The <placeName xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" ref="https://edition-humboldt.de/H0009370 https://www.geonames.org/1279685">Thibet</placeName> mission as I mentioned <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" />above is broken up, but my intrepid <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" />friend <persName xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" ref="https://edition-humboldt.de/H0003944 http://d-nb.info/gnd/117351946">Thomson</persName> who explored the <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" /><placeName xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" ref="https://edition-humboldt.de/H0020681 https://www.geonames.org/1256406">Shayuk</placeName> in the month of <date xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" from="1847-12-01" to="1847-12-31" cert="high" calendar="#gregorian">December</date> & <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" />returned by <placeName xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" ref="https://edition-humboldt.de/H0010277 http://www.geonames.org/1164709">Iskardo</placeName> to <placeName xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" ref="https://edition-humboldt.de/H0000378 https://www.geonames.org/1440268">Kashmir</placeName>, is <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" />allowed to travel another year, & thus <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" />already started for <placeName xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" ref="https://edition-humboldt.de/H0011406 https://www.geonames.org/1264976">Leh</placeName> & hopes to cross<pb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" n="16v" /><gap xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" unit="pages" quantity="1" reason="empty" /><pb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" n="17r" /><fw xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" type="folNum">17.</fw>the <placeName xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" ref="https://edition-humboldt.de/H0017455 https://www.geonames.org/7449791">Karokoram</placeName>, he is working admirably. <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" />I think I told you he was my earliest <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" />play-fellow, school & college companion: <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" />we took our degrees & started in life <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" />together, he for <placeName xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" ref="https://edition-humboldt.de/H0006686 https://www.geonames.org/1269750">India</placeName>, I for the <hi xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" rendition="#u"><placeName ref="https://edition-humboldt.de/H0010385 https://www.geonames.org/6942239">South <lb />Pole</placeName></hi>. When I was shut up in the <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" />Ice he was a prisoner in <placeName xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" ref="https://edition-humboldt.de/H0000324 https://www.geonames.org/1138958">Cabul</placeName> <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" />suffering the horrors of that captivity, <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" />which so few survived. I need not <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" />say how anxious we are to meet <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" />next year, after a 10 years absence. <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" />Could he have travelled in <placeName xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" ref="https://edition-humboldt.de/H0010713 https://www.geonames.org/1281307">Yarkand</placeName> <lb xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" />I would have joined him ere this<choice xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"> <orig>;</orig> <reg>.</reg> </choice>