1 52 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



been letting himself down the well at the farther 

 end, and I prepared to follow him. Sitting down 

 on the floor, I let myself down feet foremost. 

 It was quite dark in the well, but it was ob- 

 vious the shaft did not go straight down. On 

 the whole, it must have been somewhat easier 

 than descending a factory chimney, as there 

 were here and there projecting ledges of rock 

 on which to put one's toes, but to any one not 

 a trained sweep or an orpiment miner it was 

 difficult enough. After descending twenty feet 

 or so, I felt my legs swinging in space, a 

 hand clutched my foot and guided it on to 

 a rock, and I let myself down on to terra 

 Jirma. It was another chamber, considerably 

 smaller than the upper one ; the air was very 

 close. Still no orpiment. A hole appeared to 

 lead away in a downward direction from the 

 farther end of the chamber, and on one side 

 a lot of debris had fallen down. The latter 

 was pointed out to me by my guide, who cheer- 

 fully remarked that it was the grave of eight 

 men. It appeared that a few months before, 

 whilst these unfortunates were working at the 

 farther end of the passage now closed by 

 the heap of earth and stones I was looking 

 at, a fall of rock had occurred and immured 

 them. 



