TIBETAN ATMOSPHERE. 233 



its direct beams, the radiation from the dry stony ground 

 is so great as to make some sort of covering for the face 

 very desirable. And oh ! the merciless, marrow -searching 

 wind that hardly ever ceases blowing on these bare Tibetan 

 steppes, except for a few hours in the morning, and not 

 always even then. How it, combined with hard frost every 

 night, parches and cracks the sun-scorched skin on your 

 face and lips, until speaking becomes painful, to laugh is a 

 torture, and to wash is almost impossible. Day after day 

 the skin peels off your face and hands. There is no escape 

 from this evil in Tibet ; it is the great drawback to a trip 

 there. I generally wore a kind of mask made of thin cloth, 

 extending down just over the nose, with apertures for the 

 eyes, and always kept my face well smeared with a salve 

 composed of bear's grease and spermaceti, which acted like 

 basting to roast-meat, inasmuch as it prevented the skin 

 from being quite frizzled up. Yet, with all its inconveni- 

 ences, the light dry air of Tibet is singularly exhilarating, 

 and notwithstanding the sudden and extreme variations of 

 temperature, highly salubrious. But at this rate we shall 

 be a long time reaching Changchenmo. 



We camped at Lookoong, two miles north of the lake 

 a hamlet consisting of a few wretched little hovels, with 

 about half an acre of irrigated cultivation attached. This 

 was the last sign of any human habitation we should meet 

 with until our return from the inhospitable region we were 

 about to visit. From here two days more took us over the 

 Marsemik la into Changchenmo. The ascent to this pass 

 is so very gradual and easy, and there was so little snow 

 lying even on its gentle northern slope when we crossed, 

 that it was difficult to believe we were 18,600 feet above 

 the sea-level ; but almost all of us, our Tartars included, 

 suffered more or less from headache, and my nose bled 

 slightly. 



The best remedy for the unpleasant effects caused by 

 rarefied air I found to be cold strong tea ; spirits only 



