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238 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
would be caught as in a rat-trap. The beast that was
most difficult to get through was the camel that carried
the fuel. He hterally stuck fast in the middle of the gap,
and in making a desperate effort to force his way through,
his load of wood fell off with a crash, bringing down with
it two or three big slices of clay. I can tell you it made
me feel decidedly queer when I saw the entire caravan
disappear in a thick cloud of rising dust.
However, we pushed on further, stopping incessantly,
now to chop away projecting corners, now to break down
masses of clay that impeded our advance. Again the
caravan stopped. Downcast and ashamed Tokta Akhun
came to tell me that the glen was blocked and we could
advance no farther. He had always hitherto distinguished
himself by his safe and reliable reports, but this time he
had led us into a veritable rat-trap. Gigantic masses of
earth had fallen down from the mountains, a thousand feet
or more high, and choked the gorge. Underneath the
material of this landslip some torrent had tunnelled a path
after rain, and over this hollow crust we might advance if
we liked, provided it did not fall in under the weight of our
camels.
Before venturing to take such a risky step, I went on
farther and reconnoitred myself. Before I had gone very
far, the gorge contracted to a mere rift not more than two
feet broad, though it was between 40 and 50 feet deep. It
descended, moreover, at a precipitous angle and terminated
in a dark subterranean tunnel, the outlet of some ancient
river. It was a place a cat could hardly see to find its
way through, let alone a camel.
There was no longer any room for doubt : we must return
by the same intricate and difficult path by which we had
come, and try to cross the range in another place. And
at the next attempt we did succeed ; then, after travelling
for some days through an absolutely sterile and waterless
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