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2i8 ADVENTURES IiN TIBET.
seething snow-clouds. The wind howled, and roared, and
moaned, and whistled as it came pouring like a cataract
over the steep summit of the pass.
The descent on the north was precipitous. Kutchuk, who
piloted the way, disappeared at once into the welter of the
snow, just as though he had lost his footing and tumbled
headlong into the seething abyss. The rest of us followed
after him, each in turn treading blindly in his footsteps.
Our guide took the descent in endless zigzags ; at every
ten paces or so we had to stop and turn round to prevent
our faces from freezing. Everybody was on foot, so as to
lend a helping hand to support the camels. One of them
stumbled and fell, and half rolled over, causing a delay.
And we were httle better, for we slipped and slid down,
down through the snow into the depths beneath. Every-
thing danced and spun round before our eyes, and we
literally gasped for breath. Before we reached the bottom
of the valley it was pitch dark, and we were forced to
encamp on the first passably level spot we came to, all
amongst the snow—in fact, there was nothing else but
stones and snow all around us.
We still had hard days before us. It is true we were
descending ; but the storms came at regular intervals,
generally just after we had started the day’s march. At
length we caught a distant glimpse of the salt lake of
Kum-kol, but somehow it seemed to fly before us. We
marched all day, hoping to reach it ; it grew dusk, it grew
dark ; then the moon came out and shed her pale autumnal
light over the chilly solitudes. Niaz dropped behind with
a failing horse, Kutchuk lingered with another. Water,
water ! we must have water somehow that evening.
Where we were then (14,000 feet) there was no snow, and
all the rivulets were dry. At length, however, Turdu Bai
came to a running brook, and there we stopped.
Before us rose a fresh mountain-range. This, after a
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