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i84 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
nable consistency were the rain and the entire absence of
vegetation.
At length it grew so bad that we had to turn back, and
then we made our way down a broad vaUey, in whicli we
found a small flat expanse, with miserable grazing. Our
animals were completely exhausted, so that we had to give
them two days of rest. On the first of these we were visited
by a tremendous storm. It thundered and lightened
several times in the minute, and the tempest swept right
over our heads quite close to the earth. The thunder
crashed as though the mountains were being rent in twain,
and the broken fragments were careering headlong down
the mountain-sides. We were blinded by the forked light-
ning, and distinctly felt the earth tremble when it thun-
dered. It is a solemn and awful thing to be at the very
centre of such a tempest as that, exposed to the full brunt
of its fury. The dogs howled dismally. The men’s tent
threatened to blow away and had to be anchored afresh.
The hail clattered on the mountain-sides, and was succeeded
by a copious fall of snow. At dusk all the camels were
made to lie in a close ring, and were covered up with all
the felt carpets we could spare, for they were literally
shaking with the cold.
On I2th August we set off again, determined at all costs
to get over the southern range. This time we proceeded
up a broad open valley ; but there, too, the ground was
just as horrible, nothing but a quagmire of yellow mud, as
full of water as a wet sponge, fearfully treacherous, killing !
Every time an animal lifted up its foot the tenacious mire
sucked audibly. The surface was now so excessively soft
that footsteps, which showed at first as dark holes, were
soon closed up again by the ooze. Truly, an accursed
country ! That grazing and fuel should be wanting at an
altitude of 16,000 feet is easy to understand ; but why on
earth should the ground not bear us ? Why should it
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