PEAK-BAGGING IN THE ALTAI 183 



Despite the wind, we chatted pleasantly for a short 

 while, making plans for the morrow, and then decided 

 to retire to the tent. Just as we were on the point 

 of falling asleep a terrific hurricane sprang up, which 

 scattered the fire and threatened to tear up the tent. 

 In the deafening turmoil I peeped from the door of 

 the tent. The moon was shining brightly. Belukha, 

 although eight miles away, appeared to be quite 

 close to me, and the whole scene was wrapped in a 

 death-like mantle of snow and ice. The intense 

 cold of the wind caused me to shut the door of 

 the tent very quickly and to wrap my fur coat more 

 closely around me. My neighbour was snoring 

 vociferously, as if challenging the storm', but I soon 

 fell asleep notwithstanding. 



We were up at five o'clock the next morning and 

 I spent this, our first day in the mountains, in an 

 exploration of the Belukha glacier, obtaining as close 

 a; view of the mountain itself as was possible from 

 one side of the glacier. One circumstance struck 

 me as being rather peculiar, and that was the absence 

 of crevasses. The ice also was uncommonly hard. I 

 made one or two experiments to see how much the 

 glacier would move, and, as far as I can judge, the 

 glacier does not move more than at the rate of about 

 I foot in twelve months. I am sure the ice is as 

 stationary as any glacier in the world. 



I soon discovered it was impossible for the nails in 

 my boots to make any impression on the ice, for, 

 although I stamped my feet, I was unable to make 

 the nails stick enough to walk up the slightest in- 

 cline. We discovered a large number of boulders 

 which had been scratched and grooved on the side 

 nearest the glaciers. These were situated about two 

 miles from the glacier itself, and showed how far it 

 had receded. Some of the grooves, of which I took 

 photographs, were half an inch broad and a quarter 



