24 CHINESE TURKESTAN 



a bad pass, being over an immense glacier which 

 fills the valley from side to side. The ice is a good 

 deal broken up in places, and the going bad, but we 

 rode yaks over, and they being to the manner born, 

 of course made short work of it. It blew and 

 snowed, as is said to be its almost invariable custom 

 here, and was unpleasantly cold after the heat of the 

 Nubra Valley. In the morning we were both rather 

 bad with mountain sickness, but got better soon 

 after starting. The mystery to me about moun- 

 tain sickness is that sometimes one gets it at 15,000 

 feet, while at another time 18,000 feet or more 

 produces no ill effect. I have travelled on higher 

 ground than this road without feeling it, but this 

 time I was more or less seedy all the way to Shah- 

 dula. Men born and bred high up in the hills seem 

 to suffer from it just as much as we do. There is no 

 cure ; but it is as well to keep well wrapped up and 

 warm, and I have no doubt that the less meat one 

 eats the better. Lying down makes it worse. It is 

 unpleasant to be sick, but the headache is the worst 

 part. 



Frorrj Brangza there are two roads which meet 

 near the Karakoram. One follows up the Shyok 

 river, and is called the Yepsang route, but the water 

 being rather high it was doubtful if we could get up 

 this way, so we decided to go by the Dipsang way, 

 on which there are no serious water troubles, though 

 it is a day longer, and there are two baddish hills 



