gr 
before December 5, at 0,7 mètres before December 23, at 10 
mètres before January 6, and, at the end of February at a 
depth of 1,3 mètres the termometer still showed 104 
(OLUFSEN). 
Taken all in all, the climate of Pamir is severe but 
healthy. After an attack of mountain fever, which wakens 
one at night with a pressure across the chest and a gasping 
for breath, and after one’s skin has become toughened by 
sun and snow, it is difficult to imagine a healthier place to 
be in. The sun is always shining, mountains and lakes are 
bathed in the clearest light. Even though mountain-climbing 
in this rarified atmosphere is strenuous, the mighty splendours 
of nature send one sound and rejoicing to the day’s work. 
At night the brezes blow the tent flaps, the candle flickers 
inside, tired and content we stretch out on the floor and 
sleep deep and sound. All organs function properly. In 
Pamir we exuded health and happiness, all three. 
CHAPTER 4 
General Observations on the Vegetation 
and Flora of Pamir. 
While Alai, low-lying and rainy has her forests of meso- 
phytic herbaceous vegetation, High Pamir is dry and treeless. 
Only in the valleys with running water and special shelter 
(deep snow during the winter?) and in certain places along 
the banks of the lakes can scattered low bushes be found. 
Narrow green stripes of swamp-meadow or of more scattered 
mesophytes edge the rivers, when these flow through broader 
valleys, which is often the case in High Pamir. The northern 
slopes of the mountains, where the sun’s rays cannot pene- 
trate are covered, high up near the snow-line, by a fresh, 
green mesophytic vegetation. Aside from these few parli- 
cularly favoured spots, by far the larger part of the moun- 
tains and valleys of High Pamir are covered with scattered 
cespitose hemicryptophytes and suffrutescent chamaephytes. 
