174 TIBET. Chap. XXIV. 



night. I looked in vain for the beautiful lancet beam of 

 the zodiacal light; its position was obscured by Chomiomo. 



On the 18th of October we had another brilliant 

 morning, after a cold night, the temperature having fallen 

 to 4°. I took the altitude of Yeumtso by carefully boiling 

 two thermometers, and the result was 16,279 feet, the 

 barometrical observations giving 16,808 feet. I removed a 

 thermometer sunk three feet in the gravelly soil, which 

 showed a temperature of 43°,* which is 12° 7 above the 

 mean temperature of the two days we camped here. 



Our fires were made of dry yak droppings which soon 

 burn out with a fierce flame, and much black smoke ; they 

 give a disagreeable taste to whatever is cooked with them. 



Having sent the coolies forward to Cholamoo lake, we 

 re-ascended Bhomtso to verify my observations. As on 

 the previous occasion a violent dry north-west wind blew, 

 peeling the skin from our faces, loading the air with grains 

 of sand, and rendering theodolite observations very un- 

 certain ; besides injuring all my instruments, and exposing 

 them to great risk of breakage. 



The Tibetan Sepoys did not at all understand our 

 ascending Bhomtso a second time; they ran after 

 Campbell, who was ahead on a stout pony, girding up 

 their long garments, bracing their matchlocks tight over 

 their shoulders, and gasping for breath at every step, the 

 long horns of their muskets bobbing up and down as they 

 toiled amongst the rocks. When I reached the top I 

 found Campbell seated behind a little stone wall which 

 he had raised to keep off the violent wind, and the 

 uncouth warriors in a circle round him, puzzled beyond 

 measure at his admiration of the view. My instruments 

 perplexed them extremely, and in crowding round me, they 



* It had risen to 43° 5 during the previous day. 



