camp to the altitude reached and back
was over ten miles; therefore, during the twenty-four hours I had
altogether gone eighteen miles (quite a record at such great altitudes).
I may here also remark that, since breakfast at six o'clock the previous
morning, I had taken no food of any kind, thus making an interval of
twenty-three hours between one meal and the next. The anxiety of my men
in camp was intense. They had lost all hope of seeing us again, and they
were quite reassured when I told them that we would proceed later in the
morning by the Lumpiya Pass, which was believed to be far easier.

In no time they had lighted a fire of dung, and after having had (at five
o'clock in the morning) a handsome feed of rice, _chapatis_, extract of
meat, and strengthening emergency food, we felt we were entitled to a
well-deserved rest.

CHAPTER XXV

The sources of the Kuti River--The Lumpiya glacier--The summit of
the range--Bird's-eye view of Tibet--Rubso frozen almost to
death--The Lumpiya Pass--Two coolies in distress.

AT 9 A.M. we were ready again to start. The thermometer registered 40 deg.
inside the tent, and the minimum temperature outside during the night had
been 14 deg.. We followed the Kuti River at the foot of the mountain range,
travelling in a direction of 298 deg. (b.m). On rounding a prominent
headland, where the Kuti River flows through a narrow passage, we saw
facing us on a mound, fourteen stone pillars and pyramids with white
stones on them and the customary flying prayers of cloth. It is from this
point that the ascent to the Lumpiya Pass begins.

[Illustration: ASCENDING THE LUMPIYA PASS]

There are two sources of the Kuti Yangti, joining in a large basin; one
comes from two extensive glaciers to the S.W., the other from a glacier
directly under the Lumpiya Pass. The river at the junction of the two
sources is not more than six yards across. Our route gradually ascended,
going N.W. first, then swinging away to N.E. until we attained an
elevation of 17,350 feet on a flat basin covered with deep snow. So far
we had proceeded with no very great trouble or fatigue, but matters
suddenly altered for the worse. Each coolie in the long silent row at the
head of which I marched, sank in the snow up to his knees, often up to
his waist. They formed, undoubtedly, a picturesque sight in this lonely
region, the only bit of life in the picture, the white frozen sheet of
snow throwing into