The gradient became sharper, and I began
to feel a little anxious about Jane, as the short, brown grass was
slippery with frost--a slip would be very easy, and the results unpleasant.
However, with the able assistance of the shikari, she did very well, and,
having crossed a shelving patch of snow by cutting steps with our
khudstick, we found ourselves, after an hour and a half's stiff climbing,
on the sky-line of the ridge that had seemed but an easy stroll from below.
The heights and distances are most deceptive, partly on account of the
crystal clearness of the air, and partly because of the magnitude of
everything in proportion. The mountains are not only high themselves, but
their spurs and foothills would rank as able-bodied mountains were they
not dwarfed by peaks which average 15,000 feet in height above the sea.
The pines which clothe their sides, the chenars and poplars in the valley,
are all enormous when compared with their European cousins.
The view was most remarkable as we gained the crest of the ridge--a sea of
white cloud came boiling up from the valley to the east, and, pouring over
the saddle upon which we stood, gave only occasional glimpses of snow and
pine and precipice above, or the glint of water in the rice-fields far
below. Once, between the swirling cloud masses, the near hills lay clear
in the sunshine for a few moments and revealed a party of five bara singh
hinds, crossing the slope in front of us, and not more than 150 yards away.
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