A SUMMER IN HIGH ASIA 



freshly fallen snow would have rendered this 

 inadvisable, so I had to content myself by moving 

 my camp some three miles farther on, to a spot 

 just below the snow-line. My followers at this 

 height began to feel the effects of the rarefied 

 air, and complained of severe pain, more es- 

 pecially in the head and back ; Babu Lai and I 

 found that we had not got complete control over 

 our legs, as before described. There is a theory 

 that would seem well worth discussion by those 

 learned in such matters, and which was propounded 

 to me over and over again by the natives of 

 Baltistan, that the sickness and giddiness which is 

 often experienced at altitudes considerably lower 

 than the high passes where perhaps no incon- 

 venience is felt by the same individual, is caused 

 by some aromatic plant or plants. 



Authorities such as Drew, in his " Northern 

 Barrier of India," Chapter XIX., discussing this 

 theory says : " Of course, an easy answer to this 

 hypothesis is that the effect is greatest at those 

 heights whence all these plants, and even all 

 vegetation, are absent." Whilst, on the other 

 hand, General Macintyre, in " Hindu-Koh," says : 

 " Although this idea is generally ridiculed by 

 Europeans, it is so universally entertained through- 

 out the Himalayas by the hill-men as to make 

 one almost think that there must be some found- 

 ation for it." Personally, I am inclined to think 



that perhaps the explanation lies midway between 



92 



