I 



A COLD WEATHER TOUR 207 



Now I knew that the herds of wild elephants did 

 wander into the Doon, but then I had always under- 

 stood that they made their way through the passes. It 

 appeared to me utterly incredible that these enormous, 

 clumsy creatures could climb mountains that it was 

 difficult even for a man to ascend. My friend, however, 

 insisted that he was speaking only the exact truth. 

 The tracks of the elephants, he said, were still quite 

 plain, and if I would accompany him he would take me 

 at once and show them. I thought it rather too late 

 to venture unarmed into the jungle, with so many wild 

 animals about, and so I made an arrangement to visit 

 the place with him the next morning. This matter 

 settled, I had a chair brought and placed on the little 

 terrace before the verandah, and sat down to contem- 

 plate the landscape. 



The view was very striking. During the whole day's 

 march we had ascended. The ascent was gentle, but 

 it was continuous ; it had conducted us to an elevation 

 of many hundred feet above the place from whence 

 we had started. Foreshortened by the distance, con- 

 cealed by the higher trees, the patches of grass and 

 brushwood were no longer visible. The mountains rose 

 abruptly behind. Before me, so far as the eye could 

 reach, there stretched one long, wide slope of verdant 

 forest. 



All along the horizon the forest was bounded by 

 a yellow band of mingled dust and haze. As the day 

 declined the yellow band assumed a purple tinge. 

 Presently the sun disappeared within it, a deep red, 

 glowing ball. 



