Sporting Trips of a Subaltern 



native army, and they, I believe, make fine 

 soldiers, though I never had the fortune to 

 meet them. The country consists of tier upon 

 tier of vast mountains, culminating in the great 

 snow-fields bordering Tibet, intersected by deep 

 valleys fairly fertile at the bottom. These valleys, 

 as I found to my cost later on, are very hot 

 and stuffy during the summer months, and the 

 rajah, and such of his subjects as get the chance, 

 get higher into the hills at that time of year. 



We rode some ten or twelve miles, the path 

 keeping along the side of a spur, then left the 

 syces (grooms) to take the ponies home, and 

 walked another six miles; here we left the path 

 and, after a scramble to the top of the spur, found 

 our tents. We were now between 8000 and 9000 

 feet high, it was very cold, and a damp fog had 

 rolled up, so nothing could be done that evening. 

 The wild flowers were at their best now, just after 

 the rains, and at this height the temperature was 

 not unlike England, so the flowers were all familiar 

 dahlias particularly, of all colours, being in 

 masses. We dined early, and before turning in 

 discussed the morrow with our shikaris (hunters). 

 Woodyatt supplied both of these, an intelligent 

 looking Gurwali and a Gurkha. 



Next morning we were up at 4.30, eating a 

 hasty meal and watching one of the finest views 

 in the world light up. To the north rose peak 



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