|
Alcesti de Righi Diary Entry Monday, 4 September 1905
September 4th. A gang of coolies started off this morning as soon as their frugal meal of sattu is disposed of to continue the work started yesterday. I see them off, still unable to attempt serious walking myself over glacier ice. They form a sad caravan, as three relations of the dead men go up with them, the two suns of poor old Thendock and the brother of Bahadur Lama. The fatalist sense is strongly developed in them. After the first heavy outburst of sorrow they understand the futility of battling against fate, and simply explain that their day has come, and nothing could have saved them no matter where they might be; who can gainsay them?
I watch them slowly climbing up the first ice wall, and then they are lost to sight till they reach the second, and eventually the spot where the bodies lie buried. We can plainly see with the aid of binoculars all phases of the work. By 12 o'clock all have been found. They prefer to re-bury their countrymen in conventional positions back in the ice, so, after a service by one of the men who has been or is a Lama, they are placed in a small crevasse and covered up with snow.
The mortal remains of our comrade [Alexis Pache] are carefully wrapped in a tarpaulin, and gently, by means of ropes, guided in its slide towards Camp III. We meanwhile fashion a rude coffin out of three square Kashmeer Kiltas by cutting the ends and bending them down. After taking a last photograph, which will be sent to the relations, we remove the contents of his pockets and trinkets, his watch, signet ring, etc. Then, wrapped in a waterproof sleeping bag cover, we gently put him in the improvised coffin, which is tied up with the remains of the rope we used on the 1st Sept.
Nangar the Sirdar, without any orders, made a cross out of wood and this was placed on the coffin. We then lowered it in to a shallow grave alongside of an enormous block of granite, and in two days our coolies built a cairn six feet high. A rudely made cross fashioned out of a pair of "ski" surmounted this, perhaps the highest tomb in the world; by the help of a tiny chisel we were able to carve his name on a slab of granite: "Alexis A. Pache 1. IX. 1905". This simple work took nearly two days to do, mostly by Mr. Reymond [Charles-Adolphe Reymond]. None of us felt good enough to repeat the Service for the dead, but I am sure a silent prayer was said in all our hearts.
So passes the eventful day. The cairn not being completed we decided to remain to-morrow. Stones are abundant, but most of them too large to be carried, so our coolies have to search around the hillside for suitable ones. This causes the delay in building the tomb. The appearance of our poor comrade proved to the Doctor [Jules Jacot Guillarmod] that death must have been almost instantaneous, the face being florid, and wearing a peaceful look, although it was slightly bruised. The doctor said he had in every way the appearance of a drowned man.
|