MISFORTUNES NEVER COME SINGLE. 249 



rejoined him where he had moved his camp to the foot of 

 the glen I was in. He had killed a fine buck antelope, but 

 unfortunately some wild dogs had been sharing the sport on 

 the same ground with him. It was rather late in the 

 morning when we reforded the Changchenmo river, conse- 

 quently one of the baggage-yaks had a mishap in the rapid 

 water with its load, and my bedding, my shot-cartridges, 

 and other things it was carrying got thoroughly wet. In 

 the evening we were driven nearly distracted by myriads of 

 almost invisible little sand-flies ; and to add to our troubles, 

 a pot of capital soup made of a hare I had shot, which we 

 had been watching the preparation of with hungry eyes, was 

 accidentally upset. 



We had heard so much about the intense cold of this 

 high region, that we were rather surprised at having hitherto 

 suffered almost more from the scorching sun, although the 

 wind was always cutting cold, and there was keen frost 

 every night. We were not, however, to quit it without a 

 taste of what the climate sometimes could be, even in the 

 month of July. Next evening, after a long day's march, 

 varied by grilling-hot sunshine and bitter-cold showers of 

 sleet, we camped about six miles short of the top of the 

 Marsemik, intending to cross it in the early morning. 

 Towards dark, clouds began to gather ominously about the 

 mountain-tops, and when we turned in at night snow was 

 falling ; but there was no appearance of it lying anywhere 

 in the vicinity, except inside some small covered recesses of 

 a kind of refuge built rudely of loose stones and earth. In 

 these the drift-snow, from being entirely screened from the 

 sun, lay in hard dirt-covered heaps, having probably been 

 deposited there in winter. 



In the morning I was awakened by an unusual sound of 

 thumping and pulling at my tent. It turned out to be my 

 servant trying to effect an entrance through the fresh-fallen 

 snow that had drifted up thickly about it, and on looking 

 out, to my astonishment I saw nothing but one white waste 



