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Updated: June 3, 2025
"These fellows are friends of the dacoits. If these get to know that you have money, we shall run great risk of being attacked by them." I insisted on giving them a present. "No, sir," cried Kachi; "do not do it, or it will bring us trouble and misfortune. If you give them four annas, that will be ample." Accordingly the commanding officer had this large sum deposited in his outstretched palm.
It is well known that at great altitudes running is a painful operation, for the rarefied air makes such exertion almost suffocating. Yet Kachi, having overcome his first surprise, was soon chasing the escaped beast, and, urged by the cheers of my other men, succeeded, after an exciting race, in catching the animal by its tail.
I wrapped it tightly round his head and his doubled-up body. The exertion was too much for me. In absolute exhaustion I fell back on the snow. I made a last desperate effort to look at the glittering stars ... my sight became dim.... How long this semi-consciousness lasted I do not know. "This is terrible! Doctor! Kachi!" I tried to speak. My voice seemed choked in my throat.
This plain is called the Kachi, extends in an even surface for 150 miles from the Indus at Sukkur, and is bounded on the north by successive spurs lying between the two great ranges. The Kachi, thus bounded by barren hills on all sides but the south, is one of the hottest regions in the world.
The range of mountains bounding the Kachi to the westward is a continuous wall with imperceptible breaks only, and it bears the local names of Gindari, Takari, and Kirthar. Through this uniform rampart there are two notable rents or defiles, viz.: the Mulla opening opposite Gundana, leading to Kelat; and the Bolan entering near Dadur, leading to Quetta, Kandahar, and Herat.
At sunset the thermometer which Kachi carried had fallen 40° within a few minutes, and the sudden change in the temperature seemed to affect us all. We went on, with the exception of Bijesing, who was seized with such violent mountain sickness that he was unable to proceed. The doctor, too, a powerfully built man, was suffering considerably.
The guns were also turned upon the Diana whenever she approached the shore, but with such wretched aim that the Russians only laughed at it. In the following summer the Diana returned to Kunashir, bringing Kachi, the merchant, who had been seriously ill from homesickness, and two of his attendants, the others having died.
I gave a violent plunge. Then everything vanished ... the frozen Kachi, the doctor, the transparent tomb.... I opened my eyes. They ached as if needles had been stuck into them. It was snowing hard. I had temporarily lost the use of my legs and fingers. They were almost frozen. In waking up from the ghastly nightmare, I realized instantly that I must get down at once to a lower level.
They one and all were crying, each man hiding his face in his hands. Kachi had tears streaming down his cheeks, Dola was sobbing, while the brigand and the other Tibetan in my employ, who had for the occasion assumed a disguise, were hiding behind their loads. Serious though the situation was, I could not help laughing at the fright of my men. We pitched our tents.
The others behaved in a similar manner. Kachi was, as usual, the last one to wake. "Oh, Kachi," I shouted, "get up!" "Oh, bahiyoh!" Half asleep, half awake, he looked round as if in a trance, muttering incoherent words. "Good-morning, sir. Oh ... much snow. Oh ... look, sir, two kiangs there! What is 'kiang' in English?" "Wild horse." "'Wild' you spell w-i-l-d?" "Yes."
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