l height and base. To the South were high
peaks with great quantities of snow upon them. This valley was at an
elevation of 17,450 feet, and the cold was intense.

[Illustration: TORRENTIAL RAIN]

At night the rain came down in bucketsful, and our _tente d'abri_ gave us
but little shelter. We were lying inside in water, and all the trenches
in the world could not have kept it from streaming in. In fact, it is
no exaggeration to say that the whole valley was a sheet of water from
one to several inches deep. Of course, we suffered intensely from cold,
the thermometer dropping to 26 deg. at 8 P.M., when a South-East wind blew
furiously; and the rain fell mixed with sleet for a time, and was
followed by a heavy snowstorm. We lay crouched up on the top of our
baggage, so as not to sleep on the frozen water, and when we woke in the
morning our tent had half collapsed owing to the weight of snow upon it.
During the day the temperature went up and rain fell afresh, so that when
we resumed our marching, we sank into a mixture of mud, snow and water
several inches deep. We had to cross three rivers, and to skirt five
lakes of various sizes, following a course of 83 deg. 45'.

Seven miles of this dreary marching saw us encamped (17,380 feet) by the
foot of a conical hill 17,500 feet, where an almost identical repetition
of the previous night's experience took place. The thermometer was down
to 32 deg., but fortunately the wind subsided at eight in the evening. As
luck would have it, the sun came out the following day, and we were able
to spread out all our things to dry, during which process we had yet
another novel experience.

[Illustration: HEAD OF BRIGAND]

Our two yaks had disappeared. I climbed up to the summit of the hill
above camp, and with my telescope scoured the plain. The two animals were
some distance off being led away by ten or twelve men on horseback, who
drove in front of them a flock of about five hundred sheep. By their
clothing I recognised the strangers to be robbers. Naturally I started
post haste to recover my property, leaving Chanden Sing and Mansing in
charge of our camp. I caught them up as they marched slowly, though, when
they perceived me, they hastened on, trying to get away. I shouted three
times to them to stop, but they paid no heed to my words, so that I
unslung my rifle and would have shot at them had the threat alone not
been sufficient to make them reflect. They halted, and when I got nea