d been very cold, the thermometer dropping as low as
32-1/2 deg. We did not pitch our little tent, as we wanted to be ready
in case of attack. We were tired and cold after the long march of the
previous day. There was a south-westerly breeze blowing. It was hard
work to have to cross the river, chase the yaks and bring them back to
camp; then, exhausted as we were, to get the loads on them.

We followed the stream on the right bank. It wound in and out between
barren hills, afterward flowing through a grassy valley three-quarters
of a mile wide and a mile and a half long. It then went through a narrow
passage and farther through an undulating grassy valley two miles wide.
We were caught in a terrific thunder-storm, with hail and rain. This was
an annoying experience. We were now before a large tributary of the
Brahmaputra. The stream was so swollen, rapid, and deep that I was much
puzzled as to how I could take my men across. They could not swim, and
the water was so cold that a plunge in it would give a severe shock.
There was no time to be lost. The river was visibly rising, and as the
storm was getting worse, difficulties would increase every moment. We
took off our clothes and fastened them, with our rifles, etc., on the
pack-saddles of the yaks, which we sent into the water. These animals
were good swimmers. The current carried them more than a hundred yards
down-stream, but to our satisfaction they scrambled out of the water on
to the opposite bank. Notwithstanding the faith that Chanden Sing and
Mansing had in my swimming, they really thought their last hour had come
when I took each by the hand and led them into the stream. We had hardly
gone twelve yards, with water up to our necks, when the inevitable took
place. We were all three swept away. Chanden Sing and Mansing, in their
panic, clung tight to my arms and dragged me under water. I swam my
hardest with my legs. We came to the surface several times and then sank
again, owing to the dead weight of my helpless companions. At last,
after a desperate struggle, the current washed us on the opposite bank,
where we hastily scrambled out of the treacherous river. We were some
two hundred yards down-stream from the spot at which we had entered the
river, and such was the quantity of muddy water we had swallowed that we
all three became sick. This left us much exhausted. As the storm showed
no signs of abating, we encamped, at an elevation of 16,320 feet, there
and th