Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VII.—Frozen Fast
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
84 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
On the 2nd December the sky was covered with thick
clouds, as heavy as a pall, but never a snowflake came
from them. In the evening, however, the sun gleamed
like a ball of golden fire from underneath their dark canopy.
The entire expanse of the atmosphere was as if filled with
inflammable gas which had caught fire ; and the reed-
thickets were flooded with purple. The lower borders of
the firmament were stained with various shades of intense
violet, and the outspread arms of the poplars seen against
them at once arrested attention. But the magnificent
spectacle lasted only a few minutes. Dusk came, and
gathered everything into its pitiless, iron-grey embrace,
and the reeds, which had lately stood in serried ranks
like life-guards on parade, became converted into mere dry
flagged stalks.
When it grew so dark that we could no longer see, I
gave the order to stop. On this occasion there was no dry
wood to be found for firing. But the men, not to be beaten,
set fire to the inconceivably dense reeds which clung to
the shore. The dry stalks crackled and whistled, and burst
like bamboos ; the wild, reddish-yellow glare spread across
the dark water, and lit up with an intense illumination
the thousands upon thousands of disks of drift-ice which
were dancing restlessly past.
At Karaul I met another old acquaintance, my honest,
faithful servant, Parpi Bai, who had accompanied me in
1896. When he came on board, and saw me and Islam
Bai, his old comrade, the tears started to his eyes ; he
looked remarkably well; with his grey-sprinkled beard,
dressed in a dark-blue chapan (long coat) and cap, edged
with fur. After he had told me all that had happened to
him since we last parted, I engaged him again at a fixed
salary.
On the 7th December the natives came to tell me that
we were getting quite close to the place where the river was
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
