112 AFOOT THROUGH THE 



I made a suitable return for the apt advice I had 

 received, and not being much advanced by it as to the 

 things of other worlds, I turned myself to the comforts 

 of this one, hurried my men, who had at last arrived, 

 and before the afternoon had waned I was bathed, fed, 

 and refreshed. Then I wandered round the shores of 

 the lake, beautifullv shaded by huge trees, and watched 



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the great mountains looking at themselves in the mirror 

 at their feet as the setting sun illumined their sides with 

 a thousand different colours. 



I saw large parties of Sepoys enjoying their 

 leave by feasting hugely on the quantities of 

 mulberries that lined every watercourse and road, 

 taking great care the while not to let the juice 

 stain their spotless white "mufti," and finally, having 

 found a comfortable seat, watched the children in long, 

 low, flat-bottomed boats collecting the harvest of the 

 lake, for, of the many plants that grow in these hill 

 tarns, there are but few that cannot be made use of 

 either for food or fodder for the cattle. Of the former, 

 the singhara, "water chestnut," is the most important, 

 but the nymphcea stellata, and the roots of the reed mace 

 are also used, and both nuts and stem of the lotus are 

 considered delicacies. These latter were not yet out; 

 they are hardly in beauty till July; but a variety of 

 tiny white and yellow blooms were showing, and the 

 handsome, prickly, red-brown leaves of a begonia-like 

 plant added their tints to the bright mosaic of colour. 

 I had wandered many miles before the moon rose, and 

 before returning to my tents I strolled to the other side 

 of the sheet of water to visit a curious submerged temple, 

 apparently of the same type as so many in this country, 

 but as little remained visible save the gabled stone roof, 



