Fourteen Thousand Feet High 203 



tat to ride between us. The saddle would have 

 astonished some of the, frequenters of the Row. It 

 was a fearful and wonderful wooden arrangement, 

 a square-shaped peak at the back, a slanting rise 

 in front, and a native blanket over all. The bottoms 

 of the stirrups were solid, round pieces of wood, like 

 saucers. But really it was not at all uncomfortable 

 for rough, scrambling work, and I could be on and 

 off in a moment. 



We left the Jhelum at our backs and struck up 

 the valley of the Pohru. It was good to see the 

 thick forests growing nearer, to hear talk of bears, 

 and after the doongha to be out in the country, once 

 more "on the open road." The song of the open 

 road is, as it has been said, one of Nature's spiritual 

 ditties not yet set to words or human music, except 

 by Walt Whitman. It is an air which must have 

 haunted the ears of the gipsies "the invitation to 

 the road " and to whose inspiration our own nomadic 

 forefathers must all their days have journeyed. To 

 be out in the air ! to be under the sky ! how 

 much it all implies ! 



The lungs with the living gas grow light, 

 And the limbs feel the strength of ten, 

 While the chest expands with its maddening might, 



God's GLORIOUS OXYGEN. 



By the evening we were duly encamped at Netanissa, 

 right on the banks of the Pohru, and in a green, 

 quiet orchard, which fringed the great jungles. We 



