Mountain Journeys 155 



hages; we never saw blood issue from the lips and the ears; loss of 

 appetite and often nausea; muscular weakness, with a general pros- 

 tration and dejection. All these symptoms disappear almost simul- 

 taneously, in a healthy man, upon return to lower elevations. The 

 effects mentioned are not perceptibly increased by cold, but wind has 

 a very harmful effect on the symptoms experienced. As this was a 

 new phenomenon to us, and as it had not been mentioned by our 

 predecessors, we observed it carefully, and noted circumstances in 

 which fatigue was not a factor. On the plateaux of Karakorum, it 

 frequently happened even to those who were asleep under the tent 

 in rather sheltered places to be awakened during the night by a feeling 

 of oppression which must be attributed to a breeze, even a gentle one. 

 which had arisen during the hours of repose. When we were busy 

 with observations, we took little or no physical exercise, sometimes for 

 thirty-six hours, and our servants even less than we did. And it 

 often happened, in elevations which did not exceed 17,000 feet, that 

 the afternoon or evening wind made us so ill that we lost all taste for 

 food; we did not even think of preparing dinner. In the morning, 

 when the wind was not blowing, appetite generally returned, we were 

 not as ill in the morning as in the evening; this was evidently partly 

 because the strong winds rose usually in the second part of the day. 

 The effects of diminished pressure are considerably aggravated 

 by fatigue. It is surprising how exhausted one becomes; even the act 

 of speaking is a labor, one heeds neither comfort nor danger. Often 

 our servants, even those who had served us as guides, let themselves 

 fall on the snow, declaring that they would rather die at once than 

 take another step. From simple motives of humanity, we were often 

 obliged to intervene in their behalf and tear them by force from the 

 stupor into which they had fallen, whereas we ourselves were hardly 

 in a better condition of energy. (Vol. II, p. 481-485.) 



The observations of more recent travellers agree completely 

 with what we have just reported. We must even note that, since 

 the existence of discomforts on lofty passes is today well known 

 to everyone, travellers often do not speak of them, or merely 

 allude to them in a few words. 



So Captain Godwin-Austen, L:;7 who explored the glaciers of 

 Karakorum, in 1860 made the ascent of Bianchu (16,000 feet) and 

 Gommathaumigo (17,500 feet) without speaking of any symptom. 



In his journey of 1861, he first climbed Boorje-La (15,878 feet) ; 

 his pulse rate was 138, and that of one of his men 104, and he 

 mentions no other symptom (P. 23.) But while he was ascending 

 a peak of 18,342 feet (5590 meters) on August 10 (this is the highest 

 ascent he made) he reports that "many men became ill, had violent 

 headaches, and lay down on the ground." (P. 34.) 



And in addition, in the account - :!S of the long and important 

 journeys made by two young Brahmins, two brothers, whom the 

 English government sent to visit regions in which Europeans can 



