Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 261 (Color Image)

0261	Among the Celestials : vol.1

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CHAP. Ix.] A RISKY PROCEEDING. 219

this seemed to me an utter impossibility. The

guides thought so too, and I decided upon

sending the ponies round by the Karakoram

Pass, 18o miles to the eastward, to Leh, and

going on myself over the Mustagh Pass with a

couple of men. This would have been a risky

proceeding, for if we did not find our way over

the pass we should have scarcely enough pro-

visions with us to last us till we could return to

an inhabited place again. Supplies altogether

were running short, and the longer we took in

reaching the pass, the harder we should fare if

we did not succeed in getting over. But while

I was deciding upon sending the ponies back,

the caravan men were making a gallant attempt

to lead them up the glacier. I rejoined them,

and we all helped the ponies along as well as

we could ; hauling at them in front, pushing at

them behind, and sometimes unloading and our-

selves carrying the loads up the stone-covered

mounds of ice. But it was terribly hard and

trying work for the animals. They could get

no proper foothold, and as they kept climbing

up the sides of a mound they would scratch

away the thin layer of stones on the surface,

and then, coming on to the pure ice immediately

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