224 DESCENT THROUGH SNOW. ch. ix. 



ground fell away on the southern side, that he could see 

 absolutely nothing in any direction, and, owing to the 

 severity of the cold, found it impossible to remain. He 

 estimated the height at rather more than one hundred 

 feet above the point reached by Ball, who in turn was 

 about sixty feet above Hooker. They descended through 

 that short space ; and, after very brief deliberation, decided 

 that no more could be done, and that a speedy descent was 

 the only possible course. The appearance of the party 

 was singular, and not one could have been recognised by his 

 nearest friends. Faces of a livid purple tint were enclosed 

 by masses of hair thickly matted with ice, and the beards, 

 frozen in the direction of the wind, projected on one side, 

 giving a strangely distorted expression to each counten- 

 ance. 



After observing the aneroid barometer at the point 

 which we estimated at 200 feet below the summit, and 

 glancing at our watches, which marked about 2.30 p.m., 

 we turned downwards, and set out as fast as our legs would 

 carry us, cutting across the zigzag track now deeply 

 covered with snow. Before long we got shelter from the 

 violence of the wind, and began to feel the tingliug of 

 returning circulation in the hands and feet. In places the 

 ground was steep enough to require a little caution in 

 traversing the rocky slopes, partly grown over by tufted 

 bushes, all now veiled in fresh snow ; but little delay 

 ensued, and in less than two hours we reached the bottom 

 of the ravine where the track passes close to the Saint's 

 tomb. The shouts of our Shelluh guides had announced 

 our approach, and we were met by the smiling faces of our 

 Mogador attendants, who had judiciously made themselves 

 as comfortable as circumstances permitted by keeping up 

 a fire in the hut. 



In the valley little snow had fallen, and that was half 

 melted, and continued to fall in that intermediate condi- 

 tion between snow and rain that forms slush, a word of 

 odious import except for its associations with the Christ- 



