beH heads swung in the light breeze, displaying the
sparkling drops in their depths. I looked across the
broad valley, and greatly did I rejoice to see, shadowy
and mist-enveloped, but unmistakable as ever the
outline of great Nanga Parbat, I t only rem’ained
distinct for about twenty minutes, and then, as the sun
rose higher in the heavens, faded away into a vague
pink haze. Greatly cheered by the vision,' the longest
I had yet had of that glorious peak, I started on a
journey of exploration to the westward of the merg, and
as not infrequently happens while devoid of all thought
of danger, nearly had a bad accident, the only real
contretemps during my wanderings.
The hillsides were in places very steep. At one point
a kind of rough shoot had been formed by some old
avalanches, and the soil, a loose shale, was treacherous
and crumbling. Some way down on one side beneath
some hardy shrubs I spied, as I imagined, a rare orchid,
and decided to try and capture it. I was obliged to
clamber down on the further side from the plants, and
then to cross the slide. There was nothing to hold to,
and in an instant I felt the whole mass moving beneath
me. I made a great effort by the help of my stick to
reach the further side, lost my foothold, my stick was
torn from my grasp, and with a dizzy motion down
I went, a hailstorm of loose clods and stones about
me. What added to the unpleasant sensation was the
knowledge that some five hundred feet lower there were
a slippery slab of rock and a sheer drop. I did not think
much, but I had the impression of being pelted by
energetic demons with rock, while the world slipped from
under me. A tree trunk stopped the way—a huge blue
pine uprooted, and luckily lying across my impetuous
Nanga P a rb a t