A COLD WEATHER TOUR 211 



their feet ; but generally the track presented only a 

 tolerably smooth, bare surface, with the grass and 

 brushwood crushed flat or torn away, much as if a 

 large block of stone or a mass of timber had been 

 dragged up the mountain. It was evident that the 

 elephants must have knelt on the knees of their hind 

 legs and worked themselves up the ascent, their bodies 

 resting on the surface. 



The smoothness of the track and the multitude of 

 their droppings showed that many elephants must 

 have passed, but as to how many the bungalow at- 

 tendant could give me no information. Indeed, I do 

 not think he had been in a position to observe, for I 

 gathered that on first becoming aware of the approach of 

 the herd he had made his way back to the bungalow 

 with as much haste as he could, and I think that most 

 other persons would have done the same. 



The inspection of the elephant tracks had occupied 

 some time. When I returned to the camping-ground 

 I found that the carts and servants had already 

 departed. I waited for an hour or two to let them 

 get well on their way, and then I mounted my pony 

 and followed. Just at the end of the encamping- 

 ground there lay a wide expanse of bare sand, 

 thickly strewn with stones and boulders. This sandy 

 expanse is the entrance of the pass ; I proceeded 

 along it. 



For some distance it continued tolerably wide and 

 nearly straight. A succession of hollows along the 

 centre marked the course of what in the rainy season 

 was the bed of a torrent. In some of the hollows 



