INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. xvii 



it is only an instance of Hue's exceeding ignorance of 

 nature, with all his cleverness. The passage is so curious 

 in this light as to be worth quotation. At the foot of the 

 mountain he says : — 



' The whole caravan halted awhile, as if to question its 

 own strength, . . A subtle and light gas was anxiously in- 

 dicated, which they called pestilential vapour, and all the 

 world seemed to be downcast and discouraged. After 

 having taken the prophylactics which tradition enjoins, and 

 which consist in munching two or three cloves of garlick, at 

 last we began to clamber up the flanks of the mountain. 

 Soon the horses refused to carry their riders ; we began to 

 go afoot with short steps ; insensibly all faces grew pale ; 

 the action of the heart was felt to be waning ; the legs would 

 no longer do their duty ; presently we lay down, got up, 

 and made a few steps in advance, then lay down again ; 

 and in this deplorable fashion it was that the famous 

 Burkhan Bota was crossed.' 



All this is a vigorous description of the occasional 

 effects of rarefied atmosphere on a person using bodily 

 exertion. The very phrase used, les vapeiirs pcstilentielles, 

 is a translation of the term Bisk ka hawa, or ' poison-air,' 

 by which the pains of attenuated atmosphere are indicated 

 on the Indian side of the Himalya. Even the cloves of 

 garlick, mentioned by Hue, are the ancient Asiatic antidote 

 used in such circumstances. Benedict Goes, in describing 

 the passage of Pamir, speaks of the custom of using garlick, 

 leeks, and dried fruits as ' an antidote to the cold,' which 

 was so severe that animals could scarcely breathe it. Faiz 

 Bakhsh and the Mirza both mention the use of dried fruits ; 

 and Mr. Matthew Arnold refers to a variety of the same, I 

 have no doubt with good authority.^ 



^ ' But as a troop of pedlars, from Cabool, 

 Cross underneath the Indian Caucasus, 

 That vast sky-neighbouring mountain of milk-snow ; 

 Winding so high, that, as they mount, they pass 

 Long flocks of travelling birds dead on the snow, 

 Chok'd by the air, and scarce can they themselves 

 VOL. L a 



