Black Bears 231 



After the rank, green vales we had been wandering 

 through, where in the narrow paths Indian corn met 

 over our heads in its luxuriance, and where the sun 

 streamed down on us from morning till night, this 

 country was a great contrast. We were up in 

 clouds, in rainy, white mist. 



However, it was a great luxury to be within four 

 walls under a roof for one night ; the little rest- 

 house might be draughty and have no glass in the 

 window, but the fireplace was soon glowing with 

 a pile of burning logs, and we spent a most snug 

 evening. 



Higher up a good deal of fresh snow had fallen, 

 and the next morning Haramuk, that somewhat toad- 

 shaped mountain, looked almost unearthly in its new 

 snowfall, gleaming in the sunrise, glistening with 

 glaciers, grey and ghostly chasms breaking the snow- 

 fields and winding upwards, " gulfs foreshadowed and 

 straits forbidden." 



At Kanjalwan one morning S. was called at 3 a.m., 

 and after he had had breakfast, I heard Lalla being 

 soundly admonished, for he had come up afterwards and 

 quietly said that five o'clock would be time enough 

 to start. Eventually they went off" right up the 

 mountain-side. I stayed below and spent the day 

 sketching down by the Kishenganga River. Then in 

 the evening, after some tea, to keep warm, I collected 

 a grand supply of sticks and wood from the jungle, 

 which made a capital fire outside our tent, by which 

 we dined when S. came in. He had seen the tracks 



