rearguard did not get into camp till 11 P.M., and even then the guns had
to be left about a mile from camp.

At Langar there is only one little wretched hut about six feet square,
which was used as a shelter by the officers and one or two sick men, the
remainder huddling round fires in the snow. Luckily, as I have already
said, there was a plentiful supply of wood to be had for the cutting.
Many of the men, I hear, were too tired to cook their food, but simply
lay down exhausted near the fires, the officers getting something to eat
about midnight. Very little sleep was there for either officers or men
that night, most of them passed it huddled up round the fires, or
stamping up and down to keep warm.

Early the next morning the Pioneers and Levies started to cross the
pass, while the remainder brought the guns into camp, which work, I
believe, took the best part of the day.

On leaving the camping ground, the track leads sharply to the right,
following the course of the Shandur stream, which is now merely a
rushing brook. The ascent is fairly precipitous for about a mile, and is
followed by a very gradual ascent,--so gradual, in fact, that it is
difficult to say when the top of the pass is actually reached. This
slope constitutes the pass, and is some five miles long, and twelve
thousand three hundred and twenty feet above the sea; absolutely bare of
trees, and with two fair-sized lakes upon its surface, it is easy to
imagine the deadly cold winds that sweep across it. The lakes were
now frozen over, and the valley was one even sheet of spotless snow
lying dazzling under the sun. It is this combination of sun and snow
which causes so much discomfort and snow blindness; I had before crossed
this same pass in December on a cloudy day, and although the whole of it