10 
LIVES OF THE MOGHUL EMPERORS. 
from which the least shock must precipitate him — 
surely this is enough to cause the stoutest heart to 
throb and the pulses to quiver. When seated within 
the hoop, the traveller pulls himself across the cata- 
ract ; but this requires considerable strength, dexte- 
rity, and steadiness of nerve, to do it effectually. It 
is, however, a familiarity with these and similar dan- 
gers which renders the hardy mountaineer so fearless 
under peril and patient under difficulty. 
Climbing precipices and crossing torrents were 
labours with which young Timur was familiar; and 
it was, no doubt, the being early habituated to bodily 
exertion which rendered him, during the whole of his 
enterprising but dark career, so capable of enduring 
the severe fatigues of a whole life of almost unre- 
lieved warfare. The accompanying engraving will 
give a very just idea of the nature of those difficulties 
which occur to the traveller in the more elevated 
regions of the East. It represents a scene in the Hi- 
malaya range of mountains, the most picturesque as 
well as the highest in the world. 
As the young prince advanced towards man’s estate, 
his influence among his followers increased : they 
were at once won by his intrepidity and awed by his 
daring. Of the latter, an instance occurred in. the 
early part of his eighteenth year. Being one day 
hunting deer, he suddenly reached the brink of a 
ditch five yards wide and four deep. Coming unex- 
pectedly upon it, he tried to turn his horse, but the 
animal kept forward. The sudden check, however, 
had rendered the leap a matter of increased difficulty. 
The prince, nevertheless, spurred his steed to the 
