KASHMIR VALLEYS 99 



down in the huts, probably to work up another con- 

 spiracy to influence my speedy departure, and I felt 

 curiously aloof from all and everything that was not 

 part of the surrounding scene. The snows were sisters, 

 the moon's soft radiance an especial protection, the past 

 had slipped away, the future could never be a reality, 

 silence, shadow, sadness, solitude, intense pleasure 

 they were the sum of existence; all else were but the 

 whirling figures on a stage called by its puny players 

 the world something from which I was cut off remote. 

 The moon waned, the stars shone out relieved of the 

 burden of the brighter light, the dawn, with fine-drawn 

 net, drew them from the sky, and a light breeze whis- 

 pered that the sun would soon be back to take up again 

 his sovereignty and heal all dreamers with the touch 

 of his prosaic light. The night was passed, and a 

 servant with dismal whine proclaimed that food for 

 breakfast there was none ; the " presence " must march 

 quickly to reach less " jungly " places, or starvation 

 would be her lot. Even this threat did not produce 

 consternation ; rice and " kultchas " (native cakes made 

 of flour and ghi oiled butter) are extremely satisfying, 

 and always to be obtained at native villages. I had 

 some tea, and when two eggs were also produced I felt 

 that pedestrian could not desire more. 



I marched to Revel that day further than I 

 intended, for I had told my men to stop at 

 Gagangair, as I wished to leave the direct way 

 at various points to look for flowers, thereby 

 considerably lengthening the thirteen miles. I found 

 the track a good deal easier than when I had come up 

 two days before, the snow being harder, the river less 

 inclined to break its bounds, but the crevasse on the 



