I 22 
THROUCxH ASIA 
underneath the ice like a river emerging from an under- 
ground tunnel ; whilst a new path, or rather staircase, had 
to be hewn across the sloping talus of ice-blocks. As luck 
would have it, we chanced at this very spot to meet a 
dozen or so Kirofhiz from Kara-teo^hin, travelling- on foot 
to Kokand and Margelan in search of work. They 
stopped and helped us to repair the road. But even 
then, after all our efforts, the path was so steep that each 
horse had to be actually pushed up by half-a-dozen men. 
The glen narrowed rapidly towards its upper end, rising 
with extraordinary steepness and becoming indistinguish- 
able from the mountain slopes. At the same time the 
relative altitudes decreased in proportion as the absolute 
altitudes increased. The last portion of the way was 
tough work ; avalanche succeeded avalanche at short 
intervals. Almost every horse in the string fell once, 
some of them twice ; and as they were unable to get up 
again in the snow with the loads on their backs, the 
baggage had to be taken off them and then lashed on 
afresh. In this way we were delayed time after time. 
The last ice-slide we encountered was so difficult to 
cross that the horses could not by any possibility get over 
it loaded ; accordingly the Kirghiz unloaded them and 
carried the baggage across on their own backs. Indeed 
they carried it all the way to Rabat (Rest-house) — a little 
hut built of stones and timber overlooking the glen below. 
There also a uy (tent) had been pitched. I had walked 
the greater part of the day, and was thoroughly tired. 
The altitude was 9350 feet ; and during the night I began 
to feel the symptoms of mountain-sickness — a splitting 
headache and an acceleration of the heart’s action. These 
symptoms, which were caused by the sudden change from 
a relatively low to a relatively high altitude, continued all 
the following day ; but passed off after about forty-eight 
hours, leaving no ill effects behind them. 
On the following morning the Kirghiz road-makers and 
Jan Ali Emin, aksakal (chieftain) of the Kara-teppes, who 
had been in charge of the work, returned to Rabat. At 
the same time, 1 and my men, fully realizing the risks 
