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Aleister Crowley Diary Entry Thursday, 5 June 1902
On the 5th we marched. I was foolish enough to follow the coolies instead of looking out my own way for myself. The result was I wasted several hours wandering over the top of Biafo glacier, whereas the bulk of the party only crossed it twice, there being a way below. Just as I got over the glacier, with five coolies, two enormous stones came down from above about twenty yards in front of us. It was now after mid-day, and stones were falling everywhere from the nose of the glacier, and some care had to be exercised, but these two were absolutely gigantic. I went to the larger of the two on reaching the bottom; I found it higher than my own reach, though it had made a pretty big hole in the sand. I reached Korophon a little after four. Korophon consists of a little stunted grass grouped around a vast boulder. Its position is incorrectly marked on Conway’s map. I might just as well state here that this map is so inaccurate as to be almost worthless. In some places it is very well done indeed, but that is of no great advantage, as once a map shows any gross inaccuracy one cannot tell till afterwards where it is right and where wrong; and, of course, the great use of a map is its function of prophecy.
We were very anxious to persuade our men to ford the stream of the Punma and its junction with the main stream of the Baltoro. We promised them if they reached Bardomal the next day they should be paid as if they had taken two days, as on the ordinary marches, but this was a delusion on our part, due again to Conway’s map. The rope bridge which he marks is not nearly so far, and on the return journey we made the march by his route quite easily in a day. However, we sent off a committee of natives to investigate the ford and report. They returned and agreed to try. As it turned out we crossed without any difficulty whatever. The distance from the river to Bardomal is a great deal farther than from Korophon to the river; though Bardomal is correctly placed, as far as it is opposite the junction of the two streams.
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