falling, and I am quite unable to account for these glistening particles. The Kirghiz informed me that it usually occurred after a fall of snow, and was a presage of great cold hereafter. The thermometer indeed went rapidly down, and at six o'clock in the evening was five degrees below zero (Fahrenheit) ; but then a wind sprang up, which immediately brought the thermometer up to zero, and during the night it never fell below that, though the thermometer of one's senses would have registered it very much below zero.
There was now only one more pass to explore, and I hastened back to get round the Mintaka Pass, for I was beginning to fear that I might perhaps be prevented by the snow from getting across the range into Hunza. Marching down to Akal Jan's camp, I had the good fortune to see a herd of Ovis poli in the distance ; I managed to get fairly close to them, but not near enough for a shot, and by the time I had reached a rock from behind which I had hoped to bag one, I found they had disappeared right up the mountain-side, and were only just distinguishable through a telescope, looking down disdainfully at me from the top of the highest crag. This stalk after the Ovis poli showed me how much my strength had been reduced lately, from being so long at great elevations ; and, moreover, owing to my having had no proper cook, my appetite had also gradually fallen away, and I had become too weak for any great exertions. But, fortunately, the Tagh-dum-bash Pamir is so easy that one can ride everywhere.
On November 4 I rejoined the Gurkha escort at Karachukur, where they had remained while I was exploring the Khunjerab Pass. They had now been halted for ten days, and were glad enough to get on the move again.
On the following day we marched up the Karachukur to Mintaka Aksai, where the stream from the Mintaka Pass joins the Karachukur, which flows from the Wakhujrui Pass, leading over to Wakhan. A road also leads from the valley of the
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