A WELCOME HAVEN. 95 



dangers of this kind, it is best to keep the mind as much 

 as possible from dwelling on them. We therefore were not 

 long in resuming our search for the wounded gooral, and we 

 shortly after came up with him where he had lain down, 

 when I secured him with a shot-cartridge. 



The shikaree soon rejoined us after having tracked the 

 tahr into ground where it was impossible for him to follow 

 farther. It was now getting late in the day, and we had still 

 some very difficult ground to get over, so, the gooral being 

 shouldered by the shikaree, we made the best of our way 

 to the place where he had directed the coolies to make for. 

 This was, as hitherto, a kind of open cave formed by the big 

 rocks that overhung it. We reached this welcome haven just 

 before dark, weary and wet through. The coolies had arrived 

 some time before us, and there was a savoury odour arising 

 from the cooking quarter, which was most grateful to us, tired 

 and hungry as we were. 



In the Himalayas, at this time of year, the atmosphere is 

 often dim with a bluish gauzy haze, which gives the moun- 

 tains, and especially the more distant ones, a beautifully soft 

 and dreamy appearance. This effect is probably due to the 

 air being permeated with thin smoke, caused by the old dry 

 grass on the mountain-slopes being, at this season, so much 

 fired by the villagers, in order that the young green blades 

 afterwards springing up on the burnt ground may the sooner 

 afford fresh pasturage for their herds. I have seen the same 

 effect produced by the smoke from the forest-fires in the 

 Eocky Mountains and the backwoods of Canada during " the 

 fall," when a sudden change of wind will dispel it in an hour 

 or two, and make the atmosphere as clear as ever. 



This morning, however, when we made our early start, the 

 air, from the rain of the previous day, was wonderfully bright 

 and transparent, and every outline and feature of even the 

 most distant ranges in sight stood out strikingly distinct 

 and clear. And here I may remark that in these upper 



