198 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



grounds in the world before my camp, almost 

 wherever I chose to pitch it ? 



On this particular occasion my camp was at 

 a desolate spot called Tuti Ailak, midway be- 

 tween two works then in progress. One was the 

 cutting of a road along the Talambuti ravine, 

 which was to turn the very trying ascent of the 

 Karawal Dawan ; the other was concerned with 

 the track that has to be maintained during the 

 summer over the big Sasser glacier to the north. 

 Incidentally it was in the middle of very good 

 burhel country. 



That Thursday morning in August, as, accom- 

 panied by Siring Namgyal, I started from camp 

 in the cold half-light of a morning in the moun- 

 tains for a day after the wild sheep, I felt a 

 special indebtedness to my lucky star that I was 

 not employing the beginning of my week's holi- 

 day like many poor devils in India in a vain 

 attempt to recapture the sleep that will not stay 

 after its wonted hour. 



After going for something under an hour, we 

 sat down to spy with our backs against a de- 

 tached rock as big as a cottage. That is the 

 advantage of having your camp very high. 

 Burhel generally live at an elevation of 15,000 

 to 18,000 feet in the summer, and it is a terrible 

 thing to begin your day with a stiff three or four 



