by clinging on to a large block of ice close by. On returning across the lake I also went through twice, but as I thought the ice would be stronger by the next morning, I hurried after the rest of the party, whom I had ordered to stop at a certain point, and then brought back my own kit, some supplies, grain for the ponies, and a pony-load of wood to a spot as near to the lake as ponies could go, while I sent the Gurkhas back to Suget Jangal.
My intention was to try and reach the supposed pass with three men carrying loads. I at first meant to go without a tent, but as it was still snowing hard, and a bitter wind blowing, while in the night the thermometer had fallen to six degrees, and at the head of the glacier would probably be below zero, I decided upon taking the small servants' tent which I was using on this detached expedition. We carried the poles as alpenstocks, leaving the pegs behind, as we could use stones instead, so that the whole weight of the tent was not more than twenty pounds ; and all four could sleep in it at night. The weather was anything but cheering, and the snow very trying, especially for the men, who had to do the cooking in the open. I, fortunately, brought only hill-men well accustomed to this work. I knew well what it would be, and would on no account bring a plain-servant or even a Kashmiri with me. The packs arrived covered thick with snow, and neither my men nor myself had a single dry pair of boots ; nor could we dry our clothes, for we could only afford a very small fire, which was not sufficient to dry anything faster than the falling snow wetted it again. The floor of my tent was snow, under that a few inches of gravel, and then two or three hundred feet of ice. However, a good comfortable sheepskin coat helps one to defy a lot of discomfort. Each of the men had also a good sheepskin coat, with which I provided them at Shahidula, so we were pretty cheery in spite of the snow and cold.
September 27 was a fine sunny morning. We started off
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