45 8 COOKING AT GREAT ELEVATIONS. 



which require to be properly boiled before they become 

 eatable. 



At the Hospice of the great St. Bernard, situated at 

 the top of the pass over the Alps, 8 1 1 1 feet above the 

 level of the sea, for instance, it is stated, on the authority 

 of Murray's handbook for Switzerland, that the conditions 

 for cooking are so much less favourable than on the 

 plains, that " it requires 5 hours to effect that which 

 at a lower elevation may be done in 3 hours."* 



The cold in the Glacial Region of great mountain 

 ranges is of an exceedingly penetrating nature, and in 

 conjunction with the lowered vitality of the system 

 caused by the rarefied atmosphere, which renders every 

 form of active exertion extremely difficult and exhausting, 

 it becomes harder to bear than if experienced at a 

 lower level. The reports of the expedition to Yarkand 

 show that on the great table-lands of Thibet its effects 

 were greatly felt, for it is stated, that 



"Encamped on the plain at 17,300 feet, we experienced 

 great discomfort from the high wind, which begins almost 

 every day to blow from the W. and S.W. about 10 a.m., and 

 increases to a hurricane in the afternoon. Then it gradually 

 subsides, and at midnight the air is calm again. Travellers 

 have not infrequently been killed by this wind, which at 

 times is so cold as to destroy vitality in a very short time. 

 Both men and horses now suffered greatly from the rarity 

 of the air, and some of our men lay down on the plain 

 completely exhausted." f 



This condition of the atmosphere renders respiration 

 so laboured that travellers from the plains find them- 



* Murray's Handbook for Switzerland, 1891, 1 5th Edition, Part ii, 



PP- 5334- 



f Lahore to Yarkand ^ Accoimt of the Expedition, Route and Countries 

 traversed iinder Sir T. Dotiglas Forsyth, by Geo. Henderson, Medical 

 Officer to the Expedition, and Allan O. Hume, F.Z.S., 1873, p. 77. 



