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Dr. Jules Jacot-Guillarmod Diary Entry Wednesday, 23 August 1905
The next day we move on to the last dwellings which, an hour earlier, in the middle of a large alluvial cone covered with a lush carpet of grass, reminds us of Salanfe; and beyond, it is the unknown, for the natives as for us, these, not more than our mountain dwellers, in the last century, not venturing beyond the pastures which their herds can reach. We follow, for another hour, the marginal furrow* formed by the outer reverse of the lateral moraine and the side of the mountain, after which we climb the back of the moraine, to engage, soon after, on the ice. with which our coolies get acquainted, by sketching a smile that looks more like a grimace and that can be interpreted in many ways. The most immediate result is to slow down the march singularly by multiplying the stops, often without reason; soon come up against a labyrinth of crevasses which oblige us to take considerable detours. However, we eventually get out of it and establish our Second Camp of the glacier in the bed of an old lake, the most declining part of which still remains of a small pond, between two moraines. The place is ideal for a camp; it is sheltered on all sides from winds and gusts, assuming that they exist in this region of the Himalayas; indeed, since we are in Sikhim, we have not yet observed the slightest wind. Rain and snow always fall vertically and never enter the tents, through badly blocked openings, as was the case on the Baltoro glacier. This almost absolute absence of wind was often a cause of uneasiness painful to endure for us. When, after a somewhat considerable effort, a long climb or the size of steps in the ice, the slightest breeze would have been welcome, you had to stay in your swimsuit in your sweat and wet clothes, without any hope of drying them before the beginning stage, when it was still possible. Fortunately, alongside the evil there is often, if not the remedy, at least a relief or compensation. Here, it is the flora which benefits largely, with wear even, from this excess of humidity so uncomfortable, moreover, and, in this restricted place, I had the opportunity to make, on my return, the most harvest. abundant that I have ever done, in the Alps or in the Himalayas, from a botanical point of view. A few minutes above the camp, perched on an eminence and visible from afar, is an erratic block of colossal dimensions; whim of nature and miracle of balance, it overlooks on all sides and measures more than 50 meters in circumference; it can easily house a hundred coolies; by means of small walls, ours soon transform it into a caravanserai; its curious and characteristic form made us immediately baptize it the Monkey Head and will be for future explorers an easy point of reference to find.
In the evening, we received a message from the rear guard, letting us know that the 130 government coolies, whom we had managed to bring to Tseram instead of Jongri, categorically refused to climb higher. Too happy to have kept them until then, we can't hold them any longer. Their departure, moreover, will save us a great deal of food and may allow us to extend our stay on the glacier by a few weeks. We therefore have 80 carriers left which will be sufficient to maintain communications between the supply base and the advancement stages. We have, Crowley and I, about thirty at the forefront; but as we progress, their number will vary daily and a continual coming and going will animate, for a few weeks, these solitudes until then inviolate.
* To my knowledge, there is no proper word, a substance short, to designate this marginal furrow, often very little marked in the Alps, but which in the Himalayas can reach a considerable depth, 50 meters and even more. We used, like people accustomed to abbreviations, the German word of Mulde which, deviated from its original meaning, was sufficient for our understanding and our happiness.
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