course. I loved the blue pines before; I now owe them
a gigantic debt of gratitude.
The descent having been stopped, the difficulty was
to return. There was not the slightest track, and the
hill was literally Tike the side of a house. My sandals
had been almost torn off my feet, my skirts
were suggestive of the wandering minstrel’s garb,
my solar topee was a broken relic, and face
and hands suggested a bear’s greeting. Somehow
I clambered up, chiefly by my hands, for my
ankles were weak and strained, and arriving above,
shamefacedly edged round the merg, hidden by the
woods from the unsympathetic sight of man! A warm
tub did much to relieve the soreness after my too close
embrace of Mother Earth, and fresh garments and
soothing ointment to my face restored my self-respect.
Breakfast having put fresh life into me, I determined
to carry out such parts of my programme for the day
as I was capable of.
My men, who forgot their own grumblings and
misery directly I was in difficulties, improvised an
excellent dandy or carrying chair, and bore me away,
to a small height to the south of the merg, from which
I knew a grand view could be obtained, and I was not
disappointed. Towards mid-day, peak after peak
appeared, range behind range showed glistering, and
when all the ranks of snow heights were uncovered,
there arose, ninety miles away as the crow flies, great
Nanga Parbat, nearly twenty-seven thousand feet, one
of the great triad of mountains that dominate the world.
I had never before seen anything like it!
I tasted eternity that day, and felt myself
immo rta l because I had realised the everlasting