THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH. 67 



withered branch," and I began to have gloomy doubts 

 about my capacity for getting high enough. Mr 

 Eebsch, the amiable and talented head of the Kot- 

 garh Mission, gave me all the encouragement which 

 could be derived from his earnest prayers for my 

 safety among the holie Gebirge. There were two 

 clever German young ladies, too, visiting at Kotgarh, 

 who seemed to think it was quite unnecessary for 

 me to go up into the high mountains ; so that, 

 altogether, I began to wish that I was out of the 

 valley before I had got well into it, and to feel 

 something like a fated pilgrim who was going to 

 some unknown doom. 



Excelsior, however, was my unalterable motto, as 

 I immediately endeavoured to prove by descending 

 some thousand feet into the hot Sutlej valley, in 

 spite of all the attractions of Kotgarh. I shall say 

 very little about the journey up to Chini, as it is so 

 often undertaken, but may mention two incidents 

 which occurred upon it. Between Nirth and Eam- 

 pur the heat was so intense, close, and suffocating, 

 that I travelled by night, with torches ; and stopping 

 to rest a little, about midnight, I was accosted by a 

 native gentleman, who came out of the darkness, 

 seated himself behind me, and said in English, 

 " ~\Yho are you ? " I had a suspicion who my friend 

 was, but put a similar question to him ; on which he 

 replied, not without a certain dignity, " I am the 

 Eajah of Bussahir." This Bussahir, which includes 



