THE END OF A LONG JOURNEY. 287 



old, that had been left there by some former occupant, was 

 greedily pounced upon. From it I learned that my regiment 

 was to form part of a force about to proceed on active 

 service. There was no time to lose ; so we hurried through 

 the beautiful Kangra valley, with its numerous tea-planta- 

 tions, to Dhurrumsala, the nearest military station. Here 

 I bade good-bye to the Major, who was bound for the 

 Punjab. 



Irrespective of the ground worked over in hunting, we 

 had covered, during this my first trip beyond the Himalayas, 

 a good 1300 miles of regular mountain travel, about a 

 thousand of which were in Tibet, at an elevation, on an 

 average, of nearly 15,000 feet almost as high as the top 

 of Mont Blanc, though not quite so snowy. But my pleasure 

 in looking back to these wanderings is mingled with sorrow, 

 when I think that my boon companion throughout them 

 has since then gone on another long journey, and this 

 time to the " happy hunting-grounds " whence there is no 



returning. 



