A WEARY TRUDGE. 275 



my camp pitched on the east side of the Kazura la, at 

 an elevation of about 17,500 feet, calculated by boiling. 

 In the grey of the following morning I was very loath to 

 turn out into a temperature of twelve degrees below freezing 

 (and this in the month of August), although my sleep had 

 not been either of the soundest or most comfortable kind, 

 from my being unable to respirate freely in a recumbent 

 position at such a height. The cold, too, was dreadful, as 

 the wind blew through the thin canvas of the little tent, 

 which I had exchanged for my own blanket-lined one with 

 my two Indian domestics, who felt the severity of the 

 climate much more than I did. I must confess, however, 

 that this was not done out of pure philanthropy : there was 

 a certain amount of selfishness in it, as one's own comfort 

 on a trip of this kind so much depends on keeping one's 

 servants in health and good-humour. 



About two hours' slow walking for I was now afoot 

 again, having sent back the pony from the Indus with 

 Changter took us to the top of the pass, on the farther 

 side of which the Karzok men had told us we should find 

 an encampment of Kookshu people, where a guide for the 

 locality could be procured. On and on we trudged over 

 the bare hard ground, under the glaring sun, and against 

 the everlasting cutting wind, for hour after hour, not 

 meeting with a sign of life except a few marmots, and the 

 cheerless relics of a Tartar camp in the shape of smoke- 

 blackened stones and dilapidated " pullas," l all was silent 

 solitude. 



Towards the afternoon we topped another rise, from 

 whence we got a fine view of the Tso Kar lying far away 

 below. Situated in the middle of an extensive barren 



1 A "pulla" is a low wall built of loose stones, which the Tibetans build 

 round the bottom of their tents, or more frequently in the open, as a pro- 

 tection from the wind ; for these hardy nomads seem to care little for any 

 shelter except from the cruel biting blast. We always piled large stones, of 

 which there was never any lack, round our little tents, if only to keep them 

 from being almost blown away. 



