A WEARY TRUDGE. 275 



my camp pitclicd on the cast side of the Kazura la, at 

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

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

 1 1 1111 out into a temperature of twelve degrees below freezing 

 (mid tliis in the month of August), although my sleep had 

 not been either of the soundest or most comfortable kind, 

 tVom my being unable to respirate freely in a recumbent 

 ])osition at such a height. The cold, too, was dreadful, as 

 1,1 10 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 Eookshu people, where a guide for the 

 locality could be procured. On and on we trudged over 

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

 tlie everlasting cutting wind, for hour after hour, not 

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

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

 1 ilackened stones and dilapidated " pullas," ^ — all w\as silent 

 solitude. 



Towards the afternoon we topped another rise, from 

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

 below. Situated in the middle of an extensive barren 



^ A "pulla" is a low wall built of loose stones, whicli 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. 



