EXPEDITION TO THE HIMALAYAS del 
like: as a matter of fact, it was all ice, and 
L saw its ascent was quite impracticable, owing 
to it being absolutely perpendicular ; besides, 
our coolies, ill-clad and shod as they were 
for such a venture, would never have accom- 
plished the route. I returned to the camp at 
nightfall, to report the result of my recon- 
naissance. 
Then, since the weather was so unpro- 
pitious, we turned in the direction of Askole, 
making, by the way, a small collection of 
botanical specimens. We had to cross 
another rope suspension-bridge. Here Sir 
Martin Conway, capable though he be of 
achieving the most dangerous ascents without 
the faintest misgiving, turned giddy, as he 
alway does over running water, and I had to 
hold him tightly with the rope. 
Three days’ march brought us to Askole 
where the inhabitants came out to greet us 
with drums and horns—a curious confusion of 
sounds—till my patron presented them with 
baksheesh, when they gratefully withdrew. 
We took some new photographs of this place 
and, the next day, resumed our march. 
As the valley was very narrow — being 
hollowed between quite perpendicular rocks— 
and the whole width of the defile was filled 
aT 
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