Page:Sikhim and Bhutan.djvu/133

 Demarcation of the northern boundary between Sikhim and Tibet. Difficulties of transport. Mountain sickness. Survey work. Caught in a storm. Durkey Sirdar. Ovis ammon. Photographing the glaciers. A ride at 21,600 feet. Evidence of former size of the glaciers. exploration of the northern boundary between Sikhim and Tibet was undertaken in 1902 under very different circumstances to my other explorations. The object on this occasion was, under instructions from the Viceroy, to lay down the boundary between the two countries as defined by the Tibet Treaty of 1890.

I took with me an escort of the 8th Gurkhas under command of Captain Murray and Lieutenant Coleridge, with an officer in medical charge, and Major Iggulden accompanied me as Intelligence officer.

We left Gangtak on June 15. It was my first experience of entire dependence upon local resources for the transport of so large a body of men, as well as their rations and other impedimenta, and I had some difficulty to commence with, especially at Tumlong, where the populace is very scattered, in finding a sufficient number of men and animals, and I was obliged to halt to collect them. In addition, the weather was abominable, rain coming down in torrents and wetting the tents through and thereby enormously increasing their weight. But after a short delay I got everything off and followed myself the next