22,650 Feet above Sea-level.
The sun shone out brightly the next morning, and I dried my clothing
and the collection I then had of the sacred Scriptures. The latter I
still have in my possession, and every time I take them out, I cannot
help wondering how my life was spared when those things got wet. By one
o’clock in the afternoon I was ready to proceed, although I had not
half recovered from the effect of my experience of the day before, and
my things were far from being dry. Consequently even my own share of
the luggage proved heavier than before, while circumstances compelled
me to relieve my sheep of a part of theirs. To make things worse, I
had managed to get a painful cut on one of my feet during my last
effort to cross the Chema-yungdung-gi-chu, and altogether it was an
inauspicious start which I made on that afternoon. After all, however,
a step forward meant a step nearer to my destination, and with that
philosophical reasoning I dragged myself onward. In that way I had
proceeded for about five miles, when, to increase my difficulties, snow
began to fall thick and fast. When I had arrived near a small pond and
stopped to bivouac for the night, fire and tea were entirely out of the
question, for the elements were now engaged in a fearful strife--the
dazzling lightning, the deafening thunder, the shrieking wind and the
blinding blizzard were at war all at once. That which I had managed to
dry tolerably the day before became thoroughly wet again, and the whole
of the following morning was spent in repeating the process of the
preceding morning. No fire was obtainable even then, and consequently
no tea; so I allayed my hunger with some raisins before resuming my
journey shortly after noon. And little I dreamt of the danger that was
in store for me that afternoon and the day following.
I was still heading for the north-west, and in order to adhere to that
course I must now climb a snow-clad peak towering into the sky; I saw
no way of avoiding the task, and encouraged by an uncertain hope--still
a hope--of emerging upon or near Kang Rinpoche, or in the neighborhood
of Mount Kailāsa, I began the ascent of that great hill, which I
afterward ascertained to be a peak called Kon Gyu-i Kangri, that rises
twenty-two thousand six hundred and fifty feet above sea-level. By
five o’clock in the afternoon I had made an ascent of about ten miles,
and then it began to snow and to blow a gale. I thought it dangerous
to continue my ascent under these conditions, and turning first north
and then east, I essayed to make a rapid descent. The sun had now gone
down, and snow was falling faster than ever. But I had not yet found
a shelter and so continued my descent, having made up my mind to go
on until I found a hospitable shelving cliff, or some such haven. It
was, however, nothing but snow, snow, everywhere and all around--and
presently there were twelve inches on the ground. By and by my sheep
refused to proceed further, whether owing to hunger or not I could not
tell, though it was plain that they had not fed the whole afternoon,
because of the snow. At first I succeeded in getting them to move on
a little as the result of some physical reasoning, but presently even
that process of pleading failed. But the prospect of being frozen to
death prevented me from yielding to their not unreasonable obstinacy,
and putting all my strength into the ropes I dragged them onward. The
poor animals reluctantly obeyed me and walked on for about a hundred
yards, at the end of which, however, they came to a dead stop and began
to breathe heavily. Thereupon I felt no little alarm, thinking that
the animals might die that night. But what could I do? I knew that I
was many a days’ journey at least from the nearest human habitation. A
few more miles either way would not make much difference: so let fate
decide. Once in that frame of mind, I took out my night-coverings and
wrapped myself up and, protecting my head with a water-proof coat, I
sat myself down between my two sheep, with the determination to pass
the night in religious meditation.
[Illustration: MEDITATING IN FACE OF DEATH.]
My poor sheep! They crept close to me and lay there in the snow,
emitting occasionally their gentle cry, which I thought had never
sounded sadder. Nor had I ever felt so lonely as I did then. Wrapped up
in the clumsy manner that I have described, I still managed to smear
over my body the clove-oil, which seemed to prevent to some extent the
radiation of the heat of the body, and I began to feel considerably
warmer than I had been before. For all that, the cold increased
in intensity after midnight, and I began to feel that my power of
sensation was gradually deserting me. I seemed to be in a trance, and
vaguely thought that that must be the feeling of a man on the point of
death.