de barren
valley, a river which is afterwards called the Darma Yankti or Lumpiya
Yankti. In the distance, a flat plateau, rising some eight hundred feet
above the river, and resembling a gigantic embankment of a railway line,
could be seen extending for many miles; and far away to the north, a
chain of high blue mountains capped with snow, undoubtedly the Kangri
chain with the Kelas peaks.

[Illustration: THE LUMPIYA GLACIER AND PASS]

A painful incident had unfortunately happened to one of my followers:
poor Rubso, a Christian convert, had fallen exhausted from cold and
fatigue. He had been seized with cramp, and was lying in a semi-conscious
state, his teeth chattering and his features distorted and livid; his
eyes were sunken and lifeless, and he showed signs of complete collapse.
We hastily carried him under the shelter of a rock and rubbed him
vigorously, in the hope of restoring his circulation. After more than
half an hour of the greatest anxiety and exertion, to our intense relief
he partially recovered, and was able to proceed slowly with our help.

Having climbed the wrong path, we now had to descend to the pass, six
hundred feet lower. We made our way along dangerous rocks and _debris_. I
was just clinging with my half-frozen fingers to a prominent rock,
striving to get on the other side, when screams of distress from below
struck my ears. Notwithstanding the unsafe position I was in, I could not
help turning my head to see what had happened. On the steep incline of
snow two coolies with their respective loads were sliding, at incredible
speed. They eventually reached the basin, where the angle of the descent
being suddenly altered, it caused them to revolve several times on their
own axes, the different bags, &c., forming their loads, flying about and
being scattered in every direction. I gave a sigh of relief when I saw
the men getting up. One coolie picked up one after the other the goods
that had been entrusted to him, tied them together, got them on his back,
and began the difficult ascent a second time. The other was crying and
moaning, so that we could plainly hear him from our elevation. He seemed
giddy. After a moment or two he staggered, fell back and lay as if dead.
Hastening over the slippery rocks, and then down precipitously on the
loose _debris_, I gained the pass, 18,150 feet. Two reluctant men were
immediately despatched to the relief of the coolie in distress. They
first carried his load u