SEARCHING FOR A PASS 
987 
-draperies along the rugged earth, and leaving ribbons 
of white snow "behind them. The thunder crashed so that 
our ears tingled ; the heaviest peals made the ground 
tremble, and the clouds were slashed by flashes of vivid 
lio-htning. Our position on the summit of the pass was 
not free from anxiety. 1 had the tent put up in such a 
position that the crest of the range was thirty feet or so 
higher than the tops of the tent-poles. 
That evening we had to wait a long time foi the camels 
and donkeys ; in fact, 1 sent two or three of the men back 
to look for them. They came up at dusk ; their drivers 
had experienced considerable trouble in getting them up 
the pass. My supper was more meagre than usual. W e 
boiled the water for tea with one of the packing-cases, 
which we could manage to do without. We took counsel 
with the Taghliks, and decided to continue in the same 
direction, down the steep eastern side of the pass. To 
attempt to travel southwards was a sheer impossibility. 
The moon shone with dazzling brilliancy and was 
■encircled by a magnificently beautiful halo a disc of 
vivid yellow edged' with violet. But the queen of the 
night soon withdrew behind the clouds, and the winds 
roared through the pass from every point of the compass. 
The night however was still, but cold (minimum tempeia- 
ture, 2^3 Fahr. or - 5°4 C.), .so cold that 1 could not get 
warm until I crept into my nest of furs. 
In the morning there was nothing to make a fire of, 
so I had to content myself with cocoa made with half- 
melted ice. It would have been a splendid drink in the 
hot desert, but up amongst the chilly mountains it was 
rather too cool. 'Fhe camel and donkey caravans started 
very early in the morning, and we found out that they 
had gone down the same way we came up the afternoon 
before. Leaving Islam Bai, the caravan-leader, to see 
that the camels' and donkeys recovered the right road 
1 and Emin Mirza went on down in the direction I had 
ordered the night before. After an hours ride we came 
upon the trail of the donkeys and sheep. They had 
merely gone another way round the mountain upon 
