remains almost unchanged, and in this perfect halfcircle
of the purest white one could almost imagine
the ghostly lines of division between the customary tints.
For twenty minutes it arched over the valley running
up westwards towards Pahamri, and vanished slowly as
the long line of the expedition moved out of camp.
It was a bitter morning ; the promise of the sun was
betrayed, and, as we ascended the last furlongs of the
southern slope, the cold came down upon us again with
bitter intensity. Crossing the Tang la into Tibet proper
was a terrible experience. The frozen mist, laced with
stinging splinters of ice, was blown horizontally into our
faces by the wind which never sleeps over this terrible
Pass. Men and animals ahke were stiff with an armour
of ice, and beards and even eyelashes were powdered
and hoary with the fine particles of frozen mist. It
was difficult to see fifty yards away and the accompanying
photogravure will give perhaps some idea of the hardships
which no human activity can ever hope to remove
from the highway leading on to Lhasa.
Slowly creeping on against the blizzard, the long line
of animals and men moved into and out of the narrow
radius of one’s sight, demi-cloaked with ice. About
eight o’clock the sun gathered enough power to melt
the frost in the air, and an hour later, looking up from
the mist which rose like steam from the plain, one
could see the clear white top of Chumolhari sailing
against the thin light clouds of the upper air. We
had crossed the frontier. Half an hour later the
plain was clear to the horizon, and we trudged on
against th e - wind and over as forbidding a floor
as exists on earth. It was grit and pebbles all the
way. There was not the slightest hint of even