92 KINCHINJUNGA 



daunted aspiration, and it sets something aglow in 

 our hearts also which burns there unquenchably for 

 the rest of our days. We see attainment of the 

 1 highest in the physical domain, and it stirs us to 

 achieve the highest in the spiritual. Between our- 

 selves and the mountain is the kinship of common 

 effort towards high ends. And it is because of this 

 kinship that we are able to see such lofty Beauty in 

 the mountain. 



For only a few minutes are we granted this 

 heavenly vision. Then the veil is drawn again. 

 But in those few minutes we have received an im- 

 pression which has gone right down into the depths 



of our soul and will last there for a lifetime, 

 i 



On other occasions the mountain is not so re- 

 served, but reveals itself for whole days in all its 

 glory. The central range of the Himalaya will be 

 arrayed before us in its full majesty from one 

 horizon to the other without a cloud to hide a single 

 detail. We see the lesser ranges rolling up, wave 

 after wave, in higher and higher effort towards the 

 culminating line of peaks. And along this central 

 line itself all the lesser heights we see converging 

 on the supreme peak of Kinchin junga. The 

 scene, too, will be dazzling in the glorious sunshine 

 and suffused with that purply-blue translucent 

 atmosphere which gives to the whole a fairy -like, 

 ethereal aspect. 



And on this occasion we have no hurried 

 glimpse of the mountain. We have ample time to 

 contemplate it, looking at it, turning away from it 

 to rest our souls from so deep an emotion, looking 



