178 AN AWKWARD PREDICAMENT. 



my feet, on which I was wearing straw poolas} on a smooth 

 birch branch that lay hidden beneath the snow, when my 

 legs seemed suddenly to fly from under me, and away I 

 went slithering down the steep slope. Fortunately I did 

 not go very far; but when I picked myself up, which I did 

 with the assistance of my two men, who ran down after me, 

 I felt uncommonly sore all over, and there was a painful, 

 partially numbed sensation about my left shoulder and arm 

 that made me feel rather faint. On recovering from the 

 shock, I soon became aware, from the position of my arm 

 and my inability to move it, of the disagreeable fact that I 

 had put my shoulder out. 



Here was an awkward predicament to be in. I was 

 sitting on a hillside, as steep as a house-roof, with a dislo- 

 cated shoulder, and no surgical aid within at least four 

 days' journey. Bad as matters seemed, I could not but 

 be amused at the ludicrous picture of helpless concern pre- 

 sented by my two companions, more particularly by old 

 Gamoo, who could do nothing but call on the name of 

 the Prophet for help. Hatha was the first to regain his 

 wits, he having acquired, more fortunately for me than for 

 him, some knowledge of an accident of the kind by a 

 similar one having formerly happened to himself ; and from 

 its occasional recurrence, which is, I now know by experi- 

 ence, often the case with dislocations, he had become rather 

 expert in its treatment. Being fully alive to the necessity 

 for immediate action, I directed the men to haul away at 

 my arm, which they did for some time, with no better 

 result than to make me feel very faint. This treatment 

 having failed, with some difficulty I stood up on the steep 

 slope, whilst Hatha made a lever of my arm, with Gamoo's 

 shoulder under it for a fulcrum. My own weight on one 



^ Hob-nailed boots I found safer, on the steep slippery slopes of dry grass so 

 common in markhor ground, than poolas^ which on those dangerous slopes 

 become very dry, and consequently are apt to slide ; so it is as well to be 

 provided with both. 



