LACHALANG PASS 159 



night across this grassless tract, taking a good rest and a 

 good feed at either end. The sheep are too thin and 

 tongh to make mutton, and the shepherds always take 

 with them a few goats for food. The sheep are merely 

 beasts of burden, and as such are indispensable to the 

 people, for no other animal would suit them so well. 

 Death does not close their career of utility — their skins 

 are made into garments, and their carcases feed the watch- 

 dogs. For every two sheep shorn at Patsio one rupee is 

 given for the wool ; then there is the load they carry — 

 altogether a very profitable business, I should say. Two 

 journeys are made during the open season ; but sometimes 

 great loss is suffered by snowstorms in the Tsarap valley. 

 It is said that on one occasion 3000 sheep were lost in 

 one storm. 



The ascent from Siimdo camp to the Lachalang crest 

 did not take long. My breath came very short as I went 

 up. The rarity of the atmosphere was making itself felt. 

 On the Baralacha, which is 16,060 feet above sea level, 

 I did not experience any inconvenience at all, though of 

 course I had to halt more frequently than usual to recover 

 breath. On the Lachalang, which is 16,630 feet high, or 

 570 feet higher than the last pass, the feeling that I 

 could not inhale sufficient air at each breath was very 

 present with me. I am not subject to any of the other 

 symptoms which attack people at high elevations, such as 

 nausea and headache, though I have spent several days, 

 at various times, at elevations of eighteen and nineteen 

 thousand feet. We left Siimdo at six, and reached Pang 

 camp at 3.15 p.m.; the distance could not be less than 

 eighteen miles a gradual descent all the way after cross- 

 ing the pass. The snow on the north side of the pass was 

 much more frequent than on the Siimdo side. At one 

 point in the valley, the mountain side on the left has 



