GURLA MANDHATA 133 



authorities, in going as far as we liked to go. We had 

 penetrated a country which few Europeans had ever 

 entered, and crossed over to the watershed of the great 

 unexplored valley of the Brahmaputra. We had shot 

 fine specimens of its very rare game, and gained ex- 

 perience in ascending very high altitudes. We had as- 

 cended very high up on the shoulder of one of the most 

 remarkable mountains in the world, the little -known 

 Gurla Mandhata. This conspicuous mountain might 

 appropriately be called the Peak of Asia, as from its 

 glaciers the three great rivers, Indus, Ganges, and Brahma- 

 putra, take their rise — rivers most celebrated in the world's 

 history, and flowing through vast distances and countries 

 to different oceans, and draining the highest and most 

 extensive plateau in the world. 



