ords.

They stood at a respectable distance, studying our faces and watching
our movements with apparent interest. I have hardly ever seen such
cowardice as among these big, hulking fellows. To a European it scarcely
seemed conceivable. The mere raising of one's eyes was sufficient to
make a man dash away frightened. With the exception of the chief, who
pretended to be unafraid, notwithstanding that he was trembling with
fear, they one and all showed ridiculous nervousness when I approached
them to examine the ornaments they wore round their necks, such as the
charm-boxes that dangled prominently on their chests. The larger of
these charm-boxes contained an image of Buddha, the others were mere
empty brass or silver cases.

When night came I did not consider it safe to encamp near the Tibetans.
We moved away, driving our yaks before us and dragging the newly
purchased sheep. We marched two and a half miles, and then halted in a
depression (16,050 feet), where we had a little shelter from the wind,
which blew with great force. To our right was a short range of fairly
high mountains stretching from north to south. Through a gorge flowed a
large stream. At that time of the evening we could not hope to cross it,
but an attempt might be made in the morning, when the cold of the night
would have checked the melting of the snows, and therefore lowered the
level of the water in the river. Heavy showers had fallen during the
day. The moment the sun went down there was a regular downpour. We had
pitched our little shelter-tent, but we had to clear out of it a couple
of hours later, the small basin in which we had pitched it having turned
into a regular pond. There was no alternative for us but to come out
into the open. Where the water did not flood us the wind was so high and
the ground so moist that it was not possible to keep our tent up. The
pegs would not hold. The hours of the night seemed long as we sat
tightly wrapped in our waterproofs, with feet, hands, and ears almost
frozen. At dawn there were no signs of the storm abating. We had not
been able to light a fire in the evening, nor could we light one now.
We were cold, hungry, and miserable. The thermometer had been down to
36 deg. Toward noon, the rain still pouring down in torrents and there
being no sign of its clearing, we loaded our yaks and entered the gorge
between the snow-covered mountains. With difficulty we crossed the
tributary we had so far followed, and t