THE END OF A LONG JOURNEY. 287 



old, that had been left tlierc by some former occupant, was 

 greedily pounced upon. From it I learned that my regiment 

 was to form part of a force about to proceed on active 

 service. There was no time to lose ; so we hurried through 

 the beautiful Kangra valley, with its numerous tea-planta- 

 tions, to Dhurrumsala, the nearest military station. Here 

 I bade good-bye to the Major, who was bound for the 

 Punjab. 



Irrespective of the ground worked over in hunting, we 

 had covered, during this my first trip beyond the Himalayas, 

 a good 1300 miles of regular mountain travel, about a 

 thousand of which were in Tibet, at an elevation, on an 

 average, of nearly 15,000 feet — almost as high as the top 

 of Mont Blanc, though not quite so snowy. But my pleasure 

 in looking back to these wanderings is mingled with sorrow, 

 when I think that my boon companion throughout them 

 has since then gone on another long journey, and this 

 time to the " happy hunting-grounds " whence there is no 

 returning. 



