cii. X. THE GUIDE LEFT BEHIND. 261 



shade. Hooker took advantage of the halt to push on at 

 a steady pace that soon carried him beyond the reach of 

 interference from the guide. When Ball felt able to 

 resume the ascent, the guide sprung to his feet, and for 

 the first time became aware that one of the party was 

 already too far ahead to be easily overtaken. He pro- 

 ceeded by a series of unearthly yells and frantic gesticula- 

 tions, to attempt to attract Hooker's attention, and urge 

 his return. When these demonstrations were found to be 

 useless, and he perceived that Ball was also about to follow 

 in the ascent, he commenced a fresh series of exclamations 

 and pantomimic gestures, of which the burden seemed to 

 be that if we went to the top, we were certain to be shot ; 

 but the same argument that was used with effect on the 

 Tagherot Pass — the gift of a silver coin — was so far suc- 

 cessful that no attempt was made to arrest Ball's progress, 

 and, after ascending a few hundred feet higher, the un- 

 willing guide gave up the attempt, and rested comfort- 

 ably until he had an opportunity of rejoining Hooker in 

 his descent. 



It was perhaps fortunate for our object of reaching the 

 summit of the mountain as early as possible, that the slope 

 by which we ascended is extremely dry and barren. A few 

 species, already seen on the Tagherot Pass, were gathered 

 near the snow, but the upper ridges showed only a few 

 perennial species in flower, of which the most conspicuous 

 was a variety of Alyssum montanimn. Most of the others 

 were stunted bushes, one of them being a dwarf form of 

 the common gooseberry, with stems about a foot long, 

 lying flat on the surface of the rocky soil. Throughout 

 the ascent the rock was of schistose structure, seemingly 

 argillaceous, but in some places containing a notable pro- 

 portion of lime, and here and there showing traces of mica. 

 Intrusive dykes and bosses of reddish porphyry appear in 

 places, but do not play a conspicuous part in the aspect 

 of the mountain. 



Hooker reached the summit about 2 p.m., and was re- 



