Science: Legend of the Himalayas

An old explorer's legend cropped up again last week—the "Abominable Snowmen" of the Himalayas. Reporting on his sixth expedition to Mt. Everest, British Explorer Eric Shipton described in the London Times a hard, four-day climb to a great glacier near the high peak of Menlungtse. There, in the thin snow, he found the well-marked footprints of a strange, four-toed creature. Sen Tensing, the native guide, identified the tracks as the spoor of two "Yetis"—the same weird ogres first reported by an Everest expedition of 30 years ago.

According to awestruck natives, the Abominable Snowmen are half-man, half-beast. They have toes at the...