Ay ECLIPSE OF THE MOOy. 69 



slippery path led clown beside the stream, or rather torrent, 

 at times hardly giving any foothold. Then we climb up 

 again, till the river is a mere thread below, and the track 

 along the precipitous side of the mountain becomes a 

 narrow foot-path, barely two feet wide. At last we 

 descend into the valley, and it is quite a pleasure to be 

 amongst green trees and meadows again, for during the 

 last few days we have been above the firs, and the only 

 kind of vegetation was a little shrub, now leafless. 



We pitch our tents for the night in a rice field, high 

 up the mountain, with the village of Chingam lying far 

 below at our feet. As the sun was setting, a snow shower 

 came over, but the sky soon cleared to a bright starlight 

 night without a cloud. This was lucky, as soon after dark 

 a total eclipse of the moon commenced. It was a full 

 moon, and the black shadow of the earth crept bit by bit 

 across its face, until about nine o'clock it was completely 

 covered, but not hidden, for it still glowed like a dusky 

 red ball through the darkness. The effect from the shaded 

 light was most striking. In place of the usual flat-looking 

 circle, it was an unmistakable round ball which hung in 

 the heavens, and the markings on its surface gave it exactly 

 the appearance of a big school-room globe. From the 

 height we were on it was a most impressive sight, so clearly 

 marking out another world far away from us. And as I 

 turned to look down on our own earth and saw the raoun- 



