FROM TONKIN TO INDIA 



man with food to stand by in an exposed, waterless spot would 

 court the loss of both. In this crisis Anio again came to the 

 fore, and volunteered to go back and bring him in ; or, if that 

 were impossible, to get him over the pass into shelter. We gave 

 him godspeed and a supply of food. At the same time one of the 

 Kioutses, a rice bearer, dropped behind shaking with cold and 

 fever. We could not stay in the snow, and went on until we 

 came to the ground where the advanced party had passed the 

 preceding night. We found two of them awaiting us w-ith the 

 news that the old Christian had disappeared the evening before. 

 Seran-Seli had searched long and unremittingly, but without success, 

 and it is to be feared the poor fellow crawled into some hole, where 

 he succumbed to his privations, or fell a prey to wild beasts. A 

 great grief fell upon the whole troop at the loss of a member of 

 our united little family — a feeling rendered more melancholy by 

 our inability to recover and bury his body. In the evening, after 

 mealtime, when the moon was up and the wind blew cold off the 

 snow-fields, the men knelt in a circle round the fire with their 

 faces turned towards Tsekou. Even we were shivering; but the 

 Thibetans, with bare limbs and uncovered heads and their tchaupas 

 thrown open at the chest, recited the litanies for the dead. There 

 was something deeply moving in the sight of such simple mourn- 

 ing, and we joined them with sincere reverence. When we set 

 forward on the next morning, the men out of respect left on the 

 spot the few coverings that had been the old man's. And that 

 was all his monument. 



7th (December). — Joseph and Anio happily rejoined us ; but our 

 concern was transferred to Briffaud and. another, who were in a 

 very weak state. We made a short stage, but it was downhill 

 towards the Dapha, and the sun both warmed and cheered us. 



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