of the Old World. 441 



our own tracks, when suddenly I heard a cry of 

 alarm behind, and simultaneously felt the cord jerk. 

 I turned and saw Hoossain supporting the Nubian, 

 who was stretched senseless on the snow. At first I 

 thought he was in a fit, and rubbed his forehead with 

 snow, but on further examination I found breathing 

 suspended, the pulse and heart still, and I knew all 

 was over. I always carried a knife in which there 

 was a lancet, so I opened the veins in his arms and 

 temples, but could hardly squeeze out a drop of blood. 

 He was dead, and I believe the cause to have been an 

 affection of the heart. It was a melancholy end to our 

 hitherto successful enterprise, but nothing could be 

 done ; we unfastened the cord which attached him 

 to the others, and laid him gently down to take his 

 last sleep, on a ledge of rock, where his body would 

 remain as undisturbed as if buried in the deepest 

 grave, for we were still far above any indications of 

 animal life. After a long weary tramp we regained 

 the ridge of rocks overlooking the glacier, by which 

 time the sun was nearly down ; and we had to wait 

 some time before the moon got sufficiently high to 

 light us on our way. Once we missed the track, 

 and found ourselves clambering up the smooth face 

 of a rock, where a false step or a slip would have 

 precipitated us into a dark yawning chasm below, 

 so deep that we could not hear huge rocks, which we 

 saw rolling down the -slope, when they struck the 



