INTRODUCTION xix 



happy valley hidden away from the outer world behind 

 the great mountain barriers. Shuttered-in boats float 

 by on the river, camps of unknown folk pass one on the 

 road, occasionally greetings are exchanged with folk 

 whom we knew not before and shall not meet again. 

 It is a restful, unfettered, unique life amid all the 

 beauties of a country decorated by Nature in her most 

 varied manner, a land that is like a dream when one is 

 in it, that haunts one with the reality of an obsession 

 when its snowy peaks and flower-filled valleys have been 

 exchanged for grey skies and grimy towns. 



