e wind began to blow with a violence which grew
constantly more and more intense. The opposite sides of the mountain we
found so encumbered with snow, that the animals were up to their girths
in it; they could only advance by a series of convulsive efforts, which
threw several of them into gulfs from which it was impossible to
extricate them, and where they accordingly perished. We marched in the
very teeth of a wind so strong and so icy, that it absolutely at times
choked our respiration, and despite our thick furs, made us tremble lest
we should be killed with the cold. In order to avoid the whirlwinds of
snow which the wind perpetually dashed in our faces, we adopted the
example of some of our fellow travellers, who bestrode their horses'
backs with their faces to the tail, leaving the animals to follow the
guidance of their instinct. When we reached the foot of the mountain,
and could use our eyes, we found that more than one face had been frozen
in the descent. Poor M. Gabet, among the rest, had to deplore the
temporary decease of his nose and ears. Everybody's skin was more or
less chapped and cut.

The caravan halted at the foot of Mount Chuga, and each member of it
sought refuge for awhile in the labyrinths of a number of adjacent
defiles. Exhausted with hunger, and our limbs thoroughly benumbed, what
we wanted to bring us to, was a good fire, a good supper, and a good
well-warmed bed; but the Chuga is far from possessing the comfortable
features of the Alps; no Buddhist monks have as yet bethought themselves
of taking up their abode there for the solace and salvation of poor
travellers. We were, consequently, fain to set up our tent amid the
snow, and then to go in search of what argols we could burn. It was a
spectacle worthy of all pity to see that multitude, wandering about in
all directions, and rummaging up the snow, in the hope of lighting upon
some charming thick bed of argols. For ourselves, after long and
laborious research, we managed to collect just enough of the article to
melt three great lumps of ice, which we extracted by aid of a hatchet,
from an adjacent pond. Our fire not being strong enough to boil the
kettle, we had to content ourselves with infusing our tsamba in some
tepid water, and gulping it down in order to prevent its freezing in our
hands. Such was all the supper we had after our frightful day's journey.
We then rolled ourselves up in our goat-skins and blankets, and,
cro