continually. The yaks carried me and my instruments easily enough to the long ridge which crowns the hill and is seen in the foreground of the view reproduced on p. 89 ; but it was only after a long wait, made trying by the cold wind which passed through all my thick clothing, that the clouds lifted sufficiently to permit of satisfactory work. Then glacier after glacier emerged from the great white wall to the north and east formed by a succession of ice-crowned peaks, the worthy rivals of Murtagh=Ata ; the deep valley of the Ekkibel-su, which drains Murtagh-Ata from the north, also lifted its veil, and by 3 p.m. the tiring work on the wind-swept height was rewarded by a complete round of accurately fixed views which, I could hope, would prove a useful supplement and check to the plane-table work. That in the midst of the operation the tangent scale of the photo-theodolite broke, and had to be replaced with what primitive tools I managed to procure about my person, was an incident taxing what little I possess of mechanical skill. It was no surprise that my benumbed fingers, while replacing the scale, broke one of the cross-hairs of the camera. But this mishap was repaired too, thanks to the ample supply of delicate threads of hair which Mrs. W.'s kindness had provided in Gilgit.
It was bitterly cold by the time I descended, and all the
more grateful I felt for the shelter of my little tent. Its
warmth was increased by the use of a small " Stormont-Murphy Arctic Stove," burning cakes of compressed fuel, with which I had provided myself from the Military Equipment Co., London. Thus comfortably ensconced within my tent-walls of 8 feet square, it was a pleasure to work away till midnight at a mail that was to carry my news to distant friends.
On the 17th of July I awoke to a gloriously clear morning. Without a speck of cloud or mist the gigantic mass of Murtagh-Ata towered above my camp. I had counted on this chance for my projected visit to its higher slopes. The rain of the previous days had interfered with the Sub-Surveyor's
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