wished for than a study, the materials for which may be
garnered by every roadside, in the roughest of gardens,
the poorest of houses? If its sorrow and disappointments
are numerous and bitter, few things in life can
be more exhilarating than the finding of a rare specimen,
the discovery of a new variety, and if, as Stevenson
opined, Solomon merely noted the superlative pleasures
of literature when he said, “ of making books there is
no end,” the botanical student can rejoice in a taste
which need never fear termination from want of nourishment
or novelty. A blade or two of grass and a glass
has kept me quiet and amused during a long journey,
and I have known a severe fit of the blues cured by the
smiling countenance of a new anemone, while many
weary hours of ennui have had an exhilarating excitement
imparted to them by the comparing of specimens, a
sister student, and the rivalry arising therefrom.
My wanderings that afternoon after my descent
from Apharwat had not taken me far from my direct
path, but I must own to a cowardly prolonging of them,
for the grumblings of my servants had become a distinct
annoyance. Nor was I to be spared by the mere fact
of returning late. The grievances were all ready for
me if I had shown the slightest sympathy, and the continued
damp and late cold were no doubt causing some
real suffering. I t was difficult to make up my mind to
leave without a full vision of Nanga Parbat, so I decided
to give him the chance of one day more on which to
appear, and then, if he still continued obdurate, I determined
to march back to the valley. Time was pressing,
and I had but ten days before I was due in Pindi.
CHAPTER XVIII
King amidst kingly mountains,
Monarch o’er snowy heights,
Girdled with glacial fountains,
Fenced by avalanche might,
Battlements lowering skywards,
Pinnacles glistening bright,
Who shall dispute Dyamir
The crown th a t’s thine by right?
—J. R.
Wishing for a day of experiences—I have one superfluous
emotion—Later I achieve the second object of my pilgrimage
M An unrestful mount®- Other folks’ facts about
the fauna of the land.
As it was likely to be my last day of a free and open life,
I determined that, so far as weather permitted, I would
do my best to go through the whole gamut of sylvan
enjoyments, and perhaps it was out of kindness and
consideration that the clerk of the weather withdrew the
rain clouds and allowed the sun to shine forth and dry
up some of the vast lakes that had formed in the merg.
As I wished to make the day as long as possible, I was
afoot betimes and up through the woods to Killenmerg.
The dew-besprent primulas glittered in the early sunlight,
the cobwebs were decked with a thousand jewels;
even the dusky fritillaries took a gay hue as their heavy