ilver
riband. Our leader informed us that this was the Blue Sea. We urged
on our animals, and the sun had not set when we planted our tent within
a hundred paces of the waters of the great Blue Lake. This immense
reservoir of water seems to merit the title of sea rather than merely
that of lake. To say nothing of its vast extent, its waters are bitter
and salt, like those of the ocean."

After a month spent on the shores of the Blue Lake, an opportunity
offered for the advance. Towards the end of October they found that
an embassy from Lhasa to Pekin was returning in great force. This would
afford Huc and his companion safe travelling from the hordes of
brigands that infested the route through Tibet. The caravan was
immense. There were fifteen hundred oxen, twelve hundred horses, and
as many camels, and about two thousand men. The ambassador was carried
in a litter. Such was the multitude which now started for the thousand
miles across Tibet to Lhasa.

After crossing the great Burkhan Buddha range, the caravan came to
the Shuga Pass, about seventeen thousand feet high, and here their
troubles began.

"When the huge caravan first set itself in motion," says Huc, "the
sky was clear, and a brilliant moon lit up the great carpet of snow
with which the whole country was covered. We were able to attain the
summit by sunrise. Then the sky became thickly overcast with clouds
and the wind began to blow with a violence which became more and more
intense."

Snow fell heavily and several animals perished. They marched in the
teeth of an icy wind which almost choked them, whirlwinds of snow
blinded them, and when they reached the foot of the mountain at last,
M. Gabet found that his nose and ears were frostbitten. As they
proceeded, the cold became more intense. "The demons of snow, wind,
and cold were set loose on the caravan with a fury which seemed to
increase from day to day."

"One cannot imagine a more terrible country," says poor Huc.

Not only were the animals dying from cold and exposure, but men were
beginning to drop out and die. Forty of the party died before the
plateau of Tangla had been crossed, a proceeding which lasted twelve
days. The track, some sixteen thousand feet above the sea, was bordered
by the skeletons of mules and camels, and monstrous eagles followed
the caravan. The scenery was magnificent, line upon line of snow-white
pinnacles stretched southward and westward under a bright sun. The
descent