there was an
uncomfortable feeling as if the eyelashes were being torn off, for the
slit of the eye became fast frozen directly the lids were closed.

At last the morning came! The night had seemed endless. When I tried to
raise the blanket in order to sit up, it seemed of an extraordinary
weight and stiffness. No wonder! It was frozen hard, and as rigid as
cardboard, covered over with a foot of snow. The thermometer during the
night had gone down to 24 deg.. I called my men. They were hard to wake, and
they, too, were buried in snow.

"_Uta, uta, uta!_" ("Get up, get up, get up!") I called, shaking one by
one, and brushing off as much snow as I could.

"_Baroff bahut!_" ("There is much snow!") remarked one as he put his nose
outside his blanket, and rubbed his eyes, smarting from the white glare
around us. "Salaam, sahib," added he, as, having overcome his first
surprise, he perceived me, and he waved his hand gracefully up to his
forehead.

The others behaved in a similar manner. Kachi was, as usual, the last one
to wake.

"O, Kachi," I shouted, "get up!"

"_O, bahiyoh!_" ("O, father!") yawned he, stretching his arms. Half
asleep, half awake, he looked round as if in a trance, muttering
incoherent words.

"Good morning, sir. Oh, much snow. Oh look, sir, two kiangs there! What
is 'kiang' in English?"

"Wild horse."

"'Wild' you spell w-i-l-d?"

"Yes."

Here the note-book was produced from under his pillow, and the word
registered in it.

Odd creatures these Shokas! The average European, half-starved and
frozen, would hardly give much thought to exact spelling.

Poor Mansing the leper suffered terribly. He groaned through the whole
night. I had given him one of my wrappers, but his circulation seemed
suspended. His face was grey and cadaverous, with deep lines drawn by
suffering, and his feet were so frozen that for some time he could not
stand.

Again the Shokas would eat nothing, for snow was still falling. We
started towards the N.E. After a mile of flat we began a steep descent
over unpleasant loose _debris_ and sharp rocks. The progress was rapid,
but very painful. Scouring the country below with my telescope, I
perceived shrubs and lichens far down in the valley to the N.E. and also
a tent and some sheep. This was unfortunate, for we had to alter our
course in order not to be seen. We again climbed up to the top of the
plateau and rounded unperceived the mountain summit, striking a more
Easter