As I should assuredly fail, however, in describing it, I
must content myself with a narration of some personal adventures which
befel me in an attempt to carry into effect a long cherished
determination to make the acquaintance of the seeta bhaloo (white
bear) and the burul, (white sheep,) found only in these regions. By
the route I took, seventeen marches brought me to the snow. Here our
"roughing" commenced, the Peharrees, or hill men, of our side of the
snow, having a most religious horror of the great snowy range. The air
there they declare is charged with "bis" (poison,) and this is the
only way they can in their original way account for the painful and
distressing effects which the rarefied air in those elevations
produces on the human frame. The first intimation we have that we are
far above the altitude of comfort, is a dull, heavy pain on the
shoulders, as if you were carrying a load above your capacity; then a
very painful sensation on the forehead, as if it had been bandaged
unpleasantly tight, accompanied by a burning sensation of the eyes and
nose, followed by an involuntary bleeding of the latter.
This last symptom of the effects of high rarefaction, is, to an
Englishman, at least it was to us, always a great relief. It operates
differently upon the natives; they become only more alarmed and
helpless, and, unless hurried through the passes very expeditiously,
invariably perish.
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