79 



CHAPTER VII. 



Although the Chipla, as seen from a distance, appears to 

 be a huge solid spur abutting from the snowy wall behind 

 it, on a nearer acquaintance it is found to have, as may 

 already have been inferred, mighty spurs of its own, with 

 noble rocky amphitheatres and stupendous V-shaped valleys 

 lying between them. As you ascend these steep-sloping 

 valleys they gradually grow narrower, and their sides be- 

 come more precipitous until they reach the snow-fields on 

 the heights towering above them. 



Up one of these steep spurs our way now led. To the 

 left, as we ascended, its southern face fell away abruptly, 

 either in a succession of irregular drops, like huge steps, or 

 in rocky rifts and gullies. As we mounted higher, these 

 features were exaggerated until they became broad and 

 terribly steep inclines, appalling precipices, and almost 

 vertical rocky gorges, terminating in landslips of rubble and 

 dSbins running far away down into the contracted depths of 

 the valley below. To the right, the northern exposure was 

 rough and rocky, and, as usual, clad with primeval forest. 



We went ahead of the coolies up a kind of goat-track for 

 a mile or two, when our village shikaree suggested that we 

 might take a turn over the steep broken ground on our left, 

 and look for gooral, which, he said, were likely to be found 

 there. We had not to search long before one was started. 



" Shoot quick ! or he'll be away out of sight down the 

 rocks," excitedly whispered the shikaree, as the animal he 



