UP THE ALAI VALLEY 139 
the baggage-animals safely over. The first which ventured 
to try to cross dropped through the treacherous surface, 
and was near being smothered in the deep snow. It 
was as much as ever the men could do to free the horse 
from his packs and haul him back again on to firm ground. 
Then they set to work to dig out a path ; but the snow 
was so deep that they were unable to get through it. 
At length the Kirghiz hit upon an ingenious device for 
overcoming the difficulty. They took the felt coverings 
of the tent and spread them over the snow. But there 
were not sufficient pieces to stretch right across, so, 
after a horse had advanced as far as he could get, the 
felts were lifted from behind him and laid down again 
in front of him. In this way, but at the cost of extreme 
labour and great waste of time, we managed to get all 
the animals safely across. 
That district was called Jipptik. But the aul (tent- 
village) of that name was two miles further on, and the 
tents had been shifted solely for our accommodation. 
Notwithstanding that, it was anything but a comfortable 
camp. The fuel was insufficient in quantity, and worse 
than that — damp, so that the tent was filled with eddies 
of pungent smoke. The tent itself was very speedily 
surrounded by high ramparts of snow. 
March 5th. The night was bitterly cold. The ther- 
mometer registered a minimum of -4°9 Fahr. (- 20°5 C.); 
close at the head of my tent it was 14° Fahr. (- 10° C.) 
at eight in the morning. Everything inside the tent was 
frozen — canned provisions, milk extract, ink. Outside the 
tent, the poor horses, which had passed the night in the 
open air, hung their heads dolefully, and tried to scrape 
away the snow, which crackled in the frosty air every 
time it was touched. The day, however, was fair, and 
about one hour before noon the sun peeped through. 
Then the majestic outlines of the Alpine Frans- Alai began 
to glimmer through the fast vanishing mist, the topmost 
crests being still wreathed in gauzy veils of cloud. Every 
now and again we caught a glimpse of Kaufmann Peak 
{23,000 feet high) — a pyramidal summit, which glittered 
