148 
NARRATIVE. 
Shahidulla we left the Karakash valley and ascended 
a ravine which led to the Suket pass, and for two 
marches we followed the old Karakoram route. The 
Suket pass, 16,000 feet high, was covered with snow, 
and the temperature here fell so low that we all felt 
utterly powerless to do anything. My ink was con- 
stantly hard frozen, and on several occasions w^hen I 
thawed it before the fire and attempted to write in 
my pencil notes, it froze at: once on the point of the 
pen. Several times I tried to photograph, and once 
or twice succeeded, but usually the tepid water used 
for washing the plate froze as I poured it from the 
jug, and instantly destroyed the picture. After 
crossing the Suket pass we could see the Karakoram 
mountains twenty miles to the south, forming a wall 
of rugged snow-capped peaks across the horizon. As 
we approached these mountains they were found to 
consist of a series of ranges, and the water-sheds were 
interlaced like the teeth of a comb, to such an extent 
that one never could say in which direction a par- 
ticular streamlet would ultimately run. 
The Mir Sahib now left us to try the Karakoram 
route, whilst we made for the Karakash river, a few 
marches below its source on the Lingzi Thang plains. 
The 24th September was a day of suffering. We 
started to march over a desolate plain (altitude 1 6,000 
feet), to a place said to be twelve miles distant. 
AVith such a short march before us we started late, 
and loitered a good deal on the way, and our tents 
were pitched when we arrived at the camping place ; 
but we soon found that the grain deposited here w^as 
not anything like sufficient for our horses, and we 
had at once to strike our tents and go on twelve 
