286 FIRST STEPS IN TIBET 



everything was hushed, and the silent darkness felt 

 oppressive. The path next day led us over tremendous 

 moraines, that seerned to have jammed together on their 

 meeting from all points of the compass. In the Nagdim 

 valley, farther on, we toiled up another enormous moraine, 

 and descended into a level valley down its almost perpen- 

 dicular side, covered with treacherous snow. Several of 

 the coolies slid down, load and all ; one lost his balance, 

 and had a bad fall : then we came to a level valley, sloppy 

 and boggy from recently melted snow. There was not a dry 

 inch of ground — and this was the halting-place for break- 

 fast. More hard walking brought us to a great amphi- 

 theatre of snow, encircled with jagged peaks, and in the 

 centre of the very broken sky-line the Gugerang l^ass was 

 pointed out — a slight depression flanked by two castle- 

 like crags. An immense field of snow stretched away to 

 the south, surrounded by lofty snowy mountains ; the scene 

 was desolate, but very grand. We went up along the snow till 

 we came to the foot of the pass, and thence had a very stiff 

 but short ascent to the crags above — a hundred yards 

 more, and we passed between jagged rocks into Tibet, 

 with a roaring wind at our backs. It was terribly sharp 

 and cutting, and it made me literally run before it till I got 

 under the turn of a hillside. We saw three dead sheep 

 on this descent. When we reached Pechang camp, which 

 we did at 5.30, one coolie was thoroughly done up, and 

 gave in ; they had been very severely tried. Pechang is 

 a cold place : no wood, bare rocks, water, and snow, and an 

 awful wind for ever blowing. The coolie who gave out 

 coming up the pass was a Balti, who had been complaining 

 of pains in his interior. I discovered in the evening that, 

 owing to the scarcity of fuel at Arsamang, the Balti coolies 

 could not cook their food ; so they mixed the flour with 

 water, making a mass of dough. Then the party sat round. 



