I
drove him and his mate again into the water. Unhampered, and good
swimmers as they are, the two yaks floated away with the current and
reached the other side. Chanden Sing and Mansing, with their clothes and
mine tied into a bundle over their shoulders, got on the animals, and,
after a somewhat anxious passage, arrived safely on my side. We
encamped. My men mourned all night over the lost property. The next
morning I made fresh and unsuccessful attempts to recover the loads.
Unhappily they contained all my tinned provisions, and what little other
food I had, 800 rupees in silver, the greater part of my ammunition,
changes of clothing, shoes, my hurricane lantern, and sundry knives,
razors, etc.

The only thing we recovered was the wooden pack-saddle, which was washed
ashore some six hundred yards farther down.

Our situation can be summed up in a few words. We were now in the centre
of Tibet, with no food of any kind, no clothes to speak of, and no boots
or shoes, except those we wore, which were falling to pieces. What
little ammunition I had left could not be relied upon, owing to its
having been in water on several occasions. Around us we had nothing but
enemies--insignificant enemies, if you like, yet enemies after all.

I got some comfort in thinking that the water-tight cases with my
scientific instruments, notes, sketches, maps, and a quantity of gold
and silver money were saved. As far as I was concerned, I valued them
more than anything else I possessed.

We went on, hungry, worn out, with our feet lacerated, cheering one
another as best we could. We laughed at our troubles. We laughed at the
Tibetans and their comical ways. We laughed at everything and everybody,
until eventually we laughed at ourselves. But the days seemed long.
Though fasting gives you at first an acute pain in your inside, it d