NATURALIST IN INDIA. 273 



camped for the night, surrounded by beds of snow. At sunrise 

 the thermometer stood at 31° Fahr ; and a little stream close 

 by was frozen over. The pass is crossed by a narrow gorge 

 between two mountains, and the ascent is by no means 

 difficult. Several blocks of a pure white marble strewed the 

 bottom, and the hillside was covered with a rather deep bed 

 of glacial clay. The summit of the pass is said to be 15,500 

 feet above the level of the sea. From the little flat on which 

 our tent was pitched we looked down on the plains of Eupshoo 

 stretching through the mountains ; in fact nothing else than 

 flat-bottomed valley, with the mountains rising abruptly on 

 either side. These dreary-looking plains are for the most part 

 covered with scanty herbage and patches of furze. Here and 

 there we could discern the black tents and the herds of the 

 nomadic Tartars, and for the first time we began to experience 

 the effects of the high altitude, and soon found that slight 

 exertion caused an oppressive feeling in the chest, fatigue, and 

 weariness. At night I was frequently awoke by a sudden 

 sensation which passed off on taking a deep inspiration. By 

 some these sensations have been attributed to the necessary 

 exertion consequent on attaining such elevations, but in our 

 instance this could not have been the case, as the ascent had 

 been gradual, and exertion far less in the Eupshoo plains than 

 we had undergone in gaining that altitude. Moreover, the 

 fact that the feeling continued as long as we remained in 

 these elevated regions, and disappeared on the very day we 

 recrossed the Tang Lang and got to Ghia, which is upwards 

 of fifteen hundred feet below the level of the pass, is a proof 

 that the feelings were associated altogether with the rarefied 

 atmosphere of high altitudes. I am far more inclined to 

 believe with Humboldt that the weariness and sense of fatigue 

 in the Umbs, especially in the joints, is the result of the low 



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