KHAMTI TO INDIA 



crowded round the fire, and were not more down-hearted than was 

 necessary. This time, at any rate, we were at the foot of the 

 formidable chains for good. Had I been in the humour to admire 

 nature at this period, I should have been struck with wonder at the 

 scene which the sunset lit for us. The head of the valley was 

 closed by a bold buttress of the remoter mountains whence we had 

 come. Low down by the river the trees already lay in softened 

 dimness, but the departing light was moving slowly upwards from 

 slope to sheer, blending bands of deepening heather shadows at the 

 base as though laid with the broad sweep of a painter's hand, until 

 aloft as it touched the cameo-tinted snow the purple paled to violet 

 and the violet blushed to rose. This was perhaps the last look we 

 should have of the Dzayul chain, where its final limits reach the 

 borderland of India. 



iith (December). — Abandoned the tent and other portions of 

 baggage. After reconnoitring the bridge end and finding deep 

 water, the men scattered up and down the banks to seek a passage, 

 but returned nonplused. As they huddled like sheep and hung 

 back, Sao cut the knot by plunging in and struggling through, — the 

 water was up to the arm-pits, and bitterly cold. The whole of the 

 day we followed the windings of the valley, now on the margin, now 

 in the woods to cut off promontories, and in narrow places we laid 

 bamboo slides. The work was nearly as bad as that by the Kiou- 

 kiang. Empty stomachs caused our knees to knock and our 

 heads to swim, and the advance left a very vague impression on our 

 minds. Anio had got ahead of us, still bearing his pack, and, 

 notwithstanding that he had had nothing to eat since noon of the 

 day previous, he sang or whistled as loud as he could to cheer us 

 whenever he stopped. About four o'clock I heard shouts and a 

 gunshot from the front, and with my field-glasses distinguished 



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