CHAPTER IX 
JAUNSAR ; THE SUNDARBANS ; DARJEELING AND 
THE BENGAL TARAT 
In the autumn, when the air is crisp with frost, 
when the Virginia creeper is hanging in crimson 
streamers on the deodars, and when the everlasting 
snows lie calm and white above the well-defined 
line of 16,000 feet elevation, an irresistible longing 
seizes the inhabitants of Simla to enjoy the beauties 
of Nature, together with freedom from social exi- 
gences, and they steal away in parties of two or 
three and more for ten days’ respite from work, and 
from the still more exhausting pursuit of pleasure. 
All go to Fagu, the rest-house thirteen miles from 
Simla, overlooking the deep valley of Saing, and 
there their roads diverge : some reluctantly descend 
that valley, hoping for better things beyond ; others 
pass along the Thibet road, branching at Narkanda 
to Kulu or to the Sutlej Valley, and the woods are 
full of officials and their families, relaxing even 
under this short glimpse of the primitive life; they 
would probably rather meet a bear or a pheasant 
than even a Viceroy, for this short holiday is all too 
precious to be curtailed by those amenities, whose 
insistent calls will be again authoritatively renewed 
during the Calcutta season. - 
228 
