what a great comfort it was to possess a pair of warm socks! The last
basin we crossed was at an elevation of 15,400 feet. We made our camp
there. The thermometer registered a minimum temperature of 24 deg.,
whereas the maximum temperature that day was 51 deg. Fahrenheit.

One of the main drawbacks of travelling at great elevations was the want
of fuel. There was not a tree, not a shrub, to be seen near our camp.
Nature wore her most desolate and barren look. Failing wood, my men
dispersed to collect and bring in the dry dung of yaks, ponies, and
sheep to serve as fuel. Kindling this was no easy matter. Box after box
of matches was quickly used, and our collective lung-power severely
drawn upon in blowing the unwilling sparks into a flame a few inches
high. Upon this meagre fire we attempted to cook our food and boil our
water (a trying process at great elevations). The cuisine that night was
not of the usual excellence. We had to eat everything half-cooked, or,
to be accurate, practically uncooked. The night was a bitterly cold
one, and snow was falling heavily. When we rose in the morning snow was
two feet deep around us. The glare was painful to our eyes. I mustered
my men. Mansing was missing. He had not arrived the previous night, and
there was no sign of the man I had sent in search of him. I was anxious
not only for the man, but for the load he carried--a load of flour,
salt, pepper, and five pounds of butter. I feared that the poor leper
had been washed away in one of the dangerous streams. He must, at any
rate, be suffering terribly from the cold, with no shelter and no fire.

It was long after sunrise when, with the aid of my telescope, I
discovered the rescued man and rescuer coming toward us. They arrived in
camp an hour or so later. Mansing had been found sound asleep, several
miles back, lying flat by the side of the empty butter-pot. He had eaten
all the butter. When we discovered this every one in camp was angry. The
natives valued fat and butter as helping to keep them warm when going
over those cold passes. With much trouble I rescued Mansing from the
clutches of my other men, who wanted to punish the poor leper severely.
In order that this might not happen again, I ordered Mansing to carry a
heavy load of photographic plates and instruments, which I thought would
not prove quite so appetizing.

While we were camping a flock of some six hundred sheep appeared, and
with them some Tibetans. As I had pit