A Record Of Buddhistic Kingdoms - Diary Of A Pedestrian In Cashmere And Thibet By William Henry Knight




























































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SEPTEMBER 4.  -  Awoke this morning to find the encampment, and its
vicinity, covered with snow, and every prospect of a - Page 91
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SEPTEMBER 4.

- Awoke this morning to find the encampment, and its vicinity, covered with snow, and every prospect of a snow-stormy march before us.

The coolies and servants were in a deplorable state of frozen discomfort, but all kept up their spirits by laughing at each other's woes. Just as the sun appeared above the mountains for a few minutes only, we got under weigh; the tent, however, took some time to disencumber of its load of frozen snow, and to pack, and all the baggage required excavating previous to becoming capable of removal.

The path up to the great glacier above us was wild and barren, it lay over a little plain watered by branching streams, and covered over with ice and newly fallen snow. Crossing one of these streams, I flushed a solitary woodcock, the only inhabitant of the wild, and shortly afterwards, our guide, an uncouth bundle of sheep-skins, slipped over a frozen stone, and came down in the freezing water with a splash, which, at that hour of the morning, made one shudder all over involuntarily. The snow-shoes which F. and myself had donned, alone saved us several times from a similar, uncomfortable fate. Our path, properly speaking, should have led over the very centre of the glacier; but, in consequence of the numerous crevasses and the early appearance of the new snow, our guide steadily refused to take us over the pass by that route. To have taken it without a guide would have been simply impossible; so we diverged to one side, and, after a sharp ascent of two hours over the snow, reached a sort of upper basin among the very mountain-tops. Here the scene which opened on us was wild beyond description. We were now about 18,000 feet above the sea, and in every direction around us snow hemmed in our view. Under our feet was a plain of pure white snow; the mountain-tops were snowy HILLOCKS, standing white against the leaden sky; and from above the fleecy snow-flakes fell around us thickly as we trudged along. The ground was most treacherous, and required great care m traversing, and in one place, being ahead of the guide, the snow and ice suddenly gave way beneath me, and with a most unpleasant sensation of uncertainty as to where I might be going, I found myself standing up to my waist in snow and to my knees in freezing water.

The guide, almost at the same moment, came to the same end, and it was not without much floundering and blundering that we both extricated ourselves from our difficulties. Shortly after this we crossed the highest point of the pass, and here the guide said his prayers to the presiding "peer," or divinity of the place, previous to asking for bukshish; after which he and the sepoy proceeded to smoke a pipe of peace and tranquillity together. The most trying part of our day's work we found to be waiting for breakfast, the coolies being much retarded both by the road and the state of the weather.

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