184/.] Notes of an Excursion to the Pindree Glacier. 251 



the third and last separated them, and three of the unfortunates were 

 instantly carried off and drowned ; the fourth, a very strong swimmer, 

 reached the bank, but was so bruised and chilled, the water being at 

 42°, that he could not lay hold of the rocks, and was rapidly drifting 

 after his luckless companions, when Messrs. Hort and Powys, ignorant 

 of the fate of the bridges, came to the spot at this critical moment, on 

 their way to Khathee, and dragged him out. Mr. Hort might have 

 addressed him in the words of Pythagoras, O Genus attonitum — gelidce 

 formidine mortis, Quid Stygias, quid tenebras, quid nomina vana timetis ; 

 Materiem vatis, falsique pericula mundi ? but he did much better : he 

 clothed him, and restored the circulation by brandy, and had him carried 

 back to Khathee. For having his life saved by this unlawful medicine, 

 the poor man soon become an outcast, and it required all my persua- 

 sion, and not a few menaces, to induce his accusers to make the 

 amende, on our return to Khathee ; this was only accomplished by the 

 chief of them publicly drinking water from his hands, which was not 

 done without much hesitation and many a grimace. 



September 2\st was a glorious day, and was passed in various 

 devices to throw a plank over the Kuphinee, to expediate Ram 

 Singh to Khathee, to which, once over this torrent he said there was 

 a track passable for goats and Danpoorees, but all our inventions and 

 exertions failed for want of a felling axe and some thirty yards of 

 strong rope, without which no one should intrude into these regions ; 

 during the course of the next day, however, we received a communi- 

 cation from our friends below, with some supplies ; and what was better 

 a detachment of the bold Soopee men appeared on the other bank of 

 the Kuphinee, and with some assistance on our side, soon laid a tree 

 or two over that stream, which by noon on the 23rd were so secured 

 and planked as to be passable to us ; and our coolies being so starved 

 and paralyzed as to be utterly useless, we sent them all back to Khathee. 

 By the 24th the upper Pindur bridge was partially restored, but as 

 there appeared no probability of the lower one being completed for 

 some days, I determined to make a push for the glacier. 



We had smart rain from 2 till 6 p. m. on the 23rd. The Pindur 

 river, about 60 feet below us, was invisible from our tent during our 

 " close arrest ;" not so the Kuphinee, which, though actually as far 

 down, was right before us, and bounding down its inclined bed at such 



