CHAPTER XLV 



STORMY WEATHER 



AND even if I never succeed in getting a markhor, 

 and get instead a cold which will last me all my 

 life, I shall never regret all the troubles and priva- 

 tions and dangers of the last ten days. For how 

 indescribably glorious is God's world up here ! 

 What an unearthly picture it presents ! 



I pray with my eyes and see with my heart ! 



God created these mountains, these great cathedrals 

 of the world, and He has furnished them with 

 His own treasures pillars of rock, altars of snow, 

 the blue sky as cupola, and choirs of stones and 

 pebbles. 



The plains where we men live cannot compare 

 with them, be they never so lovely. And art, 

 however perfect, cannot be mentioned in the same 

 breath. 



For miles and miles, far away into the horizon, 

 they stretch their silvery expanse. Here primeval 

 rocks shed their costliest blossoms, of a gigantic 

 size and sparkling like stars. They are whiter 



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