138 Historical 



I suffered greatly at night from headache and from a sort of 

 drowsiness, such as occurs in drunkenness. I have never felt such 

 evident proof of the existence of an agency dangerous to the principles 

 of animal life, and although I suffered much more in the pass of 

 Boorendo, in 1818, the illness did not last day after day, as it did here. 

 All my servants were also affected, some by nausea, others by head- 

 ache; they were not all equally affected, but we could judge that that 

 was only a matter of chance; we should merely say that the natural 

 conditions of energy and action are not always the same .... 



The extremes of the barometer here were from 17.055 inches to 

 17.160 inches; those of the thermometer from 41.5°F. to 53°; which 

 gives the pass of Shadool an elevation of 15,500 feet. (P. 326.) 



Captain Al. Gerard, moreover, has left us in a special chapter 

 of a posthumous work, 218 a summary of the data which he observed 

 in his numerous excursions: 



On lofty mountains, a depression of spirits and a weakness of 

 body, accompanied by cruel headaches, fullness in the brain, oppres- 

 sion of the chest, difficulty in breathing, with pain in the ears from 

 time to time, affect everyone more or less. All these symptoms result 

 from the rarefaction of the air, and of this I have had numerous 

 proofs, having visited thirty-seven places at different times, between 

 14,000 and 19,400 feet, and thirteen times my camp was pitched 

 above 15,000 feet. It should be noted that the people of Koonawur 

 and the Tartars estimate the altitude of the passes by the difficulty 

 in breathing which they experience when they make the ascents of 

 them. 



However it should be noted that the difficulty in breathing does 

 not affect everyone equally or at the same time; it certainly depends 

 largely on the state of health. When I was not well, I suffered 

 from headache at 13,000 feet, whereas in good health I felt no effects 

 at 16,000 feet. At Boorendo (15,000 feet) I was very cold, and expe- 

 rienced, even when resting, a greater suffocation than ever happened 

 to me at 19,000 feet, while I was walking. 



Any fatigue, but especially the ascent of hills, increases these 

 symptoms: from 17,000 to 19,000 feet, the headaches are constant, 

 and no one can take more than a half-dozen steps without resting. 



When one camps above 16,000 feet (4875 meters), the difficulty 

 in breathing is really terrible, and often for whole hours I thought 

 I was going to suffocate. 



Persons who have not made such journeys can hardly imagine 

 how much time it takes to cover a distance of twelve or fourteen 

 miles in lofty places. I have gone thirty-four miles on foot in lands 

 which would be called mountainous by those who do not know the 

 difficult parts of Koonawur, with more ease and in less time than I 

 could walk twelve miles in these lofty regions. An ascent of 5000 or 

 6000 feet is not rare, and when the elevation is more than 14,000 

 feet, every mile, even when the road is good, requires at least twice 

 as much time as at the height of 7000 to 8000 feet. The prostration 

 of mind and body experienced on lofty mountains affects everyone 



